“I don’t get it, it’s just installing a couple of axles!”
An exasperated Land Cruiser owner’s quote to me from a couple of days ago. A very long story short…this prospective client had explored having us perform an 80 series chassis conversion on his FJ62 resto-mod. This is a popular and common modification that provides a much enhanced driving experience for 60 series owners who want a better ride. This gentleman went through our build sheet and estimate process, and then we didn’t hear from him again, that is, until he called, stranded and needing help.
We didn’t hear back from him because he had shopped around and found a different shop to do a similar modification that was cheaper. Or at least was supposed to be cheaper. He chose that shop, had the work done, and wound up stranded several times on a cross country road trip because of a series of mistakes they made. It was actually only after the 3rd failure on this road trip that he called me. The first two breakdowns were simpler and relatively easy to patch up, but the third had a shop that was trying to help him completely stuck. I’ll spare you the details, but take my word for it, the mistake the shop made was a real doozie, a square peg in a round hole kind of thing, and when we figured out what they did wrong, it was one of those “how in the hell did they think that was going to work?” moments. A real undeniably bone headed mistake that was easily preventable and completely unacceptable.
I was listening to the FJ62 owner share the frustrations he had during the build process and the bad experiences he had encountered after pickup, when he said the phrase that I quoted at the beginning of this article…”I don’t get it, it’s just installing a couple of axles” and that’s when it hit me. Neither one of them, the 62 owner nor the shop that did the work gave the task enough thought or credit. I mean, you can make it sound easy. “We’ll just throw in a couple of axles” but the reality of the job is far more complicated and involved.
Most of what we do, building and restoring automobiles is much harder than people give it credit for. It’s incredibly technical and detail oriented. And it takes real experts to do it well. A custom axle and suspension swap like was done to the stranded vehicle involves a lot of high level engineering and design, extremely proficient fabrication skills, and significant mechanical expertise in one of the most complicated parts of a vehicle. It’s a BIG JOB.
The Takeaway
I’m not writing this to complain about other shops. And I’m certainly not angry at the would-be-client for not choosing us. We aren’t the cheapest, and we have a long waiting list. His decision to go elsewhere is completely understandable. But I do think there is a lesson here for a lot of people. Building vehicles is not like building with Legos. Don’t underestimate the complexity of custom work. Don’t hesitate to ask a shop if they have done the job before and if they say they have, get proof. If they haven’t, understand that you are taking a risk.
Luckily, the owner found a competent mechanic where he was stranded who was willing and capable to repair the vehicle.. A little consultation and an overnight shipment from us has the Land Cruiser back on the road and headed to our shop for inspection. I have to admit that I’m part curious and part scared to see it. I hope that we don’t find a lot more issues, but due to the nature of the mistakes the shop made that I know about, there are likely to be more.
Lastly I guess I should mention that also unlike Legos, sometimes it’s not easy to un-do the modifications that other people did. I’ve seen plenty of vehicles before that were literally modified to death. Hopefully this isn’t one of them but who knows.