Thread: Crappy fab work

Originally Posted by [b

Quote[/b] (battlescars @ Nov. 29 2006,4:55)]Custom 4x kit, looked like the whole truck is for sale from the paper attached to the front windsheild.

4x?? where are the CV's going to the front tires making it 4x? am i missing them?

dood, come on......... its either a prerunner which is 2wd or its a 4wd with the diff/axles removed. with that 12 in subframe drop if would be impossible to connect a functioning drive shaft.

anyone know what shop that came out of? if indeed it was a shop so i can take my truck there?....NOT!

ugliest thing ive ever seen. i see one similar to that but not as hack down by my work. looks like shit run over twice

They didn't even bother to fab the tube for a fit around the corner..tried to use weld to take up the gap..



The above pics are from the right front shock hoop.

The left front shock hoop failed at the Baja 1000, see:







See here for *more.

I got a letter from a big name legal firm saying I have to PAY THEM for this work (it was done gratis). There was no estimate, no paper trail.

Anyone experience such a blatant case of !#@@??

wow what a crock of shit. what truck was it on? did you over look the work after it was done?

It was on my 4x4 van. *From the outside, it looked "clean": painted & everything. *They didn't finish the welds in the back. *I just looked at the the support tube, & it wasn't even .120!! *Something like .06, incredibly thin.

That's the modus-operanda for this shop, more Appearance than Substance. *They left my brake-lines exposed & rubbing on my front tires last year's Baja 1000. *I dang nearly got killed outside Ejido Heroes La Indepencia:




The lack of shocks meant there was no rebound control, & my front-driveshaft kept slipping out:



My front drive-shaft got scoured & I had to tie it up:

what fab shop

Originally Posted by [b

Quote[/b] (mig25 @ Nov. 30 2006,3:56)]The lack of shocks meant there was no rebound control, & my front-driveshaft kept slipping out:

With longer travel leafs like that you probibly need a new drive shaft with a longer slip yoke. Even without the shocks it shouldn't fall come apart on full extension.

Shocks probably limited the travel so the yoke wasn't slipping out.

Originally Posted by [b

Quote[/b] (JonMc @ Nov. 30 2006,5:08)]what fab shop

Offroadunlimited

more here

i allways use shocks as limit straps.

Originally Posted by [b

Quote[/b] (mig25 @ Nov. 30 2006,8:59)]

Originally Posted by [b

Quote[/b] (JonMc @ Nov. 30 2006,5:08)]what fab shop

Offroadunlimited

more here

Did ORU do the 4x4 conversion on your van, or did you buy the van set up that way? It looks like a home made hack job. ORU builds alot of burger cruisers that never see dirt, but I doubt they would ever install shock hoops or weld anything like that. What's the whole story?

Originally Posted by [b

Quote[/b] (mig25 @ Nov. 30 2006,8:59)]

Originally Posted by [b

Quote[/b] (JonMc @ Nov. 30 2006,5:08)]what fab shop

Offroadunlimited

more here

There are quite a few shops called ORU. What city/state?

oru is in burbank i think.

Hey MIG25....

If they did such crappy work on your truck last year that almost got you killed, why did you take your truck back to them and trust that they would do a good job this time around?

Sorry to see yet another shop that is turning out crappy work and making money at it with almost no liability. I hope you get it taken care of.


- Paul

Why are you posting this on a Ranger forum? Is it because all of the other forums have kicked you off & banned you?

oh shit, i have a toyota. wtf am i doing here??

Originally Posted by [b

Quote[/b] (matt_helton @ Dec. 01 2006,3:07)]oh shit, i have a toyota. *wtf am i doing here??

split finally.

Here's a perfect example of an ORU "burger runner"

http://offroad-unlimited.com/media.htm

thats actually a pretty sweet burban

that sick is pretty gnar

Originally Posted by [b

Quote[/b] (SKOADYBOB @ Dec. 01 2006,4:41)]Here's a perfect example of an ORU "burger runner"

http://offroad-unlimited.com/media.htm

this burb is actually built on a mid 70's chevy pickup chassis. it was built for the magazine 4-WHEEL&OFF ROAD around 98-2000ish. it was a relly cool truck at the time, and still is, but i havent heard or seen anything about it since the last magazine that had them testing it. but that seems to happen alot in this magazine... trucks laways dissapeer off the face of the earth.

ooops.. forgot.



not sure if it really is crap, but it sure looks funky.

