The way I became acquainted with Duane and the tool he makes for Toyota axles was because a problem developed with the Durasolid tool. Several people had contacted me letting me know that the tool wouldn't slide over the widest section of the axle (the section the retainer, tone ring, and bearing are pressed onto). These people tried to contact the company but they got no reply. So, I decided to give it a try getting in touch with them. Their website didn't advertise a phone number, mailing address or email address. They just had one of those internal messaging systems on their website where you would fill out a form and send it off hoping somebody reads it. Well, my first attempt failed and around 2 weeks later I tried again. This time I basically told them they would have to be complete idiots not to respond back. All I wanted them to do is acknowledge they knew about the manufacturing problem and they intend on fixing it. I told them if they don't give me assurances that the problem will be fixed, I cannot in good conscientious continue to recommend their product. Well, they never got back to me so I went searching for another option.

I can't remember who it was on this forum that suggested Duane's tool on this forum but it looked pretty good so I messaged him on Ebay and told him I wanted to talk to him about his tool. The conversation I had with Duane went well and he sent me out his tool to test out. What Sean (aka @infamousRNR ) and I found out is his tool was only going to work to pull the parts off the axle but wouldn't work to press everything back on. With the original Durasolid tool, Sean and i used a press sleeve from our kit to press the parts back onto the axle. I told Duane that without the ability to use his tool to press the parts back onto the axle, I couldn't support his tool. What good is it to be able to pull the parts off but then you can't get them back on using the tool. So, Sean and I came up with a suggestion for Duane to make an adapter that would work with his tool to press the parts back on. The installer sleeve with the cut-out section was what Sean and I suggested Duane make to go along with the main tool and the tone ring remover. With the installer sleeve, it was now a complete tool that could do everything.

The beauty of Duane's tool is it's all you need. With the original Durasolid tool, we needed to use a bearing splitter and our press sleeve kit which adds expense for people wanting to do this repair.

I'm pretty proud that Sean and I were instrumental in making Duane's tool more functional and I also like supporting someone we respect and like. I've had many conversations with Duane and he's a good dude. Duane had a career in manufacturing and he's retired now. He's keeping busy in retirement making these tools right at his home in Omaha Nebraska.

The funny thing is Durasolid finally got back to me after 6 months and let me know they fixed their tool design and wanted to send me one of their tools to test out again. I told them that train has already left the station and they blew it by not getting back to me sooner. Who knows, we could still be supporting their tool, but I'm damn glad we aren't. These freaking people never even thanked us for supporting their tool. Who knows how many sales we made for them from our videos.

I'm stoked we're supporting an American made tool and not something made overseas. The U.S. use to be a Manufacturing Powerhouse. Now, most things we buy are made in other countries. I'd like to see more manufacturing jobs return to the U.S.