Beware Dumb Hot Rod Shops

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Lord Sparky

Lord Sparky

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Three years ago, I had a Hot Rod shop (not JBA) in the San Diego area install front disk brakes on my 1969 Dodge Dart GTS. They had to install 15" wheels which required new Nitro rear axles. On Sunday, I hit the gas and heard a loud grinding noise. We were able to limp home, but thinking it was the transmission, I had the car towed to Trans Masters (who rebuilt the trans three years ago). It turns out the Hot Rod shop installed axles that were over an inch short only allowing 1/16 of an inch of spline to touch the differential. Amazing the axles lasted this long! Now I am out of a car while I pay for an expensive rear end rebuild. Why didn't the mechanics compare the axle lengths before installing? Stupid. They also allowed the front brake hoses to rub against the tires. Frustrating. Thanks for allowing me to vent.
 
man, with that list of offenses i'd be hitting that thing with my calibrated hairy eyeball and a fine tooth comb.

that sucks somebody did you like that. thankfully nobody was hurt due to their bone headed work.
 
dadsbee said:
Why I do my own work... then there's only one dumbass to blame!
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This^^^^^

These old girls are super simple to work on, even for a novice. I highly recommend you learn to do it yourself so you will know it's done right......or can blame yourself when it's not. lol
 
RustyRatRod said:
This^^^^^

These old girls are super simple to work on, even for a novice. I highly recommend you learn to do it yourself so you will know it's done right......or can blame yourself when it's not. lol
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Agreed!! These things don't run on magic. there are many YouTube videos to watch and learn from and there are plenty of knowledgeable folks on here to help everyone along.
I'm not knocking the OP here. I'm glad no one was injured from the shop's carelessness!!!
 
Not just Hot Rod shops. It is hard to find any Auto Repair Shop you can trust.
I had a resent problem with my daily driver PT Cruiser. The brake lights weren't working.
Read up on it and found that they are computer control. I have no computer equipment. Called the local shop, made a appointment.
Told the service writer the computer needs flashed to repair.You are not allowed to speak to a tech only the service writer. Get a call after the car spent the whole day and was told,
"After 2 1/2 hours the tech can't find the problem." I asked "Did you re-program the computer ? "
Service writer says "I don't know we can check tomorrow". Next day car was ready. Took a whole 15 minutes to flash.
All he had to do was LISTEN TO ME when I set up the appointment. :mad:
 
I had the same problem with a set of Yukon axles 10+ years ago. @DoctorDiff new exactly what happened, the axles were built short (Yukon knows but evidently doesn't care). Swapped out the side gears for a single spline set and I'm still using the axles to this day.
742 clutch type sure grip
 
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Just try and find an actual GOOD alignment shop. All these "modern" shops know how to do is "set the toe and let the **** go". I best most couldn't even tell you what S.A.I, included angle and scrub radius are.
 
Lord Sparky said:
Three years ago, I had a Hot Rod shop (not JBA) in the San Diego area install front disk brakes on my 1969 Dodge Dart GTS. They had to install 15" wheels which required new Nitro rear axles. On Sunday, I hit the gas and heard a loud grinding noise. We were able to limp home, but thinking it was the transmission, I had the car towed to Trans Masters (who rebuilt the trans three years ago). It turns out the Hot Rod shop installed axles that were over an inch short only allowing 1/16 of an inch of spline to touch the differential. Amazing the axles lasted this long! Now I am out of a car while I pay for an expensive rear end rebuild. Why didn't the mechanics compare the axle lengths before installing? Stupid. They also allowed the front brake hoses to rub against the tires. Frustrating. Thanks for allowing me to vent.
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It's too bad you had to have a shop to do a simple disc brake and axle swap on your car. I bet if you would've asked, there would've been someone on this site who would've been willing to lend you a hand. That rubbing brake line could've been catastrophic. I'm glad you caught it in time! Hopefully you can get everything squared away.
 
Crazy how difficult it must be to lay a new and old axle next to each other on a table just to check and make sure there aren't any weird differences. I guess checking to make sure new parts are right is just too much trouble and not worth the extra 2 minutes for a "professional" shop.
 
RustyRatRod said:
This^^^^^

These old girls are super simple to work on, even for a novice. I highly recommend you learn to do it yourself so you will know it's done right......or can blame yourself when it's not. lol
Click to expand...
I do much of the work, but unfortunately don't have the room for larger projects.
 
MopaR&D said:
Crazy how difficult it must be to lay a new and old axle next to each other on a table just to check and make sure there aren't any weird differences. I guess checking to make sure new parts are right is just too much trouble and not worth the extra 2 minutes for a "professional" shop.
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Yep. Mechanics 101.
 
85glht said:
Agreed!! These things don't run on magic. there are many YouTube videos to watch and learn from and there are plenty of knowledgeable folks on here to help everyone along.
I'm not knocking the OP here. I'm glad no one was injured from the shop's carelessness!!!
Click to expand...
I do much of the work, but unfortunately don't have the room for larger projects.
 
RustyRatRod said:
Just try and find an actual GOOD alignment shop. All these "modern" shops know how to do is "set the toe and let the **** go". I best most couldn't even tell you what S.A.I, included angle and scrub radius are.
Click to expand...
If you can find an alignment shop that does work for body shops, those guys are usually pretty good. They have to get collision repaired vehicles within spec or the insurance companies will not pay the body shop for the repairs. We have a body shop and alignment techs at my shop. Insurance companies must have a spec sheet from the alignment machine proving that the car is within specs.
 
Common problem when swapping in BBP brakes and cutting/buying 8-3/4 axles at the SBP length. The extra 1" of width for the BBP brakes needs to be accounted for.
 
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