valve set

[Chamberpains]

If your new to doing your own maintenance. Then get your self a grease gun and keep things lubricated. Checking fluids and greasing things keeps everything properly protected but just as important, it gets your eyes and hands on all the parts of the truck. Grab, shake, bang on, shine a light up in everything on the truck. Get your hands dirty and ruin a couple sets of clothes. They're cheaper to replace than paying anyone to do it for you. You'll learn over time of doing it that everything get beat up and worn out. The sooner you catch them and address problems the longer you can go without doing it in very expensive and usually very uncomfortable places like the side of the road.

If you want to know how much you saved by doing it yourself. Just document what it cost you. Then take the time to call the local stealership and ask them for a quote to do the same thing you just did. You'll probably be quite surprised at the savings. Usually 10's of thousands of $$ a year.