Off Road Shop in PA
 

I am looking for an off-roading shop in eastern PA…more specifically the suburbs north of philly near princeton

This place is in West Chester, I just discovered it the other day.

Main Line Overland

It might also be worth looking at this place, located in NJ

OK Auto, 4WD & Tire ? OE, 4x4, and Performance Specialist for Cars, Jeeps, Trucks, and SUV?s!

Can confirm, OK4WD is pretty awesome!

Yup, I'll 3rd that

Kudos for Mainline Overland as well

what are you looking for specifically?

You may want to ask @Alex T4R about ok4wd.

OP, it is all depends what you are installing, OK4WD do quality work on jeeps and apparently some employes have Toyota and as mention before some people were satisfied with them. I was recommended this shop by SPC and I didn't not have a good experience like other people. So you might be more fortunate and have good experience with them. What I did like about them is they called the shop who fixed everything for me and ask what they did wrong, that means they care and they want to improve.

That's good on them for following up, respect. Can I ask what happened? I had heard nothing about good things about ok4wd

Alex, I commend you on such a thorough and practical response. In this day and age, many people that have poor experiences with a place will go out of their way to bash a shop.

Here is what happen and two post before that you can see what I wrote. Like I mention in the post not trying to flame them just want newbie to do their research before going to a shop to get work done.
http://www.toyota-4runner.org/5th-ge...ml#post1585231

OK4WD did a lot of work on my JKUR & I'm totally satisfied & can recommend them.

I haven't had Main Line work on anything but I can vouch for the guys. Got to know them through the VT Overland rallies etc. The quality of their work based on the builds has been great (JKs, FJs, Cruisers, etc).

I'm in Princeton too (for work), live in Lambertville.

Im going to check out their shop next chance I have. I saw their awesome JK parked by my school

Thank you Bobby! Like I said earlier I was not trying to flame OK4WD, although they saw the post and though i did, but at least the post made them call and see what happen, i give them credit on that, that they want to improve. I made a post that all newbies would do a good research before going to a shop, and sometimes spending a little more time driving to a shop or money to get job done right is way more worth it then save now and then double pay later. Shit happens and I get it no one is perfect, but there are ways to clean it and some people know how to and some don't.

I can proudly say that Mainline Overland is a great shop! Friendliest guys I've talked to in a while at a shop. Pete was really helpful and they have earned my business for every 4runner i own.

:thumb3:

Im watching the guys at mainline overland reboot my CV's and good news they're torquing every bolt to toyota specs…good to see

:trophy:

I've heard good things about them as we'll from @Lebengeek . Too bad he's not that active here. He's got a sweet 5th gen.

The saddest thing about your post... We consider torquing bolts "good to see", when it should be what every shop does. Too many shops are trying to "short cut" everything for profitability.

Yea man their prices were great and the co owner Pete drives a sweet FJ cruiser and theyre super knowledgeable, i know they earned my business and a couple guys on here are gonna check them out. They were super friendly and offered to drive me to starbucks while i waited but i chose to stick around and check out the sweet rigs and the many super cars they had in the back room

Main Line
 

Hi Bobby! My Rig is in storage for the winter and this site makes me spend $$ hehe

As A lot of you know Main Line Overland worked on my 5th Gen. What you don't know is the frustration I had with the work after the fact. I must give credit to Pete for his efforts to rectify wrongs but the number of wrongs became to great.
This summer I took a three month cross country trip out west. My trip was delayed by 3 weeks trying to work bugs out in my Dual Battery and sPods install. After my second sPod I had problems with my lights even turning on. My Dual Battery install wiring was not crimped properly causing the battery cables to fall out of the terminals. This lead to an abort while driving the White rim trail in UT and a new battery. My Schrockworks rear bumper was hard to fit and it turned out two bolts had been left in causing the bumper to fit improperly. The bumper was not bolted in correctly, as a result, on the trail the bumper flexed and folded my lift gate corner in. I also found a wrench still attached to one of the bumper bolts.
They did give me refunds for some mistakes. UCA ball joints had to be turned and a realignment was needed. Discount on Paint do to rust after two days.
Pete did bring my truck from PA to NH after a repaint.
I still have to redo work I payed for and that just isn't right when you pay money to have things done right the first time.
Good luck with Main Line guys.

Whoa! I was definitely not expecting all that. I knew about the bumper and light issue but not everything else.

How long ago did you get your work done?

Spring of 2013

Pete told me they've been open for just about 3 years so they may have had just a rough beginning. I was nothing but pleased with my experience but thats too bad that you didnt have the same experience. Pete was super knowledgable and friendly and very professional to me...maybe it was just a fluke or due to their young life as a shop

To many mistakes to be considered a fluke. I'm glad you had a good experience with them though. No fun being days on the trail having electical issues cause a terminal was not crimped to the cables, or having the bolts on a bumper be so loose it folds sheet metal on a lift gate. No excuses for not crimping an electrical cable, tightening bolts, or cross threading Bolts.

What work did you have done? I read about the CV axle, but honestly that's a pretty basic job that any shop (not just 4x4 specialty shops) can tackle fairly quickly. Not putting down any shop, nor am I not trusting your experience, I was just curious. That list of problems seem like they just weren't paying attention and just trying to get the truck out of there.

What did you have installed? @Lebengeek had a ton of stuff done all at once. We're probably talking into $6k-$10k in parts and labor within a small period of time. A job like that should have been meticulously gone over several times. At least that's how it would have been treated at High Tech. There's usually a lead tech involved in overlooking the whole job. But it's his duty to go over anything a "regular" tech would have done. In this particular case, Pete. He may have trusted a c tech to install a bumper and simply crimp some wires but didn't know his employee had poor skills. I'm betting/hoping this tech is no longer with them.

This has happened to me at High Tech as well. And unfortunately there's nothing you can do to salvage the relationship with the customer if the damage as already been done. All a shop can take from this is a learning experience. I'm extremely impressed that @Lebengeek hasn't completely destroyed MLO's reputation on this forum. That just shows me that he has class and that Pete really did his best to rectify the situation as much as he could.

Well said Bobby Thanks. I'm not looking to rake anyone over the coals here. I like Pete. This build was one of their first 4Runners I believe. With Experience the shop will get even better. They have the knowledge and passion for motor sports they need more experience with expedition builds if thats your goal though. Unfortunately for a build I needed to be dependable while in the backcountry it wasn't. I must give Mudrak in Sonoma CA credit for having a proven expedition vehicle prep shop. He only works on Toyota and is a Land Cruiser specialist.

I do understand what you mean, and i am only a college student on a college budget so i can usually only afford to get one thing done at a time. Usually no more then 4-500$ in labor. I do plan on using them again for UCA's and my front and rear bumpers as well as sliders so i will update the thread as time goes on. Also @zopperman seems to have a plan to try them out to do some custom fab on his skids so he may be able to put some input in as well

Yeah, I am considering using them for some skid stuff since they do fabrication and are within a reasonable distance from me. Most fab shops in the area don't work on vehicles. and I have a bunch of bolts sheared off in my frame that i don't wanna deal with.

Based on others' experiences I am not certain I would use them for a larger job, but then again I do most of my work myself and when the time comes if I can't get my T belt squared away, I will probably take it to high tech (since I'll be in VA anyway). Though it does seem, like @Ducmonsta said, they did do their best to rectify the situation which is about the best one can ask for after a mistake has been made, unlike the shop I dealt with back in NJ as some of you may recall that nightmare. :doh: (speaking of which, once I get my hands on a spring compressor I'll post up pictures of their butchered coil over assemblies)

anyway sorry for the off topic stuff, but that's my opinion fwiw