Looks like you are gonna need new knuckles, that is what is leaking in your pic. It is called a knuckle and looks like two studs missing. I'm f they put bolts back in there not studs and come washer then hopefully they didn't fxxx up the threads. If it were me I'd go buy used knuckle. Are both sides have broken studs? I'd take pics of all his work and go be like what the fxxx man. If I were you and you wanna keep truck have all his work undone, you can buy Oldman emu springs and shocks for the lift for 800 or so bucks, did he extend your brake lines? He should have for that much lift, I'd look all those over real close too
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What monster did this!
To put it mildly that f#*king sucks. I will be in Tucson this Saturday afternoon and would be available thru Monday to look at it. Tools R Us and Inkpot are friends of mine and can take some pictures and show them . Both of them are extremely knowledgeable on 80's as they have done work on my truck and I am always stopping at Tools shop. Besides they are way cool people. PM me your contact info and availability. Mark
- Thread starter
- #64
Desert Sonoran Offroad in Green Valley, AZ.
While he may say that, it's like going to the same surgeon who botched your last surgery. Fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me --that basic principal.
Would be a great screen grab to show a judge in court though, that & his BBB rating going back it sounds.
Dan,
I sent you a pm with rockjocks info.. he is local and knows all the suspension options for these trucks. As mentioned above there are the guys in PHX area which are also very well respected if you can get the rig up there. After looking at the work and reviewing some corrections on what has happened I think there are a few things that can be attributed to the work and others possibly not. AS an aside most of the guys on this board wrench on their trucks, use only known LC shops or find themselves learning the hard way. Guys here wont even take their rigs to Toyota dealerships. These trucks are bomb proof but do require expertise which unfortunately you wont find everywhere for 1990s era vehicle even at Toyota.
Some responsibility does unfortunately rest in your hands. In this case you asked a guy to do a lift on your truck and only seemed to give him one condition, price. His work is definitely not elegant and probably no one on this board would accept it for their rigs, but it does accomplish a lift. A lot of guys run spacers on the top of their springs to net higher lift so in some sense this is another options, albeit not well used and/or accepted. Im not defending the guys work, however, its always best to have all work written down prior to start. If something is done that you didn't sign off on then take back the truck. I realize you may not have been a technically oriented person but you could have googled landcruiser lifts to get an idea of what was available and general costs. You will probably see that a decent set of springs and matching shocks for the LC ( 4 ") + install is hard to find for $1000.00. Seems this guy may have ordered what was available close by and inexpensive and did custom work to compensate. It also looked like he lengthened the stabilizer bar brackets if Im not mistaken. Im not sure what else he did as the pics aren't terribly well positioned. As for the trunion bolts this is a know issue on some rigs and has been recommended for everyone to check periodically! The vibes were probably created by the lift- Lifts over the 2.5"-3.0 are known to create vibes in many cases. Also worn out bearings and an older vehicles= noise, especially after a lift. Lifting older vehicles can exaggerate problems you already have so just be aware his work may have only helped to identify problems you already had. Getting someone with experience to look at your truck is worth the $. Trail boss doesn't sound like the place to go given their use of terminology.
It would be helpful for you to summarize where the $5K you spent went. You said $1K for the lift. $4K for exhaust work and ?.
If your looking to drop in new axles I will have a set avail. non-locked. Also there were two guys on the local CL that were parting out.
I sent you a pm with rockjocks info.. he is local and knows all the suspension options for these trucks. As mentioned above there are the guys in PHX area which are also very well respected if you can get the rig up there. After looking at the work and reviewing some corrections on what has happened I think there are a few things that can be attributed to the work and others possibly not. AS an aside most of the guys on this board wrench on their trucks, use only known LC shops or find themselves learning the hard way. Guys here wont even take their rigs to Toyota dealerships. These trucks are bomb proof but do require expertise which unfortunately you wont find everywhere for 1990s era vehicle even at Toyota.
