Posted on 05/06/2017 5:24:11 AM PDT by IBD editorial writer
I got 30 CLEP hours, and had 96 hours total after two years and two summers in college, got admitted to law school and finished the whole shebang 3 years later, i.e. 7 years of school in 5. Of course, it was only $750 a semester, not $10,000.
We decided to keep our 11 year plus cars and fix the parts that are most prone to wear out instead of waiting for the problem to present itself. This is a new approach for us. We usually would trade in after 80,000 miles or so.
With Youtube and online car parts it is amazing what you can learn and do yourself on these “modern” cars.
We just did transmission fluid change and added a magnetic filter on the line from the cooler to transmission.
Changed the wheel bearing on both sides (had the NAPA auto shop press out and press in new OEM bearings $80)
Both sides New tie rods, control arms for front (included bushings and ball joints). On the rear changed the shocks and spring coils and minor misc parts.
Never did this before. This week we will take the same car to have front end aligned for $45.
It obviously isn’t for everybody, but we saved about $1500-2000 in labor costs. Car is riding nice, our dirt road is getting paved this year so we won’t have to do this again.
An impact wrench was $75 and 3 ton hydraulic jack was $79 at Harbor Freight. Those were the best help. AutoZone and Advance Auto rent for free with deposit many of the tools you may need to do most jobs.
Prior we did a few repairs and the savings was significant so we decided to tackle a few tougher jobs and we are encouraged enough to keep it up as long as our health allows.
That cop is a card-carrying a-hole.
Recently had a radiator hose come loose at speed and dump the contents. Pulled over, got radiator hose re-clamped with parts from a non-automotive project. Cop pulls up as we’re emptying drinking water bottles into the radiator. He holds a big trash bag for us to throw the empties in ...
We hired a PhD electrical engineer in our lab a few years ago. Turned out he had never touched a soldering iron, or done much of any other practical engineering. That was for “technology” students when he was in school. He was amazed at how much fun it was. He has gone elsewhere ...
Its been like that since the 80s and 90s.
I agree with 100%. They cut out all of the VO-AG classes because everyone is supposed to get a college degree. Now the school districts want some sort of recognition, and more money for building “tech centers” which is a fancy term for VO-AG classes.
Public schools have gotten remarkably worse since the formation of the Dept. of Education.
One could go a long way to fixing the problem by getting the Feds out of the picture, and letting this be dealt with on the state or local level.
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