I agree with that move 100%.
This B$ was so avoidable, all these A holes needed to use was a M8-1.25 bolt to "lock" the steering box (FIRST STEP!). Nothing fancy and pretty F'in basic!

Just Lazy Bastards!!!!!!!

 

But not only did they not get it right THEY DAMAGED MY BRAND NEW COMPONENT. The little son of a bitch put something on one of the ends of the U-bolts and bent it to a 60* angle. ARGGH!! Absolutely infuriating!

 

I'm with you, TOTAL B$!!!!!
I think the "tech" must have had a BIG bowl of for breakfast!

 

Apparently you got the solution you asked for and still want to rant. No reason to bad mouth all the shops and workers as if you've never never made a mistake or done some questionable maintenance yourself. Spend some time reading and you'll find many here have done their own D2 alignments without any special tooling with excellent results.
......

 

I am somewhat spoiled. I live in a town of 300 people. We have a little shop here that charges 35 bucks an hour and he prefers it if you bring your own parts. I am capable of doing about anything but for 35 an hour I don't get greasy

The guy is 80 and grumpy as hell but I have never questioned his work

 

​​​​​​lol, no no no. You can make that case when it's the occasional mistake. I don't necessarily blame the higher ups, it's hard to find good work, especially from the younger generation. But I'll look down on every large shop in the country until I find one with a competency record that's higher than the average McDonalds drive through.

Not a single time have I ever brought a vehicle to a shop and been 100% satisfied. New battery? Terminals didn't get tightened down. Oil change? Drain bolt over tightened and stripped the aluminum pan. Tire rotation? WHEEL NEARLY FELL OFF. Will add this to the list, right behind the time I took a bike in to have the brakes pressure bled and right in front if my eyes the guy scrapes the paint off both sides of my swing arm ( and gouged the aluminum) with the paddock stand.



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Agree with you on that. I'd estimate my satisfaction levels more like 50-75% for the majority of any type of skilled or professional services paid for after my blinders had been removed and had the time for a real look. It happens in all fields and not limited to those working in auto shops or assembling burgers. At least it was a vehicle and not your body you had the work done on.
......

 

My bad. I don't have much experience working with shops. I'm the same way.. I absolutely hate the thought of anyone doing anything to my truck because I *know* they'll do something wrong. When I had top hats installed, the machinist didn't put the o-rings in, so I took them back to have them put in. I'll never know if they are actually in there. I still have nightmares about it. I went as far as researching options to have a 3rd party ultrasonically check for the rubber. Yeah...I know

I've rebuild my rover top to bottom and the only shop help I've had is
- tires mounted on new rims
- bushings pressed into radius arms
- flanged cylinder sleeves installed, valve job, etc
- alignment. It's nice to have the print out (especially after putting in castor corrected arms), but in hindsight, the only thing they can adjust is the toe. A lot of shops offer free alignment checks. i.e. no charge if you are within spec
- bumper welded

Most of those jobs are pretty black and white but I still agonized over them and insisted I watch them do the work.

 

X1 .......... my sentiments entirely Jeff, most shops will do more damage then good and if you need them they are best stood over and supervised.

For tracking I have used these in motorsport and my own cars and they work. Lazer's are great if the morons know how to use them correctly.

https://www.google.fr/search?q=dunlo...3bqO-WtrPDNEM:

 

Luckily an alignment is actually super easy on the D2. You can do it with nothing but a tape measure.

Jack up the front, sit both ends on jack stands. You want 1/8" toe out I think. I played around with mine to see how it felt best and I think that was it.