Conspiracy theory

[ultravorx]

Well, my Marauder has been in the shop now since tuesday at 7am. I was told they would have the car done on wed, thur the absolute latest. I agreed to that.
On wed, they said parts needed to be ordered, so they ordered it and said they came in wed afternoon, so my car would now be ready on thursday.
Fast foward to today, thursday, car is not ready, they told me that shims had to be ordered. I told them i needed the car so i can go to the NY auto show on friday, they told me i could take the car back if i really needed to, they havent dissassembled it yet!!!! SO WTF are they talking about all these parts without cracking open the meatball!!! :mad2: Now i was assured again, it would be ready tomorrow(friday) by noon. So tomorrow morning, im heading down there to see whats up, and see how i can get my car, since trhey will be closed when i get back and I need my car for the weekend. Im just thinking they have no idea what they are doing, what do you guys think?
Frank

[MarauderMark]

Sounds like the people i dealt with here in md.if thats who you are going to deal with then look on the joke of the day thread and a dozen of doughnuts.that was the best advise i was told on here and it worked very well.foes to friends


We need one of these smilies that pucker up..

[BillyGman]

I'm not sure what it is that you're having done to your car. it sounds like you're having the gears changed. If that's the case then the thing that they would want to do before even beginning the job is to order some secondary parts such as the shims and perhaps even differential bearings before beginning the job just incase they find that once the rear end housing is opened up those items are needed.

Doing that would enable them to avoid having one of their lifts tied up for a few days or more for your car in the event that they did need some of these other items. I'm sure that some high performance oriented dealers would already have those items in stock, but perhaps many of them do NOT. If your dealer of choice is one of those who don't usually stock them, then that would explain them not having opened it up yet.

But overall, it does sound like they're jerkin you around. I would go there and tell them that you want to talk to there service manager immeditely, or atleast the assistant manager, and the ideal thing would be to talk w/him right in front of atleast a few other customers who are waiting to be helped at the desk. That way all as you have to do is to speak politely, but loudly so that everyone in the room can hear you and say something like..."Sir, I brought my car do have a job performed that takes about 4 or 5 hours at the most, and I dropped my car off to be worked on 4 days ago, and I've got nothing but excuses for the last 3 days as to why my car hasn't even been started yet. Now do you think that I've been treated fairly as your customer?"

And "I want to know weather or not you're going to have my car done today or not". if you can ask him that right in front of other customers so that they can all hear you clearly, I garantee he will see to it that your car gets worked on immediately. I've done this before in two different places and it's worked like a charm. One manager tried to call me in his office to give me an answer, and i said "No sir, I want you to tell me in front of the rest of your customers exactly what's gonna be done about this." and I again got an immediate result. No need to cuss him out, or make any threats, just put him on the spot politely, but sternly in public if there's any way possible.

You shouldn't have to do that, and that approach should never be your first resort, since some businesses and their owners do care somewhat about their customers, and therefore giving them that type of treatment would be an injustice and make you the jerk, but unfortunately in cases like what you've descibed, sometimes it's called for because of the incompetence, and low regard that many places have for their customers.

[ultravorx]

I'm not sure what it is that you're having done to your car. it sounds like you're having the gears changed. If that's the case then the thing that they would want to do before even beginning the job is to order some secondary parts such as the shims and perhaps even differential bearings before beginning the job just incase they find that once the rear end housing is opened up those items are needed.

Doing that would enable them to avoid having one of their lifts tied up for a few days or more for your car in the event that they did need some of these other items. I'm sure that some high performance oriented dealers would already have those items in stock, but perhaps many of them do NOT. If your dealer of choice is one of those who don't usually stock them, then that would explain them not having opened it up yet.

But overall, it does sound like they're jerkin you around. I would go there and tell them that you want to talk to there service manager immeditely, or atleast the assistant manager, and the ideal thing would be to talk w/him right in front of atleast a few other customers who are waiting to be helped at the desk. That way all as you have to do is to speak politely, but loudly so that everyone in the room can hear you and say something like..."Sir, I brought my car do have a job performed that takes about 4 or 5 hours at the most, and I dropped my car off to be worked on 4 days ago, and I've got nothing but excuses for the last 3 days as to why my car hasn't even been started yet. Now do you think that I've been treated fairly as your customer?"

And "I want to know weather or not you're going to have my car done today or not". if you can ask him that right in front of other customers so that they can all hear you clearly, I garantee he will see to it that your car gets worked on immediately. I've done this before in two different places and it's worked like a charm. One manager tried to call me in his office to give me an answer, and i said "No sir, I want you to tell me in front of the rest of your customers exactly what's gonna be done about this." and I again got an immediate result. No need to cuss him out, or make any threats, just put him on the spot politely, but sternly in public if there's any way possible.

You shouldn't have to do that, and that approach should never be your first resort, since some businesses and their owners do care somewhat about their customers, and therefore giving them that type of treatment would be an injustice and make you the jerk, but unfortunately in cases like what you've descibed, sometimes it's called for because of the incompetence, and low regard that many places have for their customers.
As Always, thanks for the great advice, yes, it is the gear swap out im "trying" to get done. Im going to head there before i go to New York, and see where it gets me. Thanks again,
Frank

[SergntMac]

No flame here, Frank, K? Just my perspective.

