Good driveline shop in Phoenix if anyone is looking

[Mattman]

So I asked around and did some google searches for driveline work. I had a gnarly vibration after my OME lift. I suspected U-Joints. Long story short, I had a badly bent rear driveshaft that really started talking after the angle change.

There's a place called Maestro Muffler and Driveline, 902 W Hatcher Rd, Phoenix, AZ 85021. They have excellent online reviews so I called. When I called and explained my issue they said not a problem, bring it anytime.

When I arrived, the mere appearance, location and amount of homeless people hanging around almost changed my mind but if you go, don't let that fool you.

The driveline guy, Ron, knows what he's doing. He had me drive my 80 on the rack and immediately checked pinion angles and found them to be within spec. He pulled my rear driveshaft and found bad U-Joints. He replaced them and tried to balance it and coudn't after many attempts to straighten it. So, he fabbed me a new one with Spicer U-Joints (which I like cause I can service/replace them myself easier).

$237 fabbed, painted, installed and out the door in two hours. He is knowledgeable on DC shafts, high pinion angle jobs etc also. He is adamant about not installing or selling something that you don't need. He did not charge for the work on the bad driveshaft nor the other U-Joints he installed to test it.

It made the Mt. Ord run this past weekend with no problems and 99% of my vibration is gone. (I suspect the other is in the front)

Try them out and tell him I sent you as I'm going to have him do my front shaft as well.

 

[murf]

great tip~ glad you got most of the vibes gone. It was fun hanging out with you and everyone else this weekend!

 

[LongDuck]

Hey, Matt - thanks for the tip. Did they look setup to do wheel bearings (rear) with an arbor press? I need to pull the stubs on my RX7 and have all the parts, just need someone knowledgable and who can follow the FSM.

Great wheeling with you this past weekend,

 

[Mattman]

Hey, Matt - thanks for the tip. Did they look setup to do wheel bearings (rear) with an arbor press? I need to pull the stubs on my RX7 and have all the parts, just need someone knowledgable and who can follow the FSM.

Great wheeling with you this past weekend,

Definitely good times on the Mt. Ord trip!

I'm not sure if they have an arbor press or not. I didn't see what all they had in that mess of equipment but you never know. They seem to do it all though.

They were also working on a 96 Toyota Previa van when I was there. The rear axle bearings were shot. This guy pulled the axle out and whipped out an oxy acetlyene rig and cut the bearing off the axle. I was like Not sure if finesse is their motto.

I'm really hesitant to let people work on my stuff, I try to do as much as humanly possible on my own so it was hard going there in the first place but unfortunately I don't have a driveshaft balancer laying around. I would call and talk to the old Italian accent guy, he's the owner. I'd stress wanting to follow FSM procedures and I bet he'll shoot straight with you about it. He seems very knowledgable.

Just keep in mind if you go, this place is dirty/messy and there's no courtesy lounge with cookies and ESPN on the 50" wall mount. You've been warned.

 

[Stepmurr]

You had a much better experience than I had at a different driveline shop in Tucson - they were reasonable but refused to balance the driveshaft they built for me because "they way I weld them they don't need balancing".

I later found out that they should have assembled both sections of my two-part Tacoma driveshaft and balanced them together.

I ran that driveshaft for a few years but it never ran smoothly. I eventually went back to my original bashed up driveshaft and everything smoothed right out.

I'll use your shop next time - thanks for the tip!

 

[Mattman]

I failed to mention that you can also drop off just the driveshaft and pick it up later. Ron said he prefers to see the truck and measure everything/verify angles though. He told me he had been building driveshafts for 30 years. @Stepmurr I can't believe they wouldnt balance that after building, crazy.

 

[LongDuck]

Thanks for the reply. I'm actually more comfortable in shops that look more like my garage than my doctor's office! I'll probably get in touch with them, but they're going to need to grind the friction fit collars away - not torch cut them. I don't want any heat near my axle shafts like a cutting torch would impart.