Some responsibility does unfortunately rest in your hands. In this case you asked a guy to do a lift on your truck and only seemed to give him one condition, price. His work is definitely not elegant and probably no one on this board would accept it for their rigs, but it does accomplish a lift. A lot of guys run spacers on the top of their springs to net higher lift so in some sense this is another options, albeit not well used and/or accepted. Im not defending the guys work, however, its always best to have all work written down prior to start. If something is done that you didn't sign off on then take back the truck. I realize you may not have been a technically oriented person but you could have googled landcruiser lifts to get an idea of what was available and general costs. You will probably see that a decent set of springs and matching shocks for the LC ( 4 ") + install is hard to find for $1000.00. Seems this guy may have ordered what was available close by and inexpensive and did custom work to compensate. It also looked like he lengthened the stabilizer bar brackets if Im not mistaken. Im not sure what else he did as the pics aren't terribly well positioned. As for the trunion bolts this is a know issue on some rigs and has been recommended for everyone to check periodically! The vibes were probably created by the lift- Lifts over the 2.5"-3.0 are known to create vibes in many cases. Also worn out bearings and an older vehicles= noise, especially after a lift. Lifting older vehicles can exaggerate problems you already have so just be aware his work may have only helped to identify problems you already had. Getting someone with experience to look at your truck is worth the $. Trail boss doesn't sound like the place to go given their use of terminology.
It would be helpful for you to summarize where the $5K you spent went. You said $1K for the lift. $4K for exhaust work and ?.
If your looking to drop in new axles I will have a set avail. non-locked. Also there were two guys on the local CL that were parting out.
- Thread starter
- #68
Oh, I completely get and understand the poor judgments on my part! HA
He actually charged $1850 or so for the lift portion.
I can get a specific breakdown of charges probably by later today.
He actually charged $1850 or so for the lift portion.
I can get a specific breakdown of charges probably by later today.
So sorry! Sanora Desert Offroad as well as Trail Boss are total and complete idiots from everything I've seen here. Did one of them actually recommend a "diff drop"???
You're in a horrible situation, no doubt, but the good news is it's reversible and can be made right but it's gonna take some work. If I were in your shoes, I would be finding a set of good stock axle housings to start from. Your axle internals (axle shafts and differentials) are probably ok and can be moved over to the new housings. I would plan on having an experienced Land Cruiser specialist handle the repairs and swap those parts over to the new axle housings and replace all the bearings (trunions and wheel bearings) and seals since it's clear that the front axle seals are toast. Chances are good that the knuckles are damaged from the broken studs and drilling them out and putting a random bolt in it's place. So starting with new housings that include the knuckles would be good since the donor housings should have useable knuckles and steering arm studs. The donor axles will also have proper brackets for the suspension instead of the hackjob platforms that were built. While those may "work" it will only cause you headaches down the road because it's a completely one-off setup that will be difficult for anyone in the future to deal with if changes need to be made to the suspension. Don't make another mistake by trying to use cobbled together junk to "make it work". I really think starting with a new set of axle housings is the right answer unless someone like @Tools R Us can take a look at it and confidently tell you that the hackjob can be reversed and returned back to stock reliably.
You got completely taken on the suspension. Same height springs for a 4" lift and shocks that clearly did not even fit were a complete waste of parts and your money. For this to be done RIGHT, you don't want to use those new springs at all or try to make them "work".
You said he replaced your brake calipers too. What did he replace them with? Where did he get the parts for the new brake calipers? Given the quality of the other work, I would not have confidence in what was done with your brakes. That's a safety component that you don't want to have questions about.
It sucks that it means taking legal action, but this is a case that legal action is the only reasonable course of action and you should seek to recoup all of your costs for parts and labor as well as costs for damages and repairs to correct all of this nonsense. This guy needs to be taken out to the proverbial woodshed.
You're in a horrible situation, no doubt, but the good news is it's reversible and can be made right but it's gonna take some work. If I were in your shoes, I would be finding a set of good stock axle housings to start from. Your axle internals (axle shafts and differentials) are probably ok and can be moved over to the new housings. I would plan on having an experienced Land Cruiser specialist handle the repairs and swap those parts over to the new axle housings and replace all the bearings (trunions and wheel bearings) and seals since it's clear that the front axle seals are toast. Chances are good that the knuckles are damaged from the broken studs and drilling them out and putting a random bolt in it's place. So starting with new housings that include the knuckles would be good since the donor housings should have useable knuckles and steering arm studs. The donor axles will also have proper brackets for the suspension instead of the hackjob platforms that were built. While those may "work" it will only cause you headaches down the road because it's a completely one-off setup that will be difficult for anyone in the future to deal with if changes need to be made to the suspension. Don't make another mistake by trying to use cobbled together junk to "make it work". I really think starting with a new set of axle housings is the right answer unless someone like @Tools R Us can take a look at it and confidently tell you that the hackjob can be reversed and returned back to stock reliably.
