Shade tree mech

[adeso]

So between the normal pastime for a single dude in Minot, ND being pro stunt drinking, and the fact that I just found out the dodge dealer here charges $160/hr for diesel work and has a 2-3 week wait list to get the truck in, I have decided that I'm going to start a small shop working about 40 hours a month. I really can't do more than 2 weekends a month with the whole USAF bomber pilot thing, but I figure it will keep me out of trouble on the weekends. Maybe
Anyways, what advice do you guys with small shops have for someone like me? Every shop here has at least a 2 week wait list, so not like I am "moving in" on anybody's work, and I can chose my jobs since I don't need the work to pay the bills (well I need it to pay for the truck habit). Any big dos/don'ts I should watch out for? Right now I'm planning on doing it shade tree style, and if I have time for more than a weekend here or there going full up company later on. Thanks for the info!

 

[blk smoke lb7]

Stay away from 6.0 head gasket jobs


"Adeso's Dmax reapair" kinda like that:thumb: and with the 1s letter being A you will get called 1st

 

[adeso]

ADeso's performance garage, since, you know it is for real a garage :roflmao:

I used to own a 6.ohshit, so I know a little about them

 

[Noreaster]

if you want to stay busy, work on 6.0s

 

[blk smoke lb7]

if you want to stay busy, work on 6.0s

Steeleship gets 5 or 5500 to do heads on a 6.slow.bad thing is you need a lift to get the cab off.Well you dont have to have 1 but it helps alot.

 

[Dragonsfireloki]

You will have a ton of work, i live outside of dickinson and all of the shops here are the same way. Eastern Montana isn't any better. As you know, lots of work for you to do. If i was a little more knowledgeable, i would love to do the same thing in my area.

 

[jraymer]

Yea I thought about Doing something like this up there as my in-laws live there, they said no one really does diesel performance stuff up there and With all the oil field guys up there I imagine you would make a killing even just knocking out injectors and HG jobs, even hpops and oil coolers, stuff cabs don't come off for. Just make sure you have all the essential tools to do the exact jobs you want to do. Good luck, sounds like fun.

 

[blk smoke lb7]

You will have a ton of work, i live outside of dickinson and all of the shops here are the same way. Eastern Montana isn't any better. As you know, lots of work for you to do. If i was a little more knowledgeable, i would love to do the same thing in my area.

Start small do w/ps injectors,turbos and work into it.Pick and choose your jobs.

 

[Noreaster]

Steeleship gets 5 or 5500 to do heads on a 6.slow.bad thing is you need a lift to get the cab off.Well you dont have to have 1 but it helps alot.

my buddy does a couple a month with no lift, biggest PIA is getting another set of heads cause every set coming off has cracks

 

[Evan@InglewoodTrans]

How far do you want to take building trucks or do you just want to "fix them"?Building trans,motors,turbo kits?

 

[THEFERMANATOR]

Best advice you can get is cash up front for parts, and the truck doesn't leave until the bill is paid in FULL! I let a few people leave with large bills on payment plans to pay it back at $200 a week, a year later I was still getting paid $20 a week if I was lucky. Also figure in shop supplies and disposal fees, and figure out how much parts runs will cost you. It may seem like stupid items to think about, but speaking from first hand experience a few parts store runs can add up, and keeping $300-400 in shop supplies around also adds up if it's coming out of your pocket. I found it was the little stuff that was eating me up in costs more than low labor rates. Also plan on about a 25% parts failure rate when you figure your labor costs. I work on alot of different things, and have found a 25-35% parts failure rate right out of the box to be the norm with aftermarket parts anymore, and a friend of mine who runs a shop said he is seeing the same. So don't forget to add 25% onto your expected labor rate to cover this unless you like redoing the job for free.

And when it comes to parts, try and get them all yourself unless you like having your shop tied up for weeks trying to chase down teh right parts liek I'm doing right now on a TOYOTA that I can't get out because they got all of teh parts through a friend with cost pricing(which does no good if half the parts don't fit and you have to go order them through the dealer and wait a week for them to come in so you can get your shop back). In the end I would say stay away from it unless you can do the jobs you want to do, and only those jobs. Up until 08 when teh market flopped, I stayed busy and happy doing the jobs I wanted to do and made $1200 a week in my spare time. Since the bubble popped I'm lucky to do $600 a month in my spare time doing crap work. So make sure your serious about it before you dive in, and are ready to pull your hair out when things happen.

 

[adeso]

Best advice you can get is cash up front for parts, and the truck doesn't leave until the bill is paid in FULL! I let a few people leave with large bills on payment plans to pay it back at $200 a week, a year later I was still getting paid $20 a week if I was lucky. Also figure in shop supplies and disposal fees, and figure out how much parts runs will cost you. It may seem like stupid items to think about, but speaking from first hand experience a few parts store runs can add up, and keeping $300-400 in shop supplies around also adds up if it's coming out of your pocket. I found it was the little stuff that was eating me up in costs more than low labor rates. Also plan on about a 25% parts failure rate when you figure your labor costs. I work on alot of different things, and have found a 25-35% parts failure rate right out of the box to be the norm with aftermarket parts anymore, and a friend of mine who runs a shop said he is seeing the same. So don't forget to add 25% onto your expected labor rate to cover this unless you like redoing the job for free.

And when it comes to parts, try and get them all yourself unless you like having your shop tied up for weeks trying to chase down teh right parts liek I'm doing right now on a TOYOTA that I can't get out because they got all of teh parts through a friend with cost pricing(which does no good if half the parts don't fit and you have to go order them through the dealer and wait a week for them to come in so you can get your shop back). In the end I would say stay away from it unless you can do the jobs you want to do, and only those jobs. Up until 08 when teh market flopped, I stayed busy and happy doing the jobs I wanted to do and made $1200 a week in my spare time. Since the bubble popped I'm lucky to do $600 a month in my spare time doing crap work. So make sure your serious about it before you dive in, and are ready to pull your hair out when things happen.

thanks for the info

I am somewhat new to this, but was very hands on with my truck, I got told what the best thing was many times as I did not know, but I made sure to know what was going on. I'm working with some well known names, and can call some very smart people any time I need help. I tore my engine down to the block, and while I had a machine shop do some of the work, but most of it back together myself.
I have also been playing with stuff since I was 5 years old, so know my way around. I have a old school lathe and mill (non CNC) and I'm teaching myself that, and can do basic stuff.
Really the money will be what I use to rebuild the truck into more of a monster than it is now, and will only be able to do it a few weekends out of the month, but since there isn't much else to do up here, and I want to further learn as I go, and have a healthy shop as it is it only made sense. I feel that I can do a 600HP trans build, not in a day like Mike, but if you are not good, you either make a good product or go fast, so I can take 4 days to do one and make sure I get it right. For now it will be simple stuff since I need to get good at my day job. My goal is to maybe take a long time to do stuff, but have it 100% right when it leaves here.

 

[adeso]

I see myself doing simple trans builds, a lot of simple stuff, installing other peoples turbo kits etc, but only 2 weekends out of the month