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Scariest allignment EVER!
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zmame
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Jun 10, 2010, 5:20 PM
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Scariest allignment EVER!
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Well today was a interesting day I work at a ford dealership in Ontario, Canada in my town there is a place called National 4wd center.
They have no licensed techs, 1 apprentice from a tire shop, one body man and one helper with no real experience to speak of. So they sent a truck over for an allignment.
2005 dodge ram 1500 ext cab with 8" lift just installed.
So i always test drive my vechicals before an allignment to see if it pulls, steering wheel crooked and etc...
The truck handled like a lumber wagon pulled left then right steering had tons of play and it was hard to keep it on the road.
I reached 80km/h (aprox 50mph) befor it got to point I knew somthing was seriously wrong. So i coasted slowly back to the shop and checked front end and I almost threw up.
EVERY nut was loose both outer tie rod ends adjuster nuts and tie rod end nuts where on by THREE twist both upper and lowers were the same.
So i tightened everything down and re-checked need both outers 1 inner and both uppers and lower balljoints.
With a 8" lift and 35" tires if one came off or tie rod came off at 80km/h could of killed me and or someone els.
Not even going to do into the installation of the life was horrid and un-safe too.
This is going to be reported to the Ministy Of Transportation they are going to kill somone!!
(This post was edited by zmame on Jun 10, 2010, 5:23 PM)
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Hammer Time
Ultimate Carjunky
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Jun 10, 2010, 5:41 PM
Post #2 of 16
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Re: Scariest allignment EVER!
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There are some scary people working on cars out there. Personally, I think all lift kits should be banned. They weren't engineered to run at those angles.
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We offer help in answering questions, clarifying things or giving advice but we are not a substitute for an on-site inspection by a professional.
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zmame
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Jun 10, 2010, 5:45 PM
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Re: Scariest allignment EVER!
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Agreed also cause alot of problems with warranty work. Lift kits are popular in this area and with lift kits your always going through wheel bearing and balljoints every 20,000km. Almost always ends in argument when we tell them Ford's not going to cover that.
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Sidom
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Jun 10, 2010, 8:12 PM
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Re: Scariest allignment EVER!
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Another tech had a good one today 2000something Chevy 1500. He jacked it up to check the ball joints and R low con arm was completely off the lower BJ, It was just hanging there in the air.....
The guy gave some BS story about it not being his truck & TOOK IT with his kid...after seeing it!
I really believe in certain cases, a shop should be able to keep an unsafe vehicle from going back out on the road......
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nickwarner
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Jun 10, 2010, 8:18 PM
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Its bad enough when we have people running around with death traps because they are too cheap to fix their car or did a bad job on it themselves. But when a business puts themselves out as an expert to get the trust of their customers and does this thats too much for me. I would agree that they need to be reported to the agency you have out there. This truck dodged a bullet not getting into a crash. Next time the luck might run out. Shops like that are why people give techs a bad name.
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re-tired
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Jun 11, 2010, 9:56 PM
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Yes there is the bailing wire and duct tape element out there. But ban them not a modification that is safe if done properly. I worked for a number of years at a custom 4x4 shop. We did lifts and axle mods ,gears posi etc.We had a limit of 6"suspension and 3" body for street use . Strictly off road was another story. We reinforced all critical areas and where needed performance control arms ,ball joints,urethane bushings etc.We did all alignments and every truck passed factory specs.All customers where taken on test drive and mods where explained . Dont play bigfoot in traffic etc. MY personal mud racer was a 80 f150 16"lift 5 "body lift, 18x 44 ground hogs (tires) quad shocks on each corner,dual steering stabilizers.Gussets on both axles 4:11 and posi both axles.With dropped radius arms offset urethane axle mounts YES ,even this truck aligned to specs AND was street legal,altho I only drove it to mud races and shows .It drove like a normal truck and with 4 piston calipers stopped normal also. Would I let 1/2 our posters even sit in a modified truck? I say ban them , not a legal hobby.And don't EVEN get me started bout airboating....There now I feel better. 
LIFE'S SHORT GO FISH
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zmame
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Jun 13, 2010, 8:35 AM
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Good way to be.. this shop seems to throw them in as fast as they can.. not even using the right bolts what ever will fit will do. They don't seem to like washers for what ever reason too.
I've done 8 of there trucks so far i could only get 1 in perfect spec.
had a 2010 jeep wrangler unlimited couldn't get in spec camber was -0.98 should been about 0.04, so it has a mean pull. solid axle no adjustment.
They were trying to say that the axle was bent. But there's only 3,000 miles on it never seen a dirt road yet.
I reported them on Friday, service manager wasn't happy that he might loose his alignment jobs, but i could care less.