You got completely taken on the suspension. Same height springs for a 4" lift and shocks that clearly did not even fit were a complete waste of parts and your money. For this to be done RIGHT, you don't want to use those new springs at all or try to make them "work".
You said he replaced your brake calipers too. What did he replace them with? Where did he get the parts for the new brake calipers? Given the quality of the other work, I would not have confidence in what was done with your brakes. That's a safety component that you don't want to have questions about.
It sucks that it means taking legal action, but this is a case that legal action is the only reasonable course of action and you should seek to recoup all of your costs for parts and labor as well as costs for damages and repairs to correct all of this nonsense. This guy needs to be taken out to the proverbial woodshed.
HOLY FAWKING SH!T!!
I would bust out the credit card. Put it on a flat bed. Ship it to @Tools R Us and have them do it right. Period.
Aside from getting a quality job done, based on my experience on Mud, Kevin will learn you a little bit about Land Cruisers. He's good people. One of the few I would trust to work on my Cruisers.
I would bust out the credit card. Put it on a flat bed. Ship it to @Tools R Us and have them do it right. Period.
Aside from getting a quality job done, based on my experience on Mud, Kevin will learn you a little bit about Land Cruisers. He's good people. One of the few I would trust to work on my Cruisers.
Any chance you paid for all this "work" with a credit card? If so, call the credit card company and reverse the charges. File a complaint and let the ass-hat try to sue you for payment. Why should you shoulder the burden of proof? Put this problem back on Sonora.
I agree... I hope you used a credit card for repairs. Call your bank first thing in the morning and tell them to reverse the charges. That is one of the benefits of Visa, Discover or Master Card..... they all offer fraud protection, and this is fraud.
This is the worst hack job I have ever seen!!! Did you do any research at all into lifts for your 80 and what all is involved to get it done? A 4" kit from Slee is $2845 to begin with and from experiance of doing a few lifts, it's a 16-24 hour job. This really sucks to see and good luck getting it all sorted out.
It's actually not the worst seen here on mud. Although we haven't seen the up close pics yet. I guess the installer would have a excuse if he was in the south since they build mud trucks like that with longer extensions. Be happy he didn't do a custom steering.
Wow, just F-ing wow!!! Everyone should make note of Boss Trail and kick their ass with a big boot. Tie rod boot!!! Also if they did work on your tie rod boot(diff knuckle), they failed to put all the bolts back into place, there should be four studs and nuts here!!!Valid points for sure on the platforms. On the "tie rod", I'm referring to the tie-rod boot which is what Boss Trail told me to call it technically so others knew what I was referring to. =) Here's what I'm talking about...note the missing bolt, which the same guy who did the lift, redid the boots, fun huh?
O.O
Reading: The lost art 
Keep us posted. If you have access to your buddies axles id be tempted to go that way. Or at least weigh his cost vs a capable person's estimate for correcting the ones you got.
Keep us posted. If you have access to your buddies axles id be tempted to go that way. Or at least weigh his cost vs a capable person's estimate for correcting the ones you got.
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And where did the 4 inches of lift requirement come from? These trucks do amazing things off-road with a simple 2.5 inch lift which is around $800 in parts and a day of paid labor. No reason for you to go with 4 inches of lift right off the bat.
- Thread starter
- #79
On the phone with the bank now and they are submitting a fraud/potential chargeback case. Thanks for everyone's input as I'm going to send the bank all of these notes/info, along with the audio recordings I have of him admitting to doing things without approval or a quote, proof of him not willing to clean it all up after trying to get him to do so, etc. etc. etc. Wish me luck, definitely seems easier than court.
- Thread starter
- #80
Well, Capital One has issued an immediate charge back, putting the ownership of dispute on him. It's quite possible I'll have to provide documentation of which I have a ton to dispute against him. US Bank seems to be a bit more so of proving the case prior to chargeback, so we'll see what happens there.