Custom Trailing Arm Failure

Dude....and I say that respectfully. It does.

 

We have sent more than one brake kit to Aus. tacked together or KD so one of their certified welders could "finish" it up.

 

Technically, the term '3-link' is customarily used when talking about a couple of lower links and an upper link above the axle centerline, usually but not always somewhere near the middle of the axle, with all three links flexibly located at each end. This setup requires a lateral locating device, usually a Panhard but can be a Watts.

The 3rd-gen Camaro (borrowed from the Monza/'76-up Vega, and carried on in modified form into the 4th-gen cars) used a torque-arm with two lower links and a Panhard.

It looks like the axle housing mounts in this car are more of a cobbled-up truckarm setup, with inadequately-sized arms mounted to the axle through insufficiently strong mountings, but with the fronts of the arms too far apart and too rigidly mounted.

Truckarms aren't rocket science, if you just bought some a pair of junkyard C-10 arms and some SCP U-bolts and saddle mounts, hung them on the axle and pushed them around until the front pivots were (guesstimating, I've got some real-world measurements around here somewhere but I can't recall them exactly) something like 8in apart and 1.5in below the driveshaft centerline and all the angles were equal then fabricated a crossmember to hang the front pivots, I'm not going to claim that'd be really 'right' and you might still have U-joint angle issues to sort out but at least you'd have a suspension that shouldn't rip itself apart. That implies, of course, that there's not some giant piece of frame where the front ends of the arms want to be.

Using the Gen 3 Camaro torque-arm setup - once again, you need all the mounts that were on the axle originally, the Camaro lower links, the torque arm, and then you need to fabricate forward mounting points for them. Once again, if you got decent cutting-and-welding-level fabrication and the arm locations and angles were even within some measuring-tape increment of the stock Camaro layout you'd have something that wouldn't reenact a UFC match under the car.

There's still more questions than answers here. Those shocks are so close together they provide virtually no damping for single-wheel motion - why? What is that thing over the axle? What do the rest of the brake lines look like? Has all this bogus work warped the axle tubes? Is the rear suspension just the visible part of the iceberg?

Right now we're talking about work that'd be unacceptable on a chain-store Chinese wheelbarrow.

 

Oh... my... God...

-Brad

 

I wish I were closer, or had a shop out there I could work in. This is not right.

 

I honesty hope to see more of this.....entertainment....
why are the shocks middle mounted insted of one on each side? this aint the stock location i guess? epic fail is nowhere near enuff to the state of this.

 

Ummm, is there a piece of wire holding that plate monstrosity to the rearend?

Just, ummm....wow...fucking WOW!

Tim D.

 

what a bummer when a person does this type of bullshit! payback is a real bitch.

 

Hey Spat, I just re-read this whole mess again. Now I'm confused a bit. In the beginning you said that YOU did all that rear end work. You clamped the Camaro rear in there, added shims (that looks like galvanized pipe, threads and all) tried to beef it up with weld, etc. and that you modified the rod ends and beefed up the links. You also seemed to have a firm grasp on the function of the previous torque tube. You also had failures in the driveline prior to the other shop jumping in. So... I know if that came to my shop, I would have said no to the patch job, and only offered a complete, correct new installation. The shop that let that go out the door is as bad as we all say. But after reading the opening information you gave, and not knowing what involvement the shop had or instructions you gave them, It seems to me that a large portion of the blame is on you. No offense, and please correct me if I'm wrong. But read the opening post again and see what you get out of it.

 

Thank you everyone for your input and "OMG Holy Fking CRAP" 's.

I consulted with a local attorney and here's what he had to say -

"If the shop is thriving & reputable no judge will award you a settlement if you have not gone to the owner first and offered him a single chance to make it right."

So I did- I made a deal with myself- if he said "Fuck off" I was gonna sue which is the last thing i want or need right now. Instead he said "I can't keep my eyes on everything that goes on in here and I take my mechanics at their word. If we did the work and you're not happy, bring it back and we will fix everyhting at no charge."

So I'm going to give him a chance. I explained what I didn't like. I explained what I learned from you on here and I showed him what was wrong. Did he know? Did he not know? I don't really care at this point. I just don't want to spend any more money on it. I printed out some of the more informative posts on the 3 link rear and the torque bar. He will do the work under my watchful and PITA eyes.

Thanks again.

 

Best of luck! I hope he makes it right.

worth noting, that's a bullshit excuse about not being able to keep his eyes on everybody....either he hired flunkees for $6 an hour or doesn't know any better himself....I drive EVERY car that goes out our doors.

 

I'm with you, if you can't keep your eye on them then at least make sure they know what they are doing before turning them loose

 

Hopefully It gets done correctly for you.
My first instincts tell me listen carefully to the shop owners remarks as you both walk the car.

HOLY CRAP should come out of his mouth if what he said about not being able to watch everything is true. Defense of that work would make me lawyer up.

 

I've read the entire post and looked over the photos. I think you handled it perfectly. Now, sit back and see if you get a $5000 job...if not, sue. If you're happy after the work, walk away knowing you learned a valuable lesson..
Best of luck to you.

