Auto repair shops closed on Saturdays

[Cubey]

Maybe it's a regional thing? But almost all auto repair places around here are closed on weekends.. including Saturday! Seems like they would miss a lot of business that way.

I found Midas was open but didn't have a press to do the ball joints and control arm bushings from my van I have removed and in the trunk of my car. Only other places open were tire and oil change places.

How annoying!

[booster]

NO NAPA stores in your area? Everywhere I have been they are open on weekends, and many have the bearing and bushing presses.

[poncho62]

I work at a NAPA store....They are open Sat morning for parts only, the machine shop is not. Many of the larger truck places are open 24/7, as the need is there. Might try one of them

[Cubey]

Hmm... I didn't know Napa would do that for me. Very strange. I tried renting the ball joint press from Autozone (Oreilly's is the same I tink) but the cups aren't deep enough for the big ball joints my van has. The shafts are too long.

Also, it's a pain in the neck to get out old control arm bushings. You can damage the control arm if you don't know what you are doing. Best to leave it to a pro.

All the rest of the work I can do fine. I rented the 250 ft lb max 1/2" torque wrench from Autozone today. Both Oreilly's have ONE and they were rented out as of yesterday evening. I have a 1/2" one from Harbor Freight but it only goes up to 150 ft lb. It takes 225 for the control arms or something like that it says in the repair manual.

[Cubey]

Originally Posted by poncho62

I work at a NAPA store....They are open Sat morning for parts only, the machine shop is not. Many of the larger truck places are open 24/7, as the need is there. Might try one of them

Ohhh I see. I don't think the Napa here has a machine shop. I do know of a machine shop I will just check with on Monday. I had them clean and polish a block and clean pistons for me last year.

They should also be able to change the bearing races and seals on the rotors as well that need done.

I'm not in THAT big of a rush to find a 24/7 truck place.. but wanted to save myself another 35-40 mile trip to town so soon was all.

I want to hurry up and get it put back together. I hate leaving a job half done for a week or two.

[Johnny R]

I suppose if auto shops were open on Saturdays, someone would want them open on Sundays as well. Seven days a week, perhaps 24 hours/day, like grocery stores, you know. I think 7/24 is the worst use of time, and eats into productivity, rather than contributing to it.

[Cubey]

Midas, oil change and tire places were open today.. that's about it.

Midas here doesn't have a ball joint press. I guess if they do ball joints at all, they only do ones that bolt on instead of press in.

Sears was open I'm sure but they do about the same services as Midas.

For leaf spring service, I will either have to use a BIG truck repair shop locally (they said to bring it by so they could see what it has) or drive ~60 miles to a spring shop out of town. There is no special spring-only shop here.

[WilliamVancleave]

Everything needs some kind of break. Who would like to work in the weekends? We keep our shop close at Sundays because helps a lot to our workers to refresh their minds.

[mlts22]

I am showing my age here, but I do miss the times when Texas had blue laws and everything was closed on Sunday except for emergency services. Seemed to bring about a more peaceful time, as opposed to people having to work 7 days a week.

It will get interesting when self-driving cars hit the road. A service station that only operates at night (where the cars go for upkeep when the owner goes to bed and are back in the morning) would make a killing.