anybody wrenchin at an apartment complex?

[olivedrabcj7]

this crap sucks! if i even pop the hood on my jeep, the maintenence dude hops on his little gas powered golf car and zips over to tell me that "this is an apartment complex, not a garage".....what a bastard. im thinking about moving my jeep to the back of the apartment complex out of sight of the main building so i can work on my junk. i may just put it up on jackstands and do my whole lift there one weekend. not much they could say once the suspension is torn out from underneath it. anybody else dealing with this??

 

[Yucca-Man]

Not much they can say...unless that's a term of your lease. They may call a flatbed to remove it and even present you with an eviction.

However, it's BS that they won't let you pop the hood - checking the oil level, filling the windshield reservoir, etc are necessary safety checks and even recommended in the owner's manual. Next time the golf cart comes by when you've got the hood up open that for the rent-a-cop.

 

[Ramsey]

its not an issue for me. i havent done any serious work at my moms apartments, but i have spent an hour or two under the hood there. check your lease and see if it says anything about that

 

[Dr. Jones]

I just installed an AAL and did the rear brakes at my apartment. The managers don't really care, but it's a massive pain in the ass not having a real space to do that kind of work.

 

[johnnyc]

According to my lease, I'm not supposed to do any automotive repairs. But luckily, I have a garage, so I just close the door.

At my old apartment building, I couldn't work on the Jeep in my assigned parking space. So I had to do it in the street.

When I can, I do repairs in a friend's driveway.

 

[Geepfreak]

The last Apartment I was in was alot the same, Managers came out to yell even if you checked your oil, the hood is popped, must be working on it!

SO thankfull for the space I have now!

 

[Brian Felts]

this crap sucks! if i even pop the hood on my jeep, the maintenence dude hops on his little gas powered golf car and zips over to tell me that "this is an apartment complex, not a garage".....what a bastard. im thinking about moving my jeep to the back of the apartment complex out of sight of the main building so i can work on my junk. i may just put it up on jackstands and do my whole lift there one weekend. not much they could say once the suspension is torn out from underneath it. anybody else dealing with this??

come up to tennessee you can use my shop.

 

[olivedrabcj7]

well im moving back home in may for the summer. ill have my own driveway to wrench in all i want....except then its my dad that comes by bitching at me while im under the jeep. except he bitches about me losing his tools and making oil spots in the driveway. lol.

 

[kccherokees]

Sort of, college drom. The Campus PO has come by everytime and yelled at me! I had my hood up bc my battery died and they came by, didnt ask if they could help, and yelld at me!!??!! I think they hate me, no like I have drivin across campus (which I think I should!!)

 

[nhrocker]

I guess I have it lucky at my college. I had my XJ in the air with part of the suspension out for almost a month, working on it once in a while, and whenever the Public Safety guys came by they just asked how it was coming and talked about the work I've done on it.

 

[olivedrabcj7]

man, at my school, the campus pee dee are a bunch of cant-hack-it rent-a-cops who never made it through the academy. then they have the little parking bitches who are basically students they pay to walk around with a belt mounted computer and write tickets on peoples cars....more than once ive caught them writing tickets on my truck as im walking back to it. one of the bastards about wanted to throw down because i didnt wait for him to finish writing the ticket before i backed out and about ran him over. crap like that is why i moved off campus.

 

[Atl XJ]

Luckily the maintenance guys at my apartment complex are pretty cool so they let me get away with it even though its in the lease that I'm not supposed to. They don't really care what I do as long as I can do it that day and not leave it all torn apart, or start dropping fluids on the ground. It is a real PITA but luckily I park in a parking garage so I have dry place to work with power, lighting, and a nice big assigned parking spot. It still sucks though, I usually make the drive to my parents house to work in my dad's garage.

 

[FitchVA]

i get to do routine stuff, sye's, had it hovering on 4 jackstands, and some other stuff. i think i don't get hassled because i'm the last apt on my short row of buildings so there's not much traffic and no through traffic.

heck, even a few buddies come over and to work in my lot. i had a talk with the maintenance workers before i ever did anything and they said they wouldn't have a problem with it if i didn't drop any fluids and made sure to keep it 1/2 way organized and clean.

 

[funvtec]

i had similar problems at my old apartment cept i didn't own a jeep then. I had a Honda civic that was stolen out of their lot. Any ways the car was recovered with all mismatched flat tires and steel wheels and the insurance companytold me not to touch it til they came out to look at it so it sat for about 4 days and man did the manager bitch hassle me she kept threatening to have it towed because it was inoperable and an eye sore

c-mon lady cut me some slack IT GOT STOLEN what do you want me to do???

 

[hologram]

Sometimes it's nice to be the apartment manager. The owner has in our contracts that no auto maintanance will be alowed on the property. Of coure he hasn't said a thing to me, I just make sure I work on the gravel/dirt area so any oil does't stain the drive way.

 

[ChiXJeff]

Guess I've got it lucky, then. Walled off garages (neighbor could get into mine, but only by climbing through crowded rafters) and electric openers.

My lease specifically says no auto work as well. I've replaced the head on my 4.0l, installed new front and rear springs, new UCAs and done a budget boost for another guy. As well as the usual oil changes and stuff. Management knows what I'm up to, and the only thing that's ever been said to me was about the smell from some 90W gear lube. There are at least 4 other garages here that are used for some not so routine maintenance as well.

There was a guy a couple of years ago who took a couple of days to replace the rack and pinion in his sedan in the parking lot. I don't know if anything was ever said to him or not.

 

[casm]

I've got the same thing - a 'no maintenance' clause in my lease. The manager's been pretty cool with me doing small stuff (changing batteries, lights, installing a stereo, etc.) but basically said that no major work was to be undertaken; apparently, one of the other tenants complained during a battery swap that I was 'working on my car's engine', but once he saw what was going on it became a non-issue. Fortunately, I've got a sympathetic driveway I can use for anything really major

 

[Darky]

I've done brake pads and minor stuff in my parking spot and it says no maintenance. However, my manager is pretty cool about that kind of stuff. But if your lease states no maintenance and you try to do some work and they yell at you, don't complain about it since you signed the paperwork. From your story about the parking lot geeks, it sounds like you may need to work on your attitude. I'd be pissed to come out and find the guy writin me up but I'd at least have the sense to wait and take the ticket before "about running him over"...that can cause more problems.

 

[tchase]

I know how you feel. Years back me and my cousin had identical cars and when his car got ran over by a 3/4ton ford we were gonna swap the engines real quick before the junkyard hauled it away (aluminum 1.2l 4 banger, carbuerated, could've done the swap in an afternoon). As soon as we opened the hood on his car the super was out and complaining so the car went to the wrecker with the good engine while I got to drive around with 20psi compression on one cyl. Fortuneately (sometimes) I am the super at my current building so nobody says anything about the XJ/MJ collection.

 

[BruteXJ]

When my wife and I got our first apartment we were pregnant and poor, but paying full rent in "rent-assisted" (read as welfare) neighborhood. The Manager would flip out any time I opened the hood on my POS Chevy sedan in an attempt to talk it into getting me to work one more time. This was while it was parked between a Jag and a Mercedes in a neighborhood we were evicted from because we started pulling in more than 50k a year per household. Hmmm...

Love our current place, though. I had a buddy's XJ up on jackstands for two days after we broke off the upper rear shock bolts putting on his lift late in the day. Twice the maintenance guy came by. Once to ask if we needed any tools, once to borrow one.