The Washington herald., 1920-02-22

whole axle. If he found no parts
badly worn he should have assumed
that the natural. wear increased the
gear backlash and brought about
the bum. or II not that. wnich could
be found out by making a few ad-
'justments. then the housing was
sprung. But the mechanic. in good
faith, went at the work in his own
way and said to himself, I'll re place
every seemingly worn part and I'm
bound to be right. This practice
shows lack of knowledge of the car
and the automobile owner pays
for it.
Get Good Mechanics.
1t is cheaper to pay a good me-
ehanic 81 an hour than Ii is to- hire
socheap, unframed one at SO cents
an hour. The good mechanic goes at
the work in the right way. replac-
ing no more parts than needed; he
does not work longer than necessary
and uses the minimum time for a
job. 1t is supposed that you always
viii find the best mechanics in the
service stations of the concern who
made the car. This is not true, but
1t is quite true that the head of the
service department is usually an ex-
pert diagnostician and can tell what
is wrong. That is one good rea-
son for going to the service station
of the car manufacturer. In the
smaller towns. however, the service
is poor because there are few. IL
any, factory trained men, and the
education that many of the mechan-
les received has been at the ex-
pense of other car owners.
Owners who have trouble with the
accessories are advised to keep
away from the ordinary repair shop
and go to shop making a speciality
OF such work. Take radiator re-
pairs, for example. The ordinary
repair shop sends this work out to
radiator specialist and makes a
profit on the deal. a profit which
you could have made yourself. If
the shop attempts the job and hasn't
a radiator specialist, nine times out
of ten IL is botch job. Before you
have a radiator repaired find out
approximately how much it is going
to cost.
Give Specific Instructions.
Don't say Repair the radiator"
but state specifically what is to be
done to stop the leak in this place
or clean the radiator, or solder the
hole in the top tank. Generator,
starting motor, carbureter. storage
battery and repairs of this character
should not be given to the ordiAary
shop but to one handling that class
OF work. In some repair shops
where the trade is large enough
specialists of this kind are employ
ed. Otherwise the work is sent out
and the shop makes a profit on it,
at the same time charging you for
The cost of sending it out and bring
ing it back.
When you know that parts re-
placements are needed find out
yourself what the company charges
Tor the parts. 1t is good plan
II no saving can be effected to. allow
the shop to buy the parts. but if
there is an extra charge for buying
the parts. or a time charge made,
go after the parts yourself An
other thing that makes this safer is
that You then know that the parts
are all right and not secopd-hand
ones or rebuilt ones
Tire repairs in the small shop are
sometimes made with the most or
binary equipment, such as a road
Vulcanizer. If the small shop has
no facilities for doing casing work
take the tire yourself to the tire
shop. Eattery charging and bat
terry repairs should be treated in a
like manner.