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Everyday shops don't do squares anymore

my kids took the truck

my kids took the truck

1/2 ton status
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Joined
Dec 10, 2013
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Location
Oroville, CA
Anyone got a shop they can vouch for?

I sent a few emails out to a short list of shops with a small test job and nobody responded.
 
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What type of rig? American custom Classics in Hollister did my dad's Buick, Ace fuel in Santa clara, EC auto fab is Jason Howerton he was Pacfabs shop forman he is in Gilroy , DeLong dyno for horse power in San Jose, these four shops are good.
 
Cucv_M1008 said:
What type of rig? American custom Classics in Hollister did my dad's Buick, Ace fuel in Santa clara, EC auto fab is Jason Howerton he was Pacfabs shop forman he is in Gilroy , DeLong dyno for horse power in San Jose, these four shops are good.
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That gives me somewhere to start.
 
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ekajkrats said:
He'll have to speak to that, but this thread is what made me think of him in the first place:
‘72 Blazer at work {Project Hope}
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that is a good example, thank you: if a shop doesn't have Std Wrenches or the fortitude for something like that then they need to decline K5 type work and stick to soccer mom minivans -- my K5 has been a maintained daily driver since high school so it doesn't have 99% of the issues there but close enough

EDIT: nice thread -- back when I was a Granite shop manager, I wish my mechanics left threads like that about what they thought about working on things like the '72 CAT 12F, that old iron you reuse and change out the motor and hydraulics and put it back in service, just a different mindset from the "component mechanics" these days, everything has to come in a box for them or they cry (when I moved up from shop management even back then only the older mechanics were allowed to work on the big stuff, the new guys even out of the Union mechanic school at OE3 had to start on the new pickups changing filters until they matured)
 
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my kids took the truck said:
bad news, Ace Fuel is out

Ray at Ace scheduled me an appointment for Jan, and then out of the blue they write me this morning, "After discussing your issue we are going to recommend [well-known corp shit shop] for your repair"

idk what I did but that wasn't cool -- and to play it off so passively like they can't figure out how to change a steering arm: I got into it with another shop over missing parts on an invoice (the entire transmission and transfer case rebuild missing) so maybe I have a problem customer label now -- after that I am calling around to shops with this small job to change a steering arm as a test, if they can't do something this simple honestly then I need to keep looking around
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That sucks I'm sorry.
 
Rethinking shops

This video was posted yesterday -- it looks like my issue with shops: they can't figure out how to upsell (A) a 70's K5 since they don't know wtf they are doing to start, (B) me because I see these simple solutions using my heavy equipment shop manager experience and am like "hey guys, lets just..." not knowing they'd been up all night elaborating a bull$hit story for why I need them to do +work for +$$). Note, I am not trying to save money by buying my own oil like in the video, the upselling part is where I realized [your local shop guy] Automotive tried five times to upsell me and they goofed it each time by buying the wrong parts and then giving up.

Is anyone else seeing thisr?
 
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We install customer bought parts. If they don’t fit or work properly it’s on you.

We have the skills and know how to get the proper parts as well. Especially on Square bodys.
We mostly work on older vehicles and have the experience and connections to get the right parts even on custom builds.

Feel free to call the shop and talk to Steve about any work you need done.

I’ll warn you ahead of time our shop rate is $145/hr and we probably don’t have any openings in the schedule until after the New Year.
 
pblaze725 said:
We install customer bought parts. If they don’t fit or work properly it’s on you.

We have the skills and know how to get the proper parts as well. Especially on Square bodys.
We mostly work on older vehicles and have the experience and connections to get the right parts even on custom builds.

Feel free to call the shop and talk to Steve about any work you need done.

I’ll warn you ahead of time our shop rate is $145/hr and we probably don’t have any openings in the schedule until after the New Year.
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I'm just looking for someone to do wheel bearing type stuff -- your shop is overkill for that and the local oil lube isn't enough. I'd never considered there'd be a day when I'm the only person I can find that knows how to work on these and I can't afford to take the time off. Last week I got pulled over for not wearing a seatbelt, the CHP dude was in his 20s and was the first time he'd ever seen a lap-belt equipped vehicle: spent most of his time asking about the truck. F*cking twilight zone.
 
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