Been here before

The clunking told me something was wrong with the Rolling Steel Tent, so I got down on the ground and checked.

Yup, the stabilizer bar again. Only instead of just worn out bushings, one of the mounts was broken. Weak metal? Severe blow? Too many washboard roads? Oh well, it’s not a big deal to fix.

I left camp and drove into Miles City. Google pointed me to a mechanic. The soonest they could get to me would be in a week. Not good. 

I thought I could try replacing the parts myself, as long as I didn’t need to take the weight off the front wheels in order to do it. I went to the NAPA store. They could get the rubber bushings the next day, but their parts list didn’t show the metal bracket. The guy asked, “Did you try the Chevy place?”

Ugh, dealerships. Charge too much, wait too long… But maybe they could at least get the parts.

“We have those parts in stock. Do you want the service department to install them?” Mmmm, let’s at least learn when I could get an appointment.

“Well, we’re kind of backed up, so not until this afternoon. Say 1:00?”

I’m good with that.

I didn’t ask them what they’d charge, but my budget is looking good, so I can probably handle it. I hope.

FOLLOWUP: They got it done in a half hour, charged me for one hour (their minimum) and way overcharged for the bushings. I expected they would. They have overhead and all that to cover. A couple o' hundred bucks.