John @ RADD is Rad!

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PeeZed

PeeZed

10 Year
Joined
Jan 4, 2015
Threads
56
Messages
785
Location
Vancouver Island, BC, Canada
I'm sure there's already one of these threads somewhere on here, but I figured I'd ad my two cents.

Since I'm relatively new to the lifted big tire Cruiser thing, I've stopped by RADD my share of times when I make the trip into Duncan. Whenever I've had a question, John has been very generous with his knowledge and has walked me through a few fixes already.

Just today when I asked him about steering adjustment possibilities, because my steering wheel has felt slightly less responsive than my VW TDI that I'm used to, John simply asked me to move my wheel back and forth while he got under the truck. I just figured that having an SOA and 35's meant things were naturally a little sloppy, but he quickly said that I should come and have a look at something.

The 80 series steering system off the Hysteer kit that the PO installed had end links which were less than desirable. Let's just say that one of them was barely hanging on and the other was noticeably loose. He quickly sourced the parts for me and had them within the hour.

I white knuckled the drive home and once I had the ends off it was evident that those ends were, well, at the end of their life.

Along with many other questions which many mechanics would likely want to protect the answers to, John has been generous with his answers and his years of experience in the shop and on the trail shine true.

So, although I've said thanks to him personally, I wanted to express that here as I'm sure many others could contribute in the same way about John too.

Oh, and now when I turn the wheel a little bit, the wheels turn a little bit too ;-) Now for the clutch master, axle seals (rebuild), cooling fan system, and one day a turbo...
 
John is always so helpful when i go to him as well :beer:

also, i just had the same thing happen with the tie rods, but mine actually fell off the pitman arm while driving up a small trail. good thing you caught it when you did!
 
Great news....

I gotta say and not to be picky......we have seen our share of steering problems at Radd back in the day in fact just like a relay rod end falling out..

When I get my hands on a new to me cruiser, higher milage and nearly 40 years old I generally attack the steering components first..my BJ42s steering was sloppy and every component was severely worn so I replaced everything.

Couple years later I still feel a slight bit up unwanted play and feel it is place in the steering box itself, which should be adjusted..rag joint looks okay.
 
Diesel Cruiserman said:
When I get my hands on a new to me cruiser, higher milage and nearly 40 years old I generally attack the steering components first..my BJ42s steering was sloppy and every component was severely worn so I replaced everything.
Click to expand...

That's about where I'm at with mine. Steering joints are starting to scare me, and the box has a lot of play. Part of the reason it has been banished to the shop for now.
 
John @ RADD supplied me with a front axle rebuild kit and my OME suspension soon after I bought my truck. I gotta say he did a great job putting together those kits and got the parts to me quick. Definitely a good guy.
 
Ive got all my OME heavy suspension rom John, and when i called him up a couple days after the install about the rear being too bouncy he very clearly described which leaf to take out and how to do so. The ride is soo much better now!:steer:

Ive since gotten the front birfield rebuild kit from him, and again, really helpful in describing what to expect and how to remove the bearings.



now we just need to convince him to come out to a meet!:beer::beer::beer::beer::beer: :beer:
 
C'mon seapotato, just let it out...just let it happen...you know you wanna.

In other news, I drove my VW TDI to pick up a clutch master cylinder from RADD today and noticed that my front end on my car was wobbly, and I just had a local mechanic replace the wheel bearing last week. The original wobble from the wheel bearing was gone but now a new wobble had emerged. Low and behold, after asking if John could take a quick look at it, he noticed the tie rod bolt couldn't be torqued to spec because the rod hole was so worn that the tapered part pulled through the hole and bottomed out the nut...funny how the other mechanic didn't notice that when putting it back together after the wheel bearing, because there was a fresh cotter pin on there. Needless to say, John will now be servicing both my diesel vehicles from here on in.

There you go seapotato, I did two so now you're covered ;-)
 
I first met John 23 years ago... Never stopped in at RADD, but know his character. I traded with him for the cage that's in my 40. If you need help, don't hesitate to go see him.
 
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