The repair of the driveshaft has turned sour on me. I took it back to Potter Webster's Driveline Express. The same place that built it originally and then shortened it. They absolutely denied any responsibility for the failure. They said the only thing that would have caused this kind of failure would be excessive torque and abuse from the engine. Which never happened as my generic 350 doesn't have that kind of power.
They dismissed anything I said.
So I had them go ahead and repair the shaft. They called me the next day to pick it up. They said it was $280.00. Ouch I thought, but maybe they had to replace the carrier bearing.
It's on the counter when I walk in and the first thing I see is that it has one of the $35 factory style carrier bearings on it now. I said your kidding right? Why would I go back to that style bearing? He says they use them on lots of vehicles without problems. I said "Remember yesterday when you would not warranty the driveshaft with less than 200 miles on it, as I must have too much horsepower, and now your saying I should use this because it has worked for other people? Why didn't you call and ask if I would be ok with the substitution I told him that I wasn't going to accept the driveline with that carrier bearing. So they said they would get another billet one, but it would be 3 or 4 days.
Uggghh....
So Friday rolls around and they call and say it is ready. As I walk in the guy is carring it out to the counter. By this time they recognize my truck. He says it will be $580. Jaw drops. Uhhh... I told him no how no way, so he goes into the back and talks to someone and 5 minutes later he takes me back to talk to the sales manager. After a couple of minutes of he said, I said, I pointed out that they want to charge me more to build half the drive line now than than they did to build a complete new one 3 years ago. Then it was the old song about how much prices have gone up. (They were charging me $171.xx for the new billet carrier bearing plus shipping. Obviously they haven't heard of Jegs.) But they could give me a $50 break. I thought about it for a moment and said "No I won't pay that. Give me my parts back and I will go elsewhere. Time for his jaw to drop.
So I stood around 30 minutes while 3 of them disassembled it and hunt up the old pieces. Then I asked the manager if he understood why I was this angry? He said "Uhhh you don't like the price." No I told him was pissed because I didn't like the refusal of any kind of responsiblity for the failure, and it was obvious that they had jacked the price the second time to make up for their screw up the first time with the wrong carrier bearing.
So maybe Monday I can find somewhere else to build a shaft.