Alignment ordeal

A quote is simply a number thrown out for what a job should cost and assumes everything goes 100% perfect. Fantasy vs reality is really the best way to describe it because jobs rarely go 100% perfect.

I've done jobs where I've run into a snag and now suddenly the job needs another 3 hours labour to complete. Why should the shop eat $600 worth of an employee's time because of an unforseen situation like a seized up tie rod or drag link?



Once an alignment is set it, the only reason for an alignment to go "bad" is from worn out/damaged components. So if one were to take a truck in for an alignment with shot bushings and worn kingpins, any decent shop should tell you its a waste of time doing an alignment since its really not going to do anything.

 

You are spot on with this. Some specs other than the manufacturer/factory specs are needed to remedy many situations. If a mechanic/tech doesn’t take it upon himself to understand and follow this rule he will never get the experience to get it fixed. He will always just say “it falls in factory spec it must be right”
I’ve known many guys myself included as you do I’m sure that the only spec that fixed it was their/my/your spec not the written in the book by an engineer spec. Than they can say “it falls in my spec so it is right”

 

Not true. My truck has no suspension parts that need replaced but it needs an alignment about ever 75k miles. There design of the rear suspension causes it to lose it's alignment over time. Also, the rough roads will cause an alignment to get knocked out.

 

Good alignment is rocket science. Many shops have tech just trained to operate computer system and have no clue how everything is biased and how changing one setting will affect all other. Computerized alignment system designed to easy in easy out $350 or so, next.

 

And we all cry when someone don't pay our unforeseen situation what we call detention.

 

I grow tired of vehicles failing to have strong enough front ends to endure the crumbling roads we run on. If you hae a truck like the one I have you can rumble over those bad roads and it wont hurt none. But try it with a regular car long enough and in the shop it goes. Again and again and again.

Its almost like a freightliner all over again. All good in some ways but a glass jaw with those front ends.

 

That’s not entirely true. I was over $400 on this truck there. It just depends on what needs done. He pulled shims off my steer and put a wedge in and a few other things. Chad does awesome work, but saying it’s $350 no matter what isn’t fair to him.

 

I really doubt that.

 

It's starting to sound to me like the OP should do what @Hulld has with his own shop & trucking business. OP could train his guys to work his way & take care of QC at his shop.

AFAIK, a quote is a legal agreement to provide X service at Y price, where an estimate is just an educated guess at the cost of a job, and not binding without further stipulations, such as "Value of work performed not to exceed $XX."

What would you do if a broker called you & said they have a load that pays $X for Y miles (insert whatever #s you like) & that's all the info you have to make a decision on. You can't make a judgement on routes or weather or timing or on anything else because you lack specific information. Can you see why a mechanic might be non-committal over a phone quote?

A mechanic could tell a lot from a quick visual inspection & would probably quote it then & there.

A machinist probably won't quote anything other than T&M ( time & materials) without a part or blueprint in front of him.

A welder might not give a price to "just weld 2 pieces together" without knowing if it's 2 inches long or 200 feet long. Is it titanium, copper, nickel, or steel?