Nomad maintenance?

So, for all those folks that more or less LIVE on the road...

Do you do your own vehicle maintenance? Oil changes and such?
Where do you draw the line on what you do on the road versus hire it done?

I do oil n filter change & simple routine stuff, etc.

Older vehicles one can still be a backyard mechanic but the newer ones now ya gotta practically be an electrical engineer with a 2000$ diagnostic setup just to figure out what’s what.

Way it is…….

It is absolutely 100% prohibited by written regulations on Federal lands such as the National Forest, the Bureau of Land Management, all National Parks and I am fairly sure all the State Public lands as well to do Oil changes or any other vehicle work which involves chemicals or other fluids including brake work, antifreeze, etc. So get that idea right out of your head. You know how to read and look at websites. Go to the BLM and NFS websites and start reading through the rules and regulations. It is YOUR personal responsibility to do that. No one here in this forum should need to have to educate you on the rules of behavior for camping or visiting federal, state, county or city properties. Those regulations are already written out for you by the agencies. If you are in doubt what they mean pick up the phone and call them!
Now you have your “homework assignment”. Get busy and go to those websites and start reading.

maki2 said:

It is absolutely 100% prohibited by written regulations on Federal lands such as the National Forest, the Bureau of Land Management, all National Parks and I am fairly sure all the State Public lands as well to do Oil changes or any other vehicle work which involves chemicals or other fluids including brake work, antifreeze, etc. So get that idea right out of your head. You know how to read and look at websites. Go to the BLM and NFS websites and start reading through the rules and regulations. It is YOUR personal responsibility to do that. No one here in this forum should need to have to educate you on the rules of behavior for camping or visiting federal, state, county or city properties. Those regulations are already written out for you by the agencies. If you are in doubt what they mean pick up the phone and call them!
Now you have your “homework assignment”. Get busy and go to those websites and start reading.

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OP doesnt reference BLM or NFS or any geographical position what so ever; but simply asks a harmless question as to a persons preference for vehicle maintenance.

Where does this fyi tongue lashing on geographic based property ownership “rules” come from?

OP: while post #3 is “technically correct” it doesn’t respond at all to your inquiry……

While living on the road or wherever there are all kinds of places for do it yourself oil changes and simple routine vehicle maintence; etc. if one chooses too. I do it all the time. There are recycle used motor oil, etc places EVERYWHERE as well as places for other helpful vehicle conditions.

I will agree with no 3 on 1 thing: do your homework - it’s easy to find places where free style vehicle living is ok.

INTJohn

maki2 said:

Go to the BLM and NFS websites and start reading through the rules and regulations. It is YOUR personal responsibility to do that. No one here in this forum should need to have to educate you

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If people followed that advice, then discussion forums would be lonely places ...

Smart people get their advice from multiple sources. Everybody has the right to make their own choices about when to include forums in that mix.

I seem to remember someone on this forum instructing others quite emphatically that nobody could know the whole story behind someone else's post and therefore everybody should limit themselves to answering what was asked and not volunteer any other type of information ... Between these two extremes (staying silent on anything that wasn't asked, and dumping on someone about something that wasn't asked) there's usually a more rational and helpful middle option. The keyword being "helpful". Which I think is actually in the "rules and regulations" (or at least general guidelines, since we're not a government agency ) for how to post on this forum.

OP I have no practical input on your question but there are some real mechanical whizzes on this forum so I hope you get your answers. Good luck!

I have seen way too many people doing oil changes on BLM and NFS land. Actually one was too many and after that one person did it others at that group campsite went to town, bought supplies and also started doing it. I can and will continue to speak up even if it offends people to see it firmly stated that rules need to be read from the sources that make the rules for the public properties they will be staying on.

What I do not want to see is people getting in trouble because someone in a forum implied to a “newbie” it was OK to do that because they had done it. Or even have them see it being done and then think it must be OK.

maki2 said:

It is absolutely 100% prohibited by written regulations on Federal lands

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That's why I do the really dirty stuff in a parking lot in town... a bank on a Sunday if possible......

...within walking distance of an auto parts store.

Nobody encouraged this newbie to do anything wrong.
The OP didn't suggest doing anything wrong either.
You could have gotten your message across in one friendly sentence ("by the way, while you're doing all the many things you're talking about maybe doing, be sure not to do xyz").
And you can either tell him to go read regulations on a website and not bother people here, OR try to protect his poor innocent self from a tragic newbie error ... but better not both in the same thread.
A lot of people do a lot of crappy things. But maybe choose your battles, catch more flies with honey, etc.

maki2 said:

I have seen way too many people doing oil changes on BLM and NFS land. Actually one was too many and after that one person did it others at that group campsite went to town, bought supplies and also started doing it.

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Yuck... sounds like a horrid homeless camp in the woods.

I remember the good old days when the homeless people stayed in town where they belong!

rruff said:

Yuck... sounds like a horrid homeless camp in the woods.

I remember the good old days when the homeless people stayed in town where they belong!

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In this case the influencer was a homeless non-citizen, a man without a country he wanted to call home. He simply did not care.
I am an optimist and think the majority of people do care and will do the right thing if they know what that is.

One of my special assignments at Boeing was to get people to do the “right”’thing for how to properly dispose of hazardous waste and reduce the produvmction of it. I had to teach the employees on my 400 person workgroup literally one by one why it mattered that we do things right for the immediate community that we lived in and for the environment we worked in everyday. I was very good and effective at that job. So good that I was asked to write up what I did and what I said to people to get their cooperation. What I wrote was then directly put into the Boeing company wide policy on that subject. My writing literally was a major influencer at a major cooperation where there were thousands of hazardous chemical creating hazardous waste.
So you will have to excuse me whenI tell people in this forum that’sthey need to go to the official websites and read the policies regarding doing automotive work on the lands. That is the right thing to do. Help them get to that information!!!

