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My Blazer is being held hostage..........

A

akbound

1/2 ton status
Joined
Apr 20, 2004
Posts
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Location
San Antonio
I have had my newly rebuilt (9:1 compression, 030 over, Comp Cams XE256H) in the back of my wife's minivan since Tuesday because the Base Auto Hobby Shop has been closed due to a worker's illness.

My Blazer is locked behind the fence just begging for its heart transplant.

I am chomping at the bit waiting to smoke some 32" Mall Terrain tires!!
 
that sucks. Do all bases have auto hobby shops? Do they supply tools? A friends car recently needed a head gasket, her boyfriend was replacing it but I thought at home(hes in the Army and stationed somewhere in NC, I don't know bases). I asked if he could take it to the base since he didn't have the tools on hand to do it.
 
The vast majority have them. They have EVERY tool you need to tear apart anything and get it back together. Lifts, alignment machines, parts washers, engine cranes. Some even have paint booths!

When you get in over your head the staff is all certified auto mechanics and they can bail you out.

Just another perk we enjoy from Uncle Sugar!
 
I know the feeling, ours is only open from Wednesday to Saturday.

I hate the auto hobby shop here. They have nothing that I need or don't already have, the guys there are useless, so it's 5 bucks an hour just to be allowed to work on my truck. I'd do everything in the parking lot if it wouldn't get me in trouble.
 
The real pisser is the Hobby Shop is supposed to be supported from the MWR (moral welfare recreation) funds yet we still pay to use the facilities. I don't mind forking over my cash for "consumables" but paying a surcharge ($2.50+) to use a press (for example) is rudiculous :mad:
 
This is one reason I have boycotted the "Hobby Shop". The one in CA, all you had to pay for was to use the lift and overnight storage, which I understood. Just to use a bay and some tools I don't want to pay for. Especially when most people do bring their own. This is a good thing for the people who
1. Don't have tools
2. Don't have the space
3. Need little assistance with what they are doing

Some of the people who work there, know what they are talking about and some are totally lost.
I still don't see paying to use it though.


Sorry, just me being arrogant and stuck on myself again. You know who you are................
 
I've had nothing but the best of luck with Auto Hobby Shops in San Antonio, Anchorage, Honolulu, Ft Campbell, and Germany (life in the military has been really tough on me with all the crappy assignments :grin: ).

My neighborhood association won't even let you change oil!! My Buick got reported to the cops as being abandoned, even though it had current Alaska tags on it. It may look like a POS, but it runs great.
 
Yeh right buddy, dont come to Langley and have that concept. Every dime here goes to the golf course. Everytime Ive worked on my truck there they have not had a single tool I needed, but luckily I bougth my own stuff so I am not dependent on them. Langley has by far the worst hoby shop.

However, the one at elmendorf and ft rich was AWESOME.

akbound said:
The vast majority have them. They have EVERY tool you need to tear apart anything and get it back together. Lifts, alignment machines, parts washers, engine cranes. Some even have paint booths!

When you get in over your head the staff is all certified auto mechanics and they can bail you out.

Just another perk we enjoy from Uncle Sugar!
Click to expand...
 
I think I used to pay 2 bucks a day to use the shop at Pendleton back in the 70s. They issued you a tool box, with inventory sheet, and they checked it when you turned it back in. All the presses, etc. were free to use, even had a brake lathe, and welders.
 
Ft. Richardson was definately the best of all of them. I lived on Ft. Rich when I was stationed at Elmendorf.
 
79Stomper said:
This is one reason I have boycotted the "Hobby Shop". Just to use a bay and some tools I don't want to pay for.


This is a good thing for the people who
2. Don't have the space

I still don't see paying to use it though.
Click to expand...

I see your point..to a point. It's almost a catch 22 if you live in base housing because they don't want you doing any work that involves lifting the vehicle in the air or that will take more than an hour or so. You either have to have a friend with a garage or else use the auto hobby shop.
I use to piss off the housing inspector all the time. I had an engine hoist lifting the rear of the K5 while I swapped in my 57" rear springs right in the street :haha: :haha: :haha:
 
I think I used to pay 2 bucks a day to use the shop at Pendleton back in the 70s. They issued you a tool box, with inventory sheet, and they checked it when you turned it back in. All the presses, etc. were free to use, even had a brake lathe, and welders.
Click to expand...

You must be about the same age as me. I was never in the Marines, but I had a lot of friends and family that were. I used to have my cousin get me on to the El Toro Marine base (now closed and long gone) hobby shop all the time back in the 70's. With today's security because of the muslim terrorist, I could probably never get on the base today. America was different place back then.
 
Yeah, that is a limiting factor too, but I haven't seem to have had any problems in housing yet. Have had a truck over for a day to do a lift and right now I have the motor out of mine sitting in my driveway/carport. I have been waiting to get a call from housing about it for the past 2 weeks but nothing yet. I guess once you get up in rank, they don't say anything to you anymore.

The hobby shop in 29 Palms was free so I used that one, and they had almost any tool I needed or didn't have. Here at Lejeune, well the tools are crappy, boxes are small, and well my truck won't fit in one of those tiny bays. 29 Palms had a bay for lifted trucks with a hyrdaulis lift outside that you could use.


Just me being arrogant and stuck on myself again...........
 
the one on travis is pretty good, but the majority of the people there are hella stupid. I had one of them call the parts place that delivers on base for pads for my rear brakes, you know regular 3/4 ton pads? Well i made the mistake of telling him, ask them for 76 eldorado rear disk pads, he gets off the phone and is like' nope they dont have them its a special order thing, mumble mumbel"

so i got the phone called them back got my quote and jsut looked at him like he was a dumbass, i think he got the hint:D [on the phone] oh so you do have them huh?[lookin right at him]:rolleyes: :surepal: :surepal:
 
Heck, A deal like the hobby auto shop is ALMOST enough to re-enlist. Right now I am paying $160 a month for a 10'x30' storage unit to work on my truck. Darn thing does not even have power.

I am really beginning to hate living in a condo. The wife has said when we build a house in 2 years I can have a shop built too. Well here to counting the days till then.
 
grimjaw said:
I am really beginning to hate living in a condo. The wife has said when we build a house in 2 years I can have a shop built too. Well here to counting the days till then.
Click to expand...

Not havin my own house/shop is a perk to me getting out. I'm 43 days away and I cant WAIT!!!:D
 
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