3Pooches version 3.5

Awesome videos, thanks Greg. The batmobile has some insane flex!

 

True...BUT for how much longer

 

Casualty of airing down?

 

Ouchie

 

That back tire was one of the tires that didn't even look aired down if I remember correctly. Wonder if it hit a stump the wrong way. Hopefully the puncture isn't in the sidewall...

 

Did it take air and then will it be at the same level when you get home!?

 

I thats probably all the winter air coming now. just time to fill it up with some summer air now

 

I haven’t had time to touch it since I parked it

 

In the woods?

 

So correct me if I'm way off:

I buy a ton of crap from the aftermarket. And I've been doing this for 30+ years. I won't say stuff I purchased in the past was glorious, but I felt that there was a higher pride in the product and such. A greater willingness to stand behind their product, to support it, update if need be, and to provide a product that makes folks want to return to them for more. Over the last few years, I feel like all of that has severely declined. Sure, you have some outliers, but they've become few and far between. I keep receiving products that are half-ass attempts. The largest offense I see is crappy hardware. Or lack of thought in the hardware provided. I run into this constantly. Just did so this weekend. I make a ton of orders to McMaster-Carr for replacement hardware way to much. And a pet peeve: don't provide me with ASE fasteners when the vehicle is nothing but metric! Especially when it's a vehicle I take to remote locations and my space to pack tools is limited.

Instructions: This isn't that hard. Take some freaking pictures and find someone with a grasp of English and get to it. I shouldn't have to waste time searching for a positing somewhere, correcting your miserable installation instructions. One of the big names in the Jeep aftermarket is notorious for this. Hell, there's one in the off-road aftermarket that is just as notorious. Back to my weekend experiencing this. I shouldn't have to wade through your multiple sets of instructions, your terrible-to-navigate website, and various vendor sites just to figure out how to install your product. Still referring to this instance: learn to perform basic math and keep the instructions updated!

Customer support: hate to break it to you, but these people are the folks keeping you in business. Don't treat them like idiots, respond to their support requests, and listen to them. Absolutely, there's going to be some dumb questions. Hell, I'm definitely guilty of it. But if you're getting the same dumb question consistently, maybe you should take a look at the cause and make some changes. And when customers make a suggestion for a product update, listen. These people are using your product in ways you couldn't have imagined. There may be some good ideas going on. You don't always know better. I don't care what your background is.

Make a quality product: don't piss on me and tell me it's raining. Take the extra step to make your product stand above the crowd. Don't try and convince the masses with garbage marketing speak.

Yes, I'm not had a happy modding weekend. Rant done.

 

No AAR?

 

Nice ASS!

 

Greg has dibbs?.

 

Mark may not know what that is. I can't provide one. I wasn't there.

 

What He said.....

Now I want to know what the issue is, with what part.

 

AAR =

• After Action Review?
• Active Arborist Representative?

 

3,000psi of wood grabbing action!!

 

I guess that either means me or Chris...

Chris cut the tree, but I was pushing it out/down from the ones it was hung up in...

Ipso facto, and therefore by default, Tiny was the Safety Officer!!

 

Sure.

 

It's not just been the Jeep. The Tacoma could be just as bad. The Jeep has been almost everything I've gotten for it. Lot of lazy design and corner cutting. I can give examples. So I bought a Metalcloak evap canister relocate kit. The majority of them are similar, so it goes for them, too. You reuse the OEM evap lines. They're mostly hard plastic. Things may be different on a Wrangler that doesn't have 92k miles on it, but when rerouting the lines it placed a concerning kink in both of them. They may have been okay, but I wasn't about to track down check engine lights because of it. So I purchased a $2 elbow for one line and was able to make the other one work with some hose I had lying around. Now? No kink and it works fine. Then I purchased another product from them. It was a relocation for the vacuum pump deal and an sPod mount all in one. I'm looking at this thing (and almost every other vendor did the same) and they want you to clip the wires and use crimp-on butt connectors to reroute the wiring. No thanks. Not on a vehicle that will regularly see water and mud. I did some looking to see if I could make a harness myself (no more than $10 in parts), but the connectors were hard to source. I end up stumbling on Dorman's kit (this is a company that mostly makes aftermarket replacement parts for OEMs). They have a nice harness with OEM connectors. Simple. And I won't even start on Metalcloak's instructions. They are so bad.

I bought a couple of items from JKS. Never again. First was rear coil spring retainers. Lazy design. There's a bolt on the bottom that's almost blind. You can barely get a box wrench into the space where it is. I had to tape the fastener to the wrench to make it work. The head of the bolt was Allen. Just a bad choice because it limits what you have to squeeze in between the spring coils to tighten the bolt. I finally just gave up and chucked them in the trash. I looked at everyone else's kits and most provide a flag nut or purpose-made wrench to help. And a hex-head fastener. I also got a set of their end links for the front (to correct another piece of lazy design). They went on okay, but some of the "features" are less than confidence-inspiring. I may eat my words for those, but as of right now I'm not impressed.

I bought the ARB rear drawer kit. Went to go install that this weekend. Good lord the instructions are miserable. And have you ever tried to find anything on their website? It looks pretty, but is less than useful. Any time I look for one of their products I have to hunt down part numbers, pictures, and installation instructions. All three are impossible to find. And if you email them, you're lucky to get a response within a week. So I'm trying to get this thing in and it's not looking right. I think they've mismarked/sent the wrong kit. I try to find pictures to see if what it's supposed to look like. Good luck. All I know is that it's labeled correctly. Other than that, couldn't tell you. While we're on ARB: I can't count how many times I've stumbled on parts I had no idea they even made. Stuff that's not even on the website!

After noticing that every single hinge and bolt on the exterior of this thing is either rusting or has chipping paint, I ordered some stainless steel stuff. I'm putting bolts in the tailgate hinge and look at the washer they've provided me. It's super thin and rubber-backed. I look at what Jeep has provided. Thick, sturdy, washer. Off to pay more money for hardware.....

Last one. Spent considerable money on a tire carrier/tailgate hinge deal. It's adjustable. I adjust it weekly because the tire pushes the carrier away from the tailgate. I email Terraflex for the secret to keeping it like it's supposed to be? They tell me I'm doing something wrong. That's possible, but I've followed your crappy directions to a tee.

You asked, Bill! And this is just the beginning. There have been a few vendors that have done a good job. But not many. Maybe I'm just being a whiny bitch. I'm just tired of having to spend extra time and money to wade through their mistakes.