And just like that, Atomics back in the limelight..........

Originally Posted by [b

Quote[/b] (mig25 @ Nov. 30 2006,10:42)]



They didn't even bother to fab the tube for a fit around the corner..tried to use weld to take up the gap..



The above pics are from the right front shock hoop.

The left front shock hoop failed at the Baja 1000, see:







See here for *more.

I got a letter from a big name legal firm saying I have to PAY THEM for this work (it was done gratis). *There was no estimate, no paper trail.

Anyone experience such a blatant case of !#@@??

I think I used to see this van driving around Whittier.....did you buy it from a guy in Sons of Thunder 4wd club? I'm pretty sure this is the same van. I think the previous owner did the conversion, not ORU.

This is a van by ORU. See how the shock hoops are built? They have built them this way for a long time.

oops. here's the shock hoop.

Here are more pics from the left-hand side shock hoop, which failed:



They used 1/16" thick tubing (??!&#33 for the support-tube. *The shock-tabs were 3/16" & the main tube was 1/8". *Note that they didn't bother to clean up after torching off the previous support-tube (see that thing on the left). *THAT shock-hoop was on the vehicle when I bought it in '97 (for many years), & held up for 9 years under my ownership/use..no problems. Their hoop failed after a few outings of light offroad use.


Here are 2 pics of the gussett for the support-tube





They didn't finish the welds.




This is where the support-tube was welded to the shock-hoop, the welds weren't incomplete in the back.

The right-hand side shock-hoop is similar:





poorly done braces for support-tube.

Remember this pic of the front of the shock-hoop?



It was worse than I thought on re-inspection. *Turned out they used a piece of SCRAP METAL, to fill in the gap between the tube & the frame!!. *See below:





No telling how long the right-hand side shock hoop will last..

Sure doesn't look like any other work that I've ever seen come out of ORU.

Desert strike??

Seeing those new pictures proves that ORU did not do the work on your van.They would NEVER let a truck leave their shop looking like that. You never answered my questions regarding the conversion. I would say that you are avoiding my q's because you have been caught in a lie. What did ORU do to piss you off so badly?

anything out of baja shop

Originally Posted by [b

Quote[/b] (captincrash @ Dec. 02 2006,7:20)]anything out of baja shop

lol, anything out of there? big words. are you just trying to disturb shit around here?

Originally Posted by [b

Quote[/b] (captincrash @ Dec. 02 2006,7:20)]anything out of baja shop

lets just remember this came out of the "chop shop"

nope just say atleast anything not made by aj isn't good at least in my experiance with them

I would like to point out that I did NOT name the fab shop in my initial reply, I only came across this thread about "Crappy fab work" & my ride had 2 consecutive failures at sucessive Baja 1000's. Only after someone asked, did I weigh my decision..it's just fact, no legal consequences.

Also, I didn't want to get beyond posting pictures & getting involved with a pissing match. Only after getting accused of lying, I feel I have to respond.

Originally Posted by [b

Quote[/b] ]I think I used to see this van driving around Whittier.....did you buy it from a guy in Sons of Thunder 4wd club? I'm pretty sure this is the same van. I think the previous owner did the conversion, not ORU.

I bought it from the President of the Sons of Thunder 4WD club in '97, from Mark Krenik. It had a coil front-end w/radius-arms with 39" Super Swampers. I lowered it & converted it myself to leaf-springs in '98. New custom leaf-springs front & rear from National Springs.

I left the front shock-hoops intact, they held up for Mark with his 39" Super Swampers w/Rancho 7000s (2 per wheel). They held up for me for EIGHT YEARS of offroad use till this May. They had gussetts where the shock hoops contacted the frame. In fact, for strength there was a "solid platform" fabricated on the corner of the frame, where the shock-hoop was welded to. Also, there was a gussett at this point-of-contact. The fab-shop-in-question did NOT put one in when they replaced the shock-hoop, & on the LHS they did not use a "platform".