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Hammer Time
Ultimate Carjunky
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Jun 13, 2010, 8:56 AM
Post #9 of 16
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It's good that you have someone to report them to in your state. Down here, you would have a hard time finding any one with any authority or that would even listen.
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We offer help in answering questions, clarifying things or giving advice but we are not a substitute for an on-site inspection by a professional.
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zmame
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Jun 13, 2010, 9:09 AM
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Re: Scariest allignment EVER!
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Ontario, Canada is pretty regulated to become a tech you have to:
Complete 4 years college technical training
8000 hours on job logged hours
Licensed mechanic so sign for you stating you are ready to take exam
Take exam
then renew every 5 years
All Shops working on Mechanical aspect of cars must be registered with Ministry of transportation and must have minimum 1 tech for every 2 apprentices.
Ontario is tightest province for these laws.. Some other provinces don't even require any sort of certification to be a tech
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Hammer Time
Ultimate Carjunky
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Jun 13, 2010, 9:12 AM
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Not only do we have no certification requirement for tecsh but there is no regulation or control on competency of shops. The only regulation we have are for required info on the invoices and signatures on estimates.
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We offer help in answering questions, clarifying things or giving advice but we are not a substitute for an on-site inspection by a professional.
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zmame
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Jun 13, 2010, 9:18 AM
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Yes I find that a little scary.. I know when I was going through apprenticeship I wouldn't want that type of responsibility till I felt i was qualified.
Quebec is same way. If you want to register a car in Quebec all you have to do is register it and pay for your plates and go. It very scary since most cars are complete rotten out after 10 years in our climent.
I've had cars come in that i couldn't lift because there was no solid metal so lift from.
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re-tired
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Jun 13, 2010, 11:46 AM
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I know where you are coming from HT > It's not enoungh that the garages are allowed to police themselves .Some of these Quacks keep moving and change locations and stay one step ahead of what enforcement there is.The repairs coming out of some if these slums with lifts is outrageous. And I for one am tired of being blinded by cars with only one headlamp and its looking up at UFO's. No brake lights and the one's that do have operational turn signals don't use them.
LIFE'S SHORT GO FISH
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Sidom
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Jun 13, 2010, 1:28 PM
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That's pretty impressive.... I wasn't aware of the tight requirements. I know a little about MOT but not a whole lot.
I'm curious how tight of controls they have. Is there many sub standard shops that are able to slip thru and operate?
I'm also curious of the pay scale for techs and what shops labour rates are, 4 years of college is a lot. Forced to put that much time in opens the doors to a lot more fields.
I know here for a while there was a tech shortage but with the economy going south and a lot of shops and dealers closing, that put a lot of well trained and skilled tech out in the job market. For the 1st time in a long time, I don't have the same confidence I use to that I could working the next day for the same pay if I left my present job.
Here I think in the long run the younger guys are going to make out good if they can hang on. Personally I know of a few young techs and a couple of old ones that gave up on this profession for greener pastures.......Once things come back I think the shortage will be even worse and a top tech will be at a premium, more so than before...
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zmame
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Jun 13, 2010, 2:25 PM
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That's pretty impressive.... I wasn't aware of the tight requirements. I know a little about MOT but not a whole lot.
I'm curious how tight of controls they have. Is there many sub standard shops that are able to slip thru and operate?
I'm also curious of the pay scale for techs and what shops labour rates are, 4 years of college is a lot. Forced to put that much time in opens the doors to a lot more fields.
I know here for a while there was a tech shortage but with the economy going south and a lot of shops and dealers closing, that put a lot of well trained and skilled tech out in the job market. For the 1st time in a long time, I don't have the same confidence I use to that I could working the next day for the same pay if I left my present job.
Here I think in the long run the younger guys are going to make out good if they can hang on. Personally I know of a few young techs and a couple of old ones that gave up on this profession for greener pastures.......Once things come back I think the shortage will be even worse and a top tech will be at a premium, more so than before...
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Not many shops can slip through all your safety slips and etest have to be done through appoved MTO inspection station. There is the odd garage that pops up, Like National 4WD center i was talking about earlier. Usally they don't stay open long.
Pay is so-so I make $25hr straight time, no flat rate + profit sharing, upselling bonus's and keys to shop for anytime use.
Cost of living here is cheap so its not that bad.
Its alot harder to become a tech here then most places, but at the end of the day I have that sheet of paper saying i went through all proper training and so on that will earn me 2$ an hr more anywhere i go
(This post was edited by zmame on Jun 13, 2010, 2:30 PM)
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ailidasfang
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Sep 9, 2010, 6:18 PM
Post #16 of 16
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Re: Scariest allignment EVER!
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I know when I was going through apprenticeship I wouldn't want that type of responsibility till I felt i was qualified.
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