 

I disagree Rock, no way in hell would I let that ape touch my car after I learned how bad his work was the first time around. What will he fuck up this time? Will he sabotage something out of spite? If he did this shitty of a job when getting paid how much care will he give a no paying comeback?

 

T..I'd think the owner has a successful bidness because he's been a success. I'd give him the benefit of the doubt before taking expensive legal action that may or may not be successful.
I'd like to think he simply hired some jerk-off "mechanic" and hasn't been monitoring his work...hope he's walking down the street kicking stones now.
But this thread isn't about my opinion anyway.

 

Personally I would never go the legal route on something like this anyway. Dave Ramsey has a good repsonse when we do things like this. the OP simply paid his "stupid tax". We all have in life, move on, you are hopefully smarter afterwards.

 

He sounds fair. As long as he's genuinely horrified. Keep us informed of the results. Take a digital camera and photograph lots of things and make sure they see you taking lots of pics. Flash gets attention. As mentioned above ask if he understands what's wrong with the current setup and why it dangerously failed.

Get him to attend to the water pump and carbs as well as going over everything else with a fine tooth comb becuase now you don't trust anything they did. Put him on a guilt trip for the service. He may not have done the work but he's responsible for safe work. Ask him if he agrees. If he's just as upset as we all are it might lead to a good ending.

 

Check to see if the rear has been warped with all the great welding. I would demand a replacement rear. There is no need to weld on it. Just use the stock locating links and the stock torque arm. It is tough to get those rears clean inside after welding on the outside. Slag from the welding will screw up the rear and they are not easy to get apart for cleaning. I doubt he knows how to straighten a warped rear. Make sure he hooks up the emergency brake. I don't know why anyone would drive a car without one.

 

I've owned and managed a custom auto/restoration shop for most of my working life. I'll go on record in a public forum to say this is the worst rear suspension service I've ever seen, and believe me kids, I've seen some shit you just couldn't make up. This tops them all. This guy needs to be out of buisness PERMANENTLY. It's hard enough to do shit right and get paid for it. Shit like this is what makes it even worse. To just take advantage of someone like this is criminal in my opinion. I've never fucked anyone out of anything, and in fact have been generous and enthusiastic with everyone, as if it was my car too. Just knowing this goes on out there makes me want to drive to Philly.

I hope that not only you get financial satisfaction, that you get some revenge as well. Put this sorry fuck outta buisness for good. There's no way an excuse can be made for this. There's not even a glimer of "best intentions" in ANYTHING you've shared here. In plain English, that guy's a piece of shit that needs to be sent away to buttfuck land for a few years. Why so hostile? Because as has already been said, not only the financial aspect, but the safety of you the owner and your fellow motorists has been put at serious risk. I thought I'd seen it all. Holy shit.

 

jesus!

 

Ah Buttfuckland. The memories come rushing back. We didn't call it that back in the day though. We called it "My Uncle's Cabin in the Poconos".

This guy has been sent away. TWICE. One was for insurance fraud and the other was apparently for charging a large government account (USPS) to replace their diesel engines in their mail trucks only to steam and paint them and charge for replacements.

My lawyer, "This guy keeps himself well insulated. These are the instances that he got caught"

 

You may want to eat this money and take it somewhere else. I would not let this guy touch my shit again!! This can become very dangerous. I know quite a few people that own shops with employees, not one of them lets a car go out with out inspecting the work themselves! So his bulshit excuses are just that!

 

The fact that he said he doesnt know all of what went out his doors should be enough reason for me to never roll something in his doors..fuckin' crook

 

I seriously doubt you'll get total satisfaction, but I hope you do.

If not, check out this shops work.... http://prostreetchassis.net/home.html

I have not used this shop for anything, but for what it's worth,
it was recommened by a friend.

Best of luck !

 

Sound like this guys is a first class douchebag! After this bit of information i would not take my car back there. it will be tied up for more time and will still suck when you get it back......history always repeats itself. If was willing to stick to the post office for a lot more than he got you for, how "right" do you think he will make your car for no more money....

 

So what happened to you is not the exception, more like ongoing practice of this establishment .? ?

Why would your lawyer tell you to give them a chance to correct it?

 

I don't know if we are getting the whole story here either. Hope it works out for you. And I hope you realize how dangerous that set up is and won't drive it. Good luck and hope to see you on the road with a well built car soon.

 

He told me- If this shop isn't a hole in the wall (which it is most certainly not) You must at least give hime the CHANCE to make you satisfied with the labor. If you do not, the judge will side with him. I tend to agree.

I look at it like this- It's an oppurtunity for this man to make things right at no further cost to me and I can be nitpicky. Why wouldn't I take it? I'm a fan of second chances so we'll see.

 

I would bring someone with you who is qualified to check the work that is being done, you didnt seem to think anything was wrong the first time and it was quite obvious there were major problems. This is not a shot at you, so please dont take it in that way. just hate to see a person get taken advanttage of from a scumbag and possibly get injured or cause injury to others because of bullshit work.