Long Travel BS Thread

I worked for a performance motorcycle shop for years and after a few years of not being able to keep up with the last minute customer demands during our busy season (just before thanksgiving) we made a clear cut decision and deadline. If you wanted your bike worked on and ready before thanksgiving, it needed to be in the shop by the first week of October. Granted these were smaller jobs such as rebuilding suspension and carburetors, we averaged 18hr days 6 days a week for the final 3 weeks of the crunch and took care of over 100 customers in the month of November alone on average. We were swamped and anyone that showed up last minute we would tell them flat out that we would try, but it would be done when it was done.

Everyone I have dealt with while building my truck has been honest with eta's for parts, and I am doing all of the installs myself. So knowing they are busier right now, I have at least never been given any false promises on time frames and I feel like any reputable company will be honest with you on that front.

 

Damn roasting them guys
Makes me glad I went with camburg I was just an rch from going Baja kits.

 

I was told 4-6 weeks and it took 14 weeks and then they gave me springs that were so stiff they raised my truck 3"+ w/ no preload after I warned them that it would be much different than access and double cabs with V6's in terms of spring rate. The front was lifted so much the steering extensions weren't short enough to get the toe in spec. Led to some agro alignment tech banging on my truck and stripping out a couple of cam bolts trying to get the toe in. They were good about sending me shorter extensions asap, but I had to figure the problem out for them after I had already warned them. The kicker was that when I explained the need for lighter springs they said I'd have to order them (and pay for them) from King. Not stoked. Especially when one of the LCA's clearanced itself into my caliper about 1/8" wtf?

I've explained about the crappy double compression fitting brake lines and non-adjustable limit straps, but the thing is is that they are a race shop first and foremost. JT their sales rep did a good job communicating 99% of the time with me (as in responding to emails, but not giving me accurate info in telling me when the kit would be finished). The shop isn't formatted for keeping up with their demands. They're doing Chevy and Ford in higher volume than Toyota as well. I wasn't given a realistic lead time and kept being led on about the deadline for them to be finished in "a couple weeks" for one and a half months. I don't have any problem with their actual arms, but they don't run a well organized business on the bolt on parts end of things - especially when considering what you can buy for the same price.

 

Figured it out, just had to keep turning the wheel back and forth slowly

 

Time for a little test run??

 

Having first hand experience being "that guy" at the end of the phone who would take your money and tell you it's a 4-6 week lead time only to have it be a 4-6 month turn around, that fucking sucks to hear. I'm so glad I no longer work for that shop, ruined any good rep I used to have in this industry. Especially since you live on the other side of the country. Even if you live right down the street from their shop, it's disappointing. Although the arms are specific to your vehicle, much of the other hardware (uniballs, heims, mis alignment spacers, nuts & bolts), are similar between different kits. To be honest, this isn't the first time problems have arisen with some Brenthel/Baja Kits parts. Whether the problem is publicized (like a brand new designed long travel kit getting drastically less travel than promised) or not, I won't buy their product.

The big problem I have noticed with off road shops is that the people who run them are not business people, they're engineers or gear heads who would rather be working with their hands than sitting behind a desk attempting to care about ordering parts. You'd think they'd give a damn about the guy ordering the bolt on kit for his toyota, chevy or ford since they probably sell a lot more of those than they do race trucks, but what do I know. It may be a drop in the bucket for their monthly profits, but for you and I we have to budget for months to be able to afford this shit.

Good news is that King will allow you to swap out new springs for different rates as long as the ones you bring in still look new.

 

Good to know. I sold the kit already. Would have been nice to know back then, but now I know and that info could come in handy later when there's some new stuff going on w/ my new (old) truck.

 

If it wasn't for Brett king and his employees and Erik Moore of moore fabrication id be absolutely fucked and stuck on the other side of the country with a growing bill and hotel cost

 

Look on the bright side, it's southern California during summer. You're out here for an extended stay when the weather is nice, and you don't have a car to drive so you don't have to be worried about the bullshit fucking traffic every god damn place you want to go. For fuck's sake, it's never ending.

 

Man that sucks to hear for you Caboose. That's pretty messed up. When a customer orders a kit through us I push my best to give them a trouble free kit shipped or picked up doesn't matter. In the end they are happy then everyone is. And for speaking of these shops being busy on race season that doesn't matter at all. Business is business and it must be done professionally even if its a small time shop. Most shops with race teams have separate workers to handle regular customers and orders anyways.

 

Yep you're right
I am stuck in Cali in the best part of the year
With no vehicle
With no way to get anywhere cool
Like pismo
Or Yosemite
Or mammoth
Or big bear

 

I vote for Yosemite it will blow your mind on how amazing that place is.

 

Where are you?

 

I've got thousands of pictures from hiking Yosemite

 

Ontario

 

F it all those places (minus Pismo) are too hot right now anyway. If you can afford to rent a car I'd say drive it to the beach.

 

@Caboose117 Sorry to hear about your experience. I have had similar issues with shops and/or getting parts while being stationed in parts of the country other than California.

Lots of Offroad companies see the $$ that can be made selling Toyota parts to the huge aftermarket crowd and attempt to jump into the marketplace and get a slice of the market share. But oftentimes they don't really have the production capacity or they are not willing to allocate their resources to keep up with the demand for their products.

For custom stuff like LT race kits, roll cages, and fabricated parts the best advice anyone could give you is that the higher end shops like DMZ, LSK, Dirt Designs, Solo Motorsports etc are much more likely to stick to their deadlines. They are pricey but worth it in the end. But even the best off-road shops in the industry get behind.

For shocks, not many companies can get their shocks faster to a customer than @Downsouth Motorsports. Lots of offroad shops want you to order your shocks through them but they take longer and cost more.

I hope you get your parts soon and get your truck back on the road soon.

 

Took it for a spin last night only to find out trucks in limp mode from ditching the air injection system. I was told you can ditch it without any issues but that's apparently not the case

 

I'm sure you know about this, but just in case:

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads...m-p2440-and-p2442.370792/page-2#post-10328793

It would be nice to make your own bypass to save money. @koditten

 

I Just about finished this thing. Such a cool truck.