phillyd2
Senior Member
Looks great. Do you know where I can get one too? :cheers:
Alex T4R's Build Thread
- Thread starter Alex T4R
- Start date
Looks great. Do you know where I can get one too? :cheers:
Alex T4R
New member
Update on the truck
This post is for all the newbies, so they can learn from my mistake and avoid having issues that I do.
Recently I installed full set of BudBuilt skids and not so recently Warn winch, so my truck settled and had a huge rake. I wanted to crank my coilovers to raise it up and get an alignment done.
So I went to HighTech in VA, which is three and half hours drive for me, but I had a good rapport with them and knew things would be done correctly.
Once at HighTech, Scott found multiple problems with my truck, so going back a little bit. I was one of the fortunate person who got defective Light Racing Control arms, which I described the problem with them earlier in the thread. The SPC company was amazing and replace them for free with brand new ones. Due to my busy schedule I asked SPC to find a shop next to me so they can switch my UCA and align the truck.
SPC recommended "OK4WD" shop in Stewartsville, NJ, they are far from OK4wd shop, I went there twice and they messed things up even worst and to make it even worst, when ask to contact SPC, they said they knew what they were doing, but apparently not. I usually don't like to talk bad about different shops, but I had horrible experience with them, trying to prove to me I was wrong when I was providing information from this forum on how to perform things, alignment specs provided by Harper7 and many other intelligent people on here.
I will let [MENTION=99235]Scott@Hightech[/MENTION] explain what was wrong with my alignment and UCA, basically i'm getting new ball joint from SPC, which again they provided great service and for no charge sending me new ball joint that have to be replace, which was ruined by the other shop.
What i'm trying to say is the morale of the story, not a lot of shops know how to work with our 5th gens, so before you take your truck somewhere to get done any work, please research a shop really well or don't be hesitant to drive a distance to get the job done right the first time.
[MENTION=99235]Scott@Hightech[/MENTION], please post photos of messed up things on here for reference.
This post is for all the newbies, so they can learn from my mistake and avoid having issues that I do.
Recently I installed full set of BudBuilt skids and not so recently Warn winch, so my truck settled and had a huge rake. I wanted to crank my coilovers to raise it up and get an alignment done.
So I went to HighTech in VA, which is three and half hours drive for me, but I had a good rapport with them and knew things would be done correctly.
Once at HighTech, Scott found multiple problems with my truck, so going back a little bit. I was one of the fortunate person who got defective Light Racing Control arms, which I described the problem with them earlier in the thread. The SPC company was amazing and replace them for free with brand new ones. Due to my busy schedule I asked SPC to find a shop next to me so they can switch my UCA and align the truck.
SPC recommended "OK4WD" shop in Stewartsville, NJ, they are far from OK4wd shop, I went there twice and they messed things up even worst and to make it even worst, when ask to contact SPC, they said they knew what they were doing, but apparently not. I usually don't like to talk bad about different shops, but I had horrible experience with them, trying to prove to me I was wrong when I was providing information from this forum on how to perform things, alignment specs provided by Harper7 and many other intelligent people on here.
I will let [MENTION=99235]Scott@Hightech[/MENTION] explain what was wrong with my alignment and UCA, basically i'm getting new ball joint from SPC, which again they provided great service and for no charge sending me new ball joint that have to be replace, which was ruined by the other shop.
What i'm trying to say is the morale of the story, not a lot of shops know how to work with our 5th gens, so before you take your truck somewhere to get done any work, please research a shop really well or don't be hesitant to drive a distance to get the job done right the first time.
[MENTION=99235]Scott@Hightech[/MENTION], please post photos of messed up things on here for reference.
Scott@Hightech
New member
So here are the pictures. Some of this may be acceptable to some people; To me its not.
They had the ball joints rotated back one notch, and while this got the caster correct it caused the tires to rub the fender in the rear(BMC done)
This is a huge peeve of mine, while not technically wrong, I hate when the cams are rotated down as it makes it very easy to catch on a rock and knock the alignment out or bend the cam.
This is just flat out poor workmanship, They rotated the cam over top of the tab and flattened it out when they tightened it down.
And here is the ball joint that is only a few months old, most of the water had run out when i took the picture. The boot retaining ring was missing allowing the water to get inside the ball joint. The ball joint had about 1/4" of play.
