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Snowman
03-06-2006, 04:32 PM
I went to 44th Tierra del Sol [Salton City California] this weekend for my shakedown drive before GSSW to test out my change from 3.73 to 4.10s and adding the ARBs front and rear. I only used the ARBs when I had to and everything worked great until I started driving back to the motel after 9 PM. I was on the highway doing 70 - 75 when everything started shaking. :eek: :eek: It did not feel like an earthquake and when I dropped below 30 the vibration stopped. At that point the traffic came to a stop because of an accident so I got out and looked. The rear differential was dripping oil and the rear driveshaft had 1 inch of vertical play at the diff that it did not have before. Also the ARB air line was loose.
... we got a 150 mile ride back on a new $90,000 flatbed Sunday :smt040 and dropped to GC at 4 Wheel Parts [Redondo Beach].

This morning I drove over from work and gave the manager my key. He asked if I had paid for the warantee and I told him yes. He said no problem.:D I gave him the towing bill and he said that he would take care of it.:D He said that the bearing where the driveshaft enters went bad and said that he would know the rest when he spread the parts out on the floor. I asked him if the GC would be ready for GSSW and he said he thought so.

... sigh! ... I am waiting as fast as I can!!

BigDaveZJ
03-06-2006, 04:37 PM
Wait, so 4WP did the work to begin with? No offense, but that's where the problem started.

Snowman
03-06-2006, 05:00 PM
Wait, so 4WP did the work to begin with? No offense, but that's where the problem started.

1) I do not have a place to build up the GC myself,
2) I do not have a knowledge or experience to build up the GC myself,
3) I do not have the tools to build up the GC myself,
4) When started 4 wheelin' 4WP was the only place I could find in the area
5) I did not know about MC
6) No one at MC volunteered to help
7) As long as they fix it and stand in front of it [anyone can stand behind a vehicle] at no further cost to me I don't care.

In the future if anyone would like to help me with future work, I will bring the beer :drinkers: and tequilla!

OverkillZJ
03-06-2006, 06:21 PM
Dave's right, nomatter how you look at it, that's where the problem started.

Sure you made a bunch of excuses why... but it doesn't change the fact that you trusted it to 4WD!

Snowman
03-07-2006, 11:27 AM
Dave's right, nomatter how you look at it, that's where the problem started.

Sure you made a bunch of excuses why... but it doesn't change the fact that you trusted it to 4WD!

4WP not 4WD.

Yesterday they took one look and asked if I had the 3 year 36,000 warantee. I said yes and they said no problem that they would fix it and they would pay for the flatbed tow. If, on the the other hand, I had done the build up I would have been a whole bunch of hurt and buy all[? many] of the parts today. Sometimes bearings do go bad right out of the box and it does not matter who installed it.

4WP should get credit for being a mench about it and fixing it rather then weasel out with a lame excuse.

They said that they would have it done in time to go to GSSW. I hope so.

BigDaveZJ
03-07-2006, 11:35 AM
The thing with 4WP, is this is a quite common thing, if they've fawked it up once, I wouldn't trust 'em on round 2. I understand your circumstances at the time, but I hope you take this experience as a learning lesson to never let 4WP touch your rig again.

BlaineWasHere
03-07-2006, 11:43 AM
WTF is 4WP? Local off road shop?

ILikeMud
03-07-2006, 12:01 PM
4 wheel parts I'm guessing.

Buy some tools and learn to work on your rig man.

nate
03-07-2006, 12:02 PM
4 wheel parts

Snowman
03-07-2006, 12:46 PM
The thing with 4WP, is this is a quite common thing, if they've fawked it up once, I wouldn't trust 'em on round 2. I understand your circumstances at the time, but I hope you take this experience as a learning lesson to never let 4WP touch your rig again.

Four Wheel Parts is a chain of parts stores and offroad installation shop in addition to the internet presents. [answer to postings after the quote]

Question to Big Dave: Are you saying that if I have any future problems with the lift or in ARB installation that I should not exercise the warantee OR that in the future I should not use them? If not them then who? There is a Dirty Parts nearby but there work is much more expensive and I had gotten bad press about them before I started.

ILikeMud
03-07-2006, 12:55 PM
Honestly I've heard so much mixed stuff about various shops I just get the best deal on a part that I can then install it myself.
Installing it yourself is the best way cause if something goes wrong you know who screwed up.

Snowman
03-07-2006, 12:57 PM
4 wheel parts I'm guessing.

Buy some tools and learn to work on your rig man.

I used to do some car work myself, but after I became a free agent [I DTBed* and got divorced] I move to a condo**. The condo does not allow any car repairs on the property. Any contributions to help by my own house will be greatly appreciated :booya: .

All seriousness aside, as I stated in posting 3, I do not have the flexibility to allow me to do my own work a this time.

* DTB => Dropped That Bitch
**I got the two girls and the ex got my dog! And the dog is really pissed!

