There are definitely 2 sides to the story. Here are the facts of the entire transaction.
This particular customer called to state he was bringing in a 1982 Waggoneer D44 front for us to put new gears (D44 4.56 thick gears to save money on a carrier). We had rebuilt a damaged rear XJ 44 he had bought used a couple weeks prior. I discussed with him what he wanted us to do to it (the original list before he made additions). We discussed that he wanted to convert it to 5 on 5.5 and we discussed his options for doing so. We decided to wait and see which spindles his axle had.
I told the customer that he could save himself some money, etc. to drop it off disassembled since he was going to get the Ford brake/hub parts on his own so we would not be able to reassemble it. He chose to bring in a 1982 Waggie D44 completely assembled with no personal knowledge of what condition the internals were in.
We pulled the axle down. We found the spindle lock nut (inner ring with the pin) on one side was broken and the lock rings otherwise had the standard "I want to use a punch and not the correct tools" damage. The rest of the axle was filled with a mix of water, dried gear oil film, 30 year old gear oil, metal, etc. We tore it completely down, drained it out, cleaned the inside with 3 or so cans of brake cleaner, and blew it out with air in between sprayings to get the inside as clean as possible for a 30 year old axle(without steam cleaning or the like). We put the parts we were not going to reuse for reassembly in a box since the customer was going to complete the 5 on 5.5 conversion with his own parts. All nuts, bolts, stock brake parts( that were included in the original junkyard axle), and spindle nuts, etc. were put in the box.
Once we figured out the axle did not in fact have the small bearing spindles the customer had been hoping for he was called and we discussed his options. He chose to wait longer to have the stock spindles machined to match the small bearing spindles rather than purchasing the new small bearing spindles we had in stock.
The customer came by and we discussed what he wanted to do for the differential cover. I gave him a price on a Solid cover and he stated he could get it online cheaper so he was going to do that. We had some covers on order so I told him we would have one by the time he needed one if he changed his mind.
The gears that had been ordered the day the customer originally called were installed in the axle and we waited for the spindles to be machined. The shop has been pretty busy lately and Steve took a little longer to machine these than we would have liked. It took about 2 weeks to get this finished up. The customer called multiple times, and we told him the axle was complete minus the spindles and if he wanted the new spindles we could have it ready to go at any time or we would try to get the other spindles machined.
I spoke with the customer during one of the calls after a week or so of waiting on the spindles and asked him what we were doing about the diff cover . He stated he would take one of the D44 Solid covers we had in stock. We also discussed his steering options because the customer thought he was going to bolt up his stock steering. I stated that would not work and we could get him a crossover steering kit that would work but he would need to bring us his pitman arm to be reamed. We would be happy to do that for him. We agreed to get him the steering kit and have it ready for him to install, still offering to ream his pitman arm once he was ready.
At this point we have a D44 housing that has had new gears, bearings, and seals installed and a box of parts. The cover was off because he was going to install a SOLID cover when he got it, the axle shafts were out because they needed to be cleaned up (customer was going to do this), and the spindles, brakes, etc. were off it because the customer was doing the 5 on 5.5 bolt pattern conversion. We also had the Solid cover in its original box and the steering kit parts in a box ready for the customer to assemble. The customer was also going to clean off the stock perches and weld on a TNT bracket kit/truss to "bolt in" the axle to the XJ once he got it back.
The day the spindles were complete we were VERY busy. The customer came to pick up the axle. He came to the front counter, was given a total and then stated "Is that with my military discount?" He got an attitude about getting a discount that he had not been promised or even alluded to at any point in our prior discussions. Ron reworked his bill to include a discount to try and make the customer happy. The axle and all associated parts were loaded into his Jeep. The inside of the jeep was full of garbage, an old tire, parts, mud, etc. and was a dirty mess long before the diff was loaded in the Jeep. The customer grabbed the inside of the diff housing and his hand came out dirty from the little bit of remaining 30 year old dried gear oil residue (and probably some new gear oil from the new, oiled bearings) that was still in the diff even after cleaning. The customer started getting very agitated, unwilling to listen to any discussion about the residue. After being told multiple times that the little bit of residue was no issue and that after he did the required gear break in and changed the gear oil everything would be good he was still stuck on that bit of residue. After a heated discussion, I took the axle in the back of the shop, sprayed the inside down and wiped it out with a rag to try and make the customer happy. While I was doing that the customer went in and discussed the situation with Ron who apologized for the situation. When I went into the front to have the customer look at it to make sure he was happy with how I had wiped it out, he refused and just told us to load the axle back up and he would be on his way.
That was approximately 2 weeks ago and it was the last time we have heard from the customer that I know of.
I apologize that the spindles took too long to machine, that is completely our fault. It definitely took longer than we would have liked. We are sorry for the fact the customer was unhappy with the little bit of 30 year old diff oil film that was left in the axle. Unfortunately, I am not sure even pressure washing the housing would have gotten that out. I thought the customer understood that he was about the break in new gears with metal, etc. in the oil and that little bit of film would be no issue once he cleaned the housing out again after the gear break in and gear oil change.
Hopefully hearing both sides of the story will bring a little more light to the situation and we are looking forward to continuing to serve the NC 4x4 community. We are making a lot of changes (including a lot of expansion of our capabilities and services) and are looking forward to seeing everyone out at Uwharrie for the event in a couple weeks. We will be set up as a sponsor of the event.
Thanks