There are many auto parts stores that will “rent” you the tools and let you work on their property I believe. If you are retired military there used to be auto hobby shops on many bases that are there specifically for that purpose. Just a few legal options to check out. When working I always lay a cheap blue tarp with a piece of cardboard under the vehicle to catch anything that drops, you can thank me later! Lol!!!

I fortunately have kids strategically scattered where I’ve done some repairs and my own property here is put in my oldest sons name… where I have extra tools and options. Bullfrog gives great advice when you do find a good place to work… keeping any mess on a tarp or surface protection will keep those kind of options open. Oil changes are easier for me to do now that I’m in a spot like at a family members place if not my own to do. The problem with having it done by someone you don’t know could get the wrong oil and a crappy filter… I carry a fair amount of tools. There are campgrounds that allow you to fix a problem. Things like bearings and such I try to do in a good spot as mentioned…
But bottom line… yes, you can maintain your rig on the road. Most garages are backed up for weeks… there are empty lots you can fix things on the fly. Just very important to not leave a mess.

Many auto parts stores will loan you the tools & a space in the back or side lot IF you buy the parts there. Never a shortage of Negative Nelly's on here telling people what they can't do. The OP didn't ask where he couldn't do it. Demos trying to be little Dictators & run other peoples lives.

NctryBen and another friend from this forum did a job on my vehicle involving my rear suspension springs a couple of years ago at a Van Aid event on BLM. No fluids were involved… not even beer…. which seems entirely unfair to my “crew”.

B&C helped me install my new battery this spring, it is a bit too heavy for what I ought to be lifting.

There is a lot of in-person helping each other on projects in this group. A lot of accumulated knowledge.

My Honda Element needs a rear camber kit put on it this year. There was a guy who was a pro mechanic who has an Element who stopped by my LTVA camp last winter. He said he would teach me the job, that it is not hard to do but he was only there for a 2 week stay. Of course that repair it is shown on YouTube. Not sure that I want to tackle it. The tire shop in Quartzsite has a very reasonable hourly rate. They do that kind of work and it is not a huge labor intensive job. I will buy the parts with a gift certificate my brother sends me for Christmas!

Well, my OP may have been unclear, and it certainly wasn't my intent to fire anyone up.

I'm a born-n-raised big city boy, I'm acutely aware that there are huge gaps in my knowledge about how to live a lot of this life. That's why I ask.

Having said that, I'd like to think I'm not such a dips**t that I'd go changing oil in a state park or something. Fair to warn me, so there we are.

My expectation was that I'd be doing a lot of my stuff in properly-chosen parking lots and truck stops. However, I don't have a monopoly on ideas... my thoughts extended only to the odd oil change/plug swap/brake swap.

I try to find a spot with a storm drain and park over it and let my oil drain into it. That way when it rains the drain pipe gets lubricated and the water flows better (just don’t drop the drain plug). If in the national forest I dig a hole next to an environmentally protected plant and let it drain. When the plant absorbs the oil it will protect it from infection from disease and water will bead up on its leaves and give it a shiny more pleasant appearance.

You would need to look for abandoned business locations in out of the way places and no nosy, protective neighbors for such things. But auto parts stores would be used to it.

Bluedogz said:

Well, my OP may have been unclear, and it certainly wasn't my intent to fire anyone up.

I'm a born-n-raised big city boy, I'm acutely aware that there are huge gaps in my knowledge about how to live a lot of this life. That's why I ask.

Having said that, I'd like to think I'm not such a dips**t that I'd go changing oil in a state park or something. Fair to warn me, so there we are.

My expectation was that I'd be doing a lot of my stuff in properly-chosen parking lots and truck stops. However, I don't have a monopoly on ideas... my thoughts extended only to the odd oil change/plug swap/brake swap.

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Just remember complex machines are just several simple machines put together. With the internet you have much info available. As far as changing oil you can get a pump & extract it thru the dipstick tube & I'd never dump it in a drain or on the ground as that's just wrong.

Bluedogz said:

So, for all those folks that more or less LIVE on the road...

Do you do your own vehicle maintenance? Oil changes and such?
Where do you draw the line on what you do on the road versus hire it done?

Click to expand...

Great question, following, some good advice will come out of this and then there will be one or two that can't read and understand your question and then go off on a rant and fabricate some dictatorship directive out of it, ignore them, perfect question for this forum. Like!

Us.
.
One example:
We took our ExpeditionVehicle to an independent mechanics shop for LOF (Lubrication, plus oil change and new oil filter):
a : they forgot to lube, plus
b : they dismantled the battery box and left its parts in the drive-way.
After requesting they complete the service and re-assemble the vehicle so we could bail, they did and we did.
.
Why did they fail to lube?
The computer told the mechanics our vehicle has zero lubable fittings.
I showed them the suspension zerts, I showed them the zerts on the drive-shafts, I showed them the method to verify fluid levels in the axle etcetera etcetera etcetera.
And 'no', they were not diversity hires, they were minimal wage doing minimal work.
.
Or, perhaps, they only do minimal effort work so they are worth only a minimal wage.
.
Nobody cares about our rig as much as us.
This's one reason we comment on forums...
... so folks can get comfortable fussing with stuff instead of camping in the parking-lot of the repair-shop.
.
(On the IRV2 forums, the straights are constantly whining about their constant and considerable repairs on brand-new brand-name factory RecreateVehicles.
And then, they purchase another rig...
... and surprisingly, the new rig has identical issues.
Naturally, their next new rig would be vastly improved [sarc].)
.
An aside:
My chum Justin opened an independent repair shop.
Their rate is us$130 an hour.
A hundred and thirty smackeroos.
Sure.