Snowman
03-07-2006, 01:00 PM
Honestly I've heard so much mixed stuff about various shops I just get the best deal on a part that I can then install it myself.
Installing it yourself is the best way cause if something goes wrong you know who screwed up.

Basically I agree. But then the ex always told me that I screwed up everything.

Krash80
03-08-2006, 01:52 AM
Odds are good there's a crush sleeve on your rear pinion shaft and the mechanic who installed the ARB tightened the fuck out of the pinion yoke nut with an impact with no regard for proper bearing preload. I've seen dealer mechanics do this same shit...and then people have problems with the rearends grinding about a month or so later and they're fucked.

At least they're being cool about it and fixing it for you.

On the other hand, if you don't do that installation yourself, and you're on trails difficult enough to justify having front and rear lockers, what happens when you blow that rearend on the trail? That flatbend isn't coming out there to get you...so you need to know how to fix it yourself.

Snowman
03-08-2006, 11:46 AM
Odds are good there's a crush sleeve on your rear pinion shaft and the mechanic who installed the ARB tightened the fuck out of the pinion yoke nut with an impact with no regard for proper bearing preload. I've seen dealer mechanics do this same shit...and then people have problems with the rearends grinding about a month or so later and they're fucked.

At least they're being cool about it and fixing it for you.

On the other hand, if you don't do that installation yourself, and you're on trails difficult enough to justify having front and rear lockers, what happens when you blow that rearend on the trail? That flatbend isn't coming out there to get you...so you need to know how to fix it yourself.

I guessed that the bearing had a latent or that the mechanic did not put it in straight. After reading your post, I agree with you about the cause, their fixing it and problems on the trail. My biggest problem was that I was not sure what to do when it happened. A jeeper that was stopped next to me insisted that taking out the driveshaft [which is what I wanted to do] was the wrong thing to do. The next day two repair shops said the same thing. Four Wheel Parts said that I should have removed the shaft and driven home. I guess as I get more experience I will learn to trust my instincts.

Nick
03-08-2006, 12:10 PM
you can read online on pretty much everything that you would have to do will have some type of write up so just when you need to do something search online then if you dont have room at your condo go to a friends with a garage all you need is a good set of hand tools and you can do most of the work youself on your jeep

nathaniel
03-08-2006, 05:23 PM
I guessed that the bearing had a latent or that the mechanic did not put it in straight. After reading your post, I agree with you about the cause, their fixing it and problems on the trail. My biggest problem was that I was not sure what to do when it happened. A jeeper that was stopped next to me insisted that taking out the driveshaft [which is what I wanted to do] was the wrong thing to do. The next day two repair shops said the same thing. Four Wheel Parts said that I should have removed the shaft and driven home. I guess as I get more experience I will learn to trust my instincts.

With the 249 if you removed the rear shaft you would of need to seal the rear of the tc to drive it without the fluid leaking out and its not a good idea to drive a 249 on just the front shaft anyway would/could burn up the viscous coupler.
if its 242,231 put it in 4 and drive after sealing the case

Cody
03-09-2006, 02:02 PM
On the other hand, if you don't do that installation yourself, and you're on trails difficult enough to justify having front and rear lockers, what happens when you blow that rearend on the trail? That flatbend isn't coming out there to get you...so you need to know how to fix it yourself.

I can't install it myself. I can't fix it myself. I also wheel on trails where a couple lockers still isn't going to get you through. I don't wheel alone and for the most part the people I find myself on the trail with are well aware of my wrenching capabilities and I've never had a problem where everyone around wasn't totally there 100% to contribute (ok, except puma last year when he sat in the jeep afraid to get wet while we all worked to get that rig out--but other than that ;) ) in any way possible. If I were to blow a ring gear, I'm probably not going to be yanking apart my diff on the trail--I'd just as soon get dragged/winched out and figure it out later. But I guess thats an advantage of having a trail rig you don't have to drive home.

I don't think it's totally fair to say that all 4wp's do shoddy work. There is a guy that works at the one in SLC that used to own his own cusom shop and does kick ass work. Some people go there because he is there and they don't trust anyone else. If I'm not mistaken I think Steve Nance (former owner of Moab Off-road) used to work at one in Phoenix too and I'd let that guy work on anything of mine. My point is, some 4wp are bad, but some have some very talented and experienced people working at them and you can't automatically assume that you're going to get shitty work. Now, it's probably one of the last places I would go, but in some situations they aren't so bad. Who's to say it isn't a defective bearing instead of an installation problem?

They do stand behind their mistakes from what I have seen. The mis-advertised a 75 dollar strap a couple years ago on their web site and they honored that price even after they removed the product from their website--so I got 3 3" 30000 lb pro comp straps for 20 bucks a pop. I remember them messing up on a winch and ended up selling them for like 100 bucks a few years back---and now they are standing behind their work for the ARB and installation----and taking care of the towing costs. I'm sure they could have weaseled out of it but they sacked up to it and I give them credit.

Cody