Good Diesel Mechanic Calgary - Sundre Area

[skoki]

I'm looking for a good landcruiser (preferably diesel oriented) mechanic in the Calgary to Sundre area. I know there is a fellow out by Bergen close to Sundre but I've misplaced his phone number. Anybody supply his contact info? Can anybody recommend other good, ethical, reasonable mechanics within a 10 hour drive of Calgary??

Thanks

 

[crushers]

LOL!!
wow, you want an 'ethical' , 'reasonable' mech in or around the money hungry capital of Canada...good luck.

there are 3 guys that pop to mind, none of which i would use or recommend for service work:
Mike at ProActive $!$!$! (huge frggin money and sucks at modifications)
Dan at 4wheel in Edmonton (service work is questionable last time i checked) wicked for parts though.
Hilltop, never had any work done by him, he 'seems' to know the "B" series engines okay but quality of mech work is unknown by me.

i used to use Mike at ProActive a lot, but he gouged me big time on the last few times i used him and the quality of work wasn't there (picture a glorified Canadian tire) so i don't recommend him any longer.

Dan and I go back a lot of years, he is a blood hound when it comes to sourcing parts and depending on what you are looking at getting done you could investigate this avenue.

Hilltop... he is a minitruck kid turn cruiserhead for the money. take it from there.

stay away from ALL the dealers, none of them know cruisers, that being said Canyon Creek is getting better from what i have heard so i would suggest go ask questions, lots of questions and if the replies make sense then there you go... if it sounds like BS then it usually is...

cheers

 

[canucksafari]

Depending on how fast you drive , we have a few good diesel and Cruiser shops around Vancouver. I use to do it in 10.5 hrs with just fuel stops in a gutless diesel Rabbit. Cruiserland in Langley is right up at the top in the good and ethical department. If you are just looking for a good general diesel mechanic in Calgary then start asking some people you know who run light commercial diesels.

 

[mano002]

A friend of mine had an out of province inspection on his ford powersmoke done at: drb mechanical 403-257-6444. They were recommended to him on a ford forum. They were fair to him, their price was good and the re-inspection was free after we fixed the deficiencies. They were a little picky with the inspection, which in my eye makes them fairly ethical. They are all the way out in transport park (just NE of glenmore and 84th St SE). I can't vouch on whether or not they know a cruiser, but they do diesels for sure, as they do maintenance on large commercial diesels. Might be worth checking out.

 

[Awl_TEQ]

3B mechanic

You don't know me from a hole in the ground but I would recommend Ryan at Hilltop and, judging by the number of people at his last BBQ, I'm not the only one. He rebuilds 3B's from the bare block up as well as 3,4 and 5spd trannies. Every businessman is in it for the money but I would say Ryan's strength is in his attention to detail. Check out his site and judge for yourself - Hilltop Cruisers Index - his number is 403-638-3396. Go see his operation and his work in person. Tell him Kevin at Allied sent you.

He is currently holding a 3B/5spd driveline for my FJ to BJ45 conversion project.

As for Canyon Creek Toyota I've purchased three vehicles from them (none used). They seem to have a lot of RHD imports around all the time - enough that I would think they are importing them themselves - but I have never talked to them about cruisers. I once priced signals and front fenders for my 45 in the parts dept. but didn't get that warm'n'fuzzy feelin. Ryan's rate is less also.

Hope that helps

 

[Sherlock Holmes]

Both my father and me have done business with Ryan from Hilltop Cruisers, he's very knowledgable and his pricing is pretty fair. IO would recommend him any day of the week.

 

[Laughingjackal]

Thanks for the heads up. I just shot ryan an email to enquire about shipping me gaskets. Seems impossible to find them in the US.

 

[crushers]

Canyon creek did import for a while
Proactive does a lot of business and I used to send my trucks to mike
He is expensive but his R&R work is second to none
I have met Ryan but never had any work done by him

 

[veiloctane]

If you want to learn, there's no better way than to do it yourself. Usually, I just hang out with fellow members of IH8mud and we figure it out together.

I have done everything on my land cruiser from suspension to automatic and manual transmission rebuilds, transfer case rebuilds.

some stuff I have sent out like Gears and Lockers but doing most of the labour myself saves me a ton of $$$$

I figure the cost of labour I can just about buy me the tools and the manuals to replace the job.