They had the ball joints rotated back one notch, and while this got the caster correct it caused the tires to rub the fender in the rear(BMC done)
This is a huge peeve of mine, while not technically wrong, I hate when the cams are rotated down as it makes it very easy to catch on a rock and knock the alignment out or bend the cam.
This is just flat out poor workmanship, They rotated the cam over top of the tab and flattened it out when they tightened it down.
And here is the ball joint that is only a few months old, most of the water had run out when i took the picture. The boot retaining ring was missing allowing the water to get inside the ball joint. The ball joint had about 1/4" of play.
Alex T4R
New member
Thanks Scott for posting this. Like I said earlier I don't like to flame anyone's work, but what we trying to do here is to educate new members and warn them how critical it is that a good technician install the parts the proper way. Scott is amazing and as of today I drove to HighTech Auto and Truck 3 times and one way trip is 180 miles for me.
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Stream2Stream
New member
This thread (along with the work that has been shown in other threads) is why I'm going to drive from Texas to get my lift installed this summer. I just don't want to risk it getting screwed up.
joneseyyy
New member
Scott is as good as everyone says. He's been a huge help to me as well. I also nearly piss my pants whenever I'm at HighTech and he says "can you come back in the shop? You're not going to like this..." Most recently he correctly surmised my timing chain assembly issue (that ToyotaCare is now covering).
Scott@Hightech
New member
The sad part is that I honestly feel like I'm just doing my job, And am surprised that you guys are having these issues with other shops work. In the end it just make us technicians as a group look bad. Thanks for the support fellas!
Ducmonsta
New member
blah, blah, blah....
Don't you have a Tundra Rigid grill to install?! GET BACK TO WORK!:kiss:
Ducmonsta
New member
Glad to hear about ToyotaCare!
The biggest problem with Scott is, he's always smiling. Whether it's good news or bad news, he's always got a damn smile on his face. You have to get used to it, because he's not actually happy when he's giving you bad news.
Jesse1983
5th Gen Moderator
I've never had any work done by High Tech, but after meeting some of the guys over the last few years, and the outstanding reputation they have in this section, I would feel more than confident recommending them to someone. In fact, recently a friend of mine said his boss wanted to have a Jeep hooked up and wanted to know if I knew of anywhere. Without batting an eye I referred him to High Tech.
Back on topic - glad everything is all fixed up Alex.
Back on topic - glad everything is all fixed up Alex.
Alex T4R
New member
So true, I was sitting in the waiting room, Scott came out with this huge smile on his face and was holding something in his hand, as he got closer he goes "I know why you had two nuts on the bolt, because the thread was stripped" I was like what, Scott you kidding and then when I figure he was serious I was like what else did you find.
Ducmonsta
New member
So true, I was sitting in the waiting room, Scott came out with this huge smile on his face and was holding something in his hand, as he got closer he goes "I know why you had two nuts on the bolt, because the thread was stripped" I was like what, Scott you kidding and then when I figure he was serious I was like what else did you find.
I hate to laugh, but that is EXACTLY what [MENTION=99235]Scott@Hightech[/MENTION] does! He once told a customer that he blew his engine up while he had a sh!t eating grin on his face. Needless to say, the customer wasn't happy.
Scott@Hightech
New member
Ive been working on that!!! Problem is I get excited because I figured out the problem. Most techs use their service writer as a buffer, I usually don't. The guy with the engine is always grumpy anyway.
Ha! that will mean you take the crown from me for the longest drive to High Tech
hwell:All I can say is that it has been well worth my drive. As mentioned, Scott does a great job and the service offered by Kristina (and Bobby at the time) was fabulous.
While you're in town, go see the Marine Corps museum in Quantico. Amazingly well done and very hands on. Also look into the Marine Corps Silent Drill Platoon twilight ceremony at Iwo Jima (http://marines.dodlive.mil/2013/04/23/silent-drill-platoon-schedule-2013/) or the Army twilight tattoo (http://twilight.mdw.army.mil/). It's free and pretty cool!
Okki
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SheppyMach
New member
Truck looks great Alex. Hope we can meet up soon to grab some cheesesteaks after my install.
Alex T4R
New member
Sounds good! Let me know I would love to check that 14' model up close.