In May, I was offerred by XXX at fabshop-in-question to re-do the shock-hoop in May of this year for no-charge. I agreed. (BTW, I have email where we agree to bring the van over to the shop). XXXX tells me he will get the Bilstein shocks for "free" & will hit up Bilstein for them. XXXX yelled at one of the Bilstein employees over the phone to get these shocks. I was standing 5 ft away, when XXXX called Shane Casad/Bilstein (see here for my interview with him), & APOLOGIZED for his behavior. Bilstein unfortunately is entangled in this mess.

In June, I am handed a document from fabshop-in-question that mentions the above vehicle work by fabshop-in-question: 400.00 for shock-hoops & that 0.00 balance is owed.

In late September I received a demand-letter from a big-name legal firm that I have to PAY for the shock-hoop installation. Remember, by law any paid work requires an Estimate & my approval. There was none. By asking me for payment for work where required procedures weren't followed is breaking the law. It's called FRAUD. Like I said above, this was documented on paper as 0.00 owed.

I am getting bullied, so did Bilstein. See below for similar.


Interesting that Suburban thing ("advertisement") came up in this thread.

After getting threatened with a lawsuit, I made some calls in the Offroad Racing community, & the word from a legendary vendor & respected racer is:

"that Suburban project never went anywhere. They just got free parts"

[ one of the posters mentioned that "but i havent heard or seen anything about it since the last magazine that had them testing it" ]

"People don't buy Good Products, they buy GOOD MARKETING"

It goes back to what I was saying about Appearance & Substance. Show trucks & magazine trucks..that's all "advertising/marketing". Someone asked me about overlooking the work: on the outside, everything looks bling-bling..nice black matte paint & Bilstein shocks. The horrific welding is in the back (& so is the unpainted tubes).

I'm just as SHOCKED as some of you. The pics I took today are totally new to me..just TERRIBLE!! I think fabshop-in-question is capable of good work, but they apparently just did a quickie freebie job. I remember on the day I picked up the van, right in front of me the mechanic said "I need to some more work"..took the mig-welder & did some welds in the rear. That brake-line fiasco a year ago was done late (5:30pm) & I had to remind the mechanic that the brakes lines were extending out & hitting the tires. My van simply didn't get full-attention.

Not to pick on fabshop-in-question, but I had problems with getting overcharged at Dick Cepek (no longer in business). Someone told me that place got run into the ground by bad management. I had some work done by a pre-runner shop many years ago. That clown DOCTORED the estimate (fraud) & basically screwed me.

Originally Posted by [b

Quote[/b] ] Seeing those new pictures proves that ORU did not do the work on your van.They would NEVER let a truck leave their shop looking like that. You never answered my questions regarding the conversion. I would say that you are avoiding my q's because you have been caught in a lie. What did ORU do to piss you off so badly?

"It's easy to establish business practices for whoever"

I'm wondering how fabshop-in-question could let something like this out myself..it can only come back to bite them. Basically, that threat of lawsuit is a goner..because all I would have to do is call Shane Casad/Bilstein (Offroad Sales) & that leading Offroad Racing vendor.

"You don't need a lawyer, just goto the Media. You think they wouldn't jump on a story like this?"

Like I say, the fabshop-in-question is shooting themselves in the foot. I had no intent on exposing the fabshop-in-question. I came across this thread by accident, & posted pics without naming the shop.

One of the major networks just did a piece on how Youtube.com (& Internet) can be used as whisteblowers. There was an auto-dealer in Arizona who screwed over a guy, & it EXPLODED in a Honda car forum. It got leaked to Race-Dezert.com. People started sending FAX's, calling, etc..finally the car dealer gave the guy's money back.

Wow, still doesn't make any sense.... And that Suburban doesn't have many off the shelf parts on it that someone would give for free.

gnar

looks like some sweet 3 foot lift spindles
are those custom?