It's Monday morning and we are supposed to be on the road by noon, two o'clock at the latest. All I wanted to do is give the Jeep a quick tune-up and simple fluid change. That doesn't sound too difficult to get done in a couple of hours, right? So imagine my change in attitude when I went under the vehicle to remove the oil drain plug and found the two inch crack in the cross member holding the transmission in. My quick tune-up changed to a "What do I do now?" repair.
I live up the street from Penn Garage so I called them first. They're the type of garage that looks like an old gas station attendant would come out from if there were gas pumps. It's old, it's dirty, it's a real garage! But most of all, the guys that work there are real mechanics that can think outside the manual.
I asked if they did welding and explained what I had. Their reply was to bring it down, they were sure something could be done. I like the positive attitude of a mechanic that is not afraid to accept work. So I walked the piece down to them and dropped it off for the weld to be done.
Two hours later the piece was welded, cooled and painted over, ready to be reinstalled. He even put an extra weld on to strengthen the area so that the same problem would not happen twice.
Their prices are reasonable, especially considering the neighborhood. Let's face it, Denver is getting expensive to live in and Penn is keeping it affordable. I'm glad to have such a great place so close to home that if my Jeep breaks again, I can always make it to the shop for repairs beyond my capacity.
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