As I recall your original post on this, you delivered you car, the 4:30 gears and your choice of rear end lube, with a caution to the dealer not to add-on any parts. IMHO, that puts him a tough position. How can he provide good service, with such a narrow margin from the customer? The reputation of the dealership, and the mechanic may suffer consequences should their work ever fail.

Shims, seals, bearings and races, as well as case hardened ring bolts, are all components of a gear install kit which you should have considered from the beginning. No reputable wrench would open a rear end for a gear change without having these parts on hand, needed or not.

The Ford Motorsport catalogue offers the kits in three levels, shims and seals, shims, seals and bearings, and all of it. The worst case scenario, is 119 bucks for the full Monty kit. I would not expect a dealer level parts bin to hold all these parts on hand, the need for them is rare, and the parts depot is next day service. Moreover, thanks to a TBS on panther based 8.8 rear ends, a lot of these parts have been scooped up for the TSB repair kit.

Granted you are driving a new automobile, and do not expect anything to be wrong inside. Though I advise against it, you may consider reusing all the bearings, bolts and seals that are in place. However, I'm looking down the road here, and I know once you get your gears, you're going to be driving with a little more ummm..."spirit?" Moreover, should add other things that go along with gears, such as chip/flash programming, stat, plugs, and so on, you're increasing the torque applied against the very parts you are installing today. To do so with used (however slight) components begs for future problems. IMHO, case hardened ring bolts are a must when going to a taller gear, with the expectation of more power. If you would like some pic about why, e-mail me at SergntMac@aol.com

I don't think you have looked at all the facts here, and should you take the approach suggested above, I wouldn't expect them to welcome you back. If I were the S/M at your dealer, and you hamstrung me in a likewise manner, I wouldn't have taken the job.

IMHO...Go get your car, get the rest of your parts, enjoy the car show, and start over again next week?

[MAD-3R]

Better to do it right the first time and maybe spend and extra $100 and a couple days, then spenda couple grand and weeks in order to get a new rearend. I know the frustration of not having your car, and of things costing more then antisapated, but there is ALWAYS time to do it right the first time.

[BillyGman]

You most likely wouldn't need shims since you're staying with Ford gears. As for the bearings, you definately would need a new pinion bering. The small one can be used over again, but the big one has to be replaced since it's pressed onto the pinion shaft, and pressing it off would tend to bend the bearing cage.

You absolutely would need a new oil seal since there's no way to use that again once it's removed. But if you schedueled this job ahead of time by making an appointment which I'm sure that you did, then the service manager or who ever, should've made sure that the parts needed were available by the time of your appointment, but that ofcourse doesn't always happen w/dealers. As for the ring bolts, well, I'm not so sure any of them are hardened, but weather they are or aren't, I always use new the ring bolts that come w/the gear set.

So yeah, it would've been better for you to have also bought an installation kit to supply your dealer with at the time of dropping off your dealer, however I think that by now your dealer should've had more than adequate time to have ordered the parts needed and got them in atleast 2 days ago. NO, it still shouldn't have taken this long. So I think you should either do what I previously suggested, or bring your car to another dealer, perhaps with the installation kit also, like MAC said.

[martyo]

Frank: Get your car back and I will give you the name of the guy I use on Long Island. It's a nice drive and you will have the gears done while you wait.

[BillyGman]

Frank: Get your car back and I will give you the name of the guy I use on Long Island. It's a nice drive and you will have the gears done while you wait.

Wow, performing a gear change while you wait? That's sounds great. I'd do what Marty said if they haven't already finished it. :up:

[TAF]

Wow, performing a gear change while you wait? That's sounds great. I'd do what Marty said if they haven't already finished it. :up:
Of course...it's by the same guy who did Marty's pullies :eek: :down: :help: :baaa:

[martyo]

Of course...it's by the same guy who did Marty's pullies :eek: :down: :help: :baaa:

Todd, take a walk, would ya?

The place that does the gears is top notch. They have done a number of our brother owner's cars. Call me if you want: 914-582-6262.

[David JP]

Frank: Get your car back and I will give you the name of the guy I use on Long Island. It's a nice drive and you will have the gears done while you wait.Frank, when you say "shop", are you talking dealer or private wrench? If your talking dealer, you're do for major headaches. If it's not a warranty issue, my personal advice is stay clear from these "it's lunchtime" idiots.
Listen to Marty, and get a reputable wrench that can swap gears while you watch and wait.

[SergntMac]

"No further, all units taking in the man calling for help, disregard, no further..." Code 4...

[cyclone03]

Of course...it's by the same guy who did Marty's pullies :eek: :down: :help: :baaa:

Todd let it go.
wew people say I beat things to death. :cool4:

[cyclone03]

I'm sure this is all settled now but heres my $.02.
The ONLY parts ANY installer doesn't know exactly what is needed are the carrier side shims.The pinion shim almost always can be reused if useing FRPP gears they are very well machined.

But at times you need a very large selection of carrier shims that sometimes the local dealer wont have.


But letting the car sit for a week without opening it up ain't going to tell you what shims you need!