Greg's 4x4 (Longmont, Colorado) Rant

MtnRanger160

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Greg's 4x4 - Longmont, CO.

Long story short, great employees, first impression of owner was nice, and then he tried to s**t on me...so use this guy at your own risk... Read on if you're looking for a shop in Colorado and can't find reviews, or if you just want to read my rant. Either way, I now have gears but not a Go To 4x4 shop I could be happy with

I finally pulled the trigger on some 4.56 gears I've been wanting for a long while. After meeting with the owner of this joint, Greg, I was impressed and happy to give him my business. Without an official quote on paper, we worked out about $1900 for front and rear axles (30/44 setup), G2 gears and axle bearings with install kit and tax, oil and all supplies...no other costs. I was accepting that since he was the best price around me, though I see I should've waited. Dropped it off at 8am four days later and they had it done by 5pm, which I wasn't expecting but I was pretty excited about. When I picked it up, all of a sudden Greg tells me there was an issue that his distributor made a mistake and only quoted for one set of gears, so he tacked on an additional $400 from what we talked about($2300 total now) and we needed to work something out. 4 days in between the first conversation and dropping the TJ off and he never bothered to call say, "my bad, I got quoted the wrong price". Unless you're only worried about the rear set and never running 4WD, or just doing a repair for one axle, why would you only quote for one set and think the price sounded right? I smelled bullshit from the start. There is nobody in the right mind that would pay $1000 for gears ($1300 for labor- which he told me $1200 on day one), install kit, and bearings if they did their research. I told him if that was the price I would've ordered Revolution Gears with the master kit for half that damn price and paid for the labor. Told him straight up I wasn't paying for his mistake...and he was going to have to eat that extra cost. He's been in business for quite a while and I don't see how the quote didn't make sense, god knows how many of these gear swaps he's done. I offered $2000 and he reluctantly accepted....then he wanted cash. I literally ran 4 miles to the shop just to get a run in, so I wasn't carrying $2k in bills, screw that. Then he was upset that running a card would cost him as well...sorry Greg, I don't give a shit. So he ran the card and I asked if there were any "other issues: about the work being done...he said no." Though when I showed up his employees stated there were some issues with the ABS sensors that took a while to fix, but Greg hid that from me. As I was going to ask more ?'s Greg ignored me and walked to the back of the shop and didn't care for any more convo's. - pretty unprofessional if you ask me.

Now, I'm not knocking the work....drove it about 50 miles so far and still breaking them in, but I notice some additional torque and maybe loud gears for now...hopefully that will wear, but nothing to complain about on the gears. My alignment is knocked off, the vibration is back, and caster is out of whack after they put the axles back on so that's a pain in the ass but I can deal with it. Greg is a huge proponent of fixing the Colorado trails here and donates/volunteers to repair damages from a flood here a few years back. Awesome work, I must say... I wouldn't dare take that away from the guy. But it's horrible business to do what he did and expect a customer to pay for it, have a sour attitude about it, and then ignore the customer when they're talking to you. Am I right, or am I the asshole? He said he wasn't making a buck off me and I still call bullshit, I paid $1300 for labor alone, plus I paid for his parts, so I don't want to hear it. Btw, G2 gears are $194 on ExtremeTerrain (probably cheaper elsewhere). I'm so disappointed I won't even take it back at 500miles to drain the axles after break-in, I'll do it on my own.

Anyway, that's my story. His employees were pretty cool guys and seemed nice. So take this for what it's worth, but thought I would share anyway. Enjoy the Easter Weekend.
 
"Loud gears" isn't very reassuring. They should be quiet, break in won't help that. Why is your alignment off? Did they pull the housings out of the Jeep? Always always always get a quote in writing. Hopefully the work will be solid in the end.
 
If your gears are loud from the moment they are installed, they aren't going to get quieter in my experience. When I had my gears done, they were quiet from the start without any issues whatsoever. The fact that they are loud says that something is wrong.

I will say that $1300 in labor is about the going cost, so he didn't really give you a deal there. I paid $1200 for labor on my gears.

I don't blame you for being upset, I would be as well.

The loud gears concern me though, they really do.
 
I would check to see how hot your pumpkins are getting. Something doesn’t sound right about loud.

BTW there are a bunch of great jeepers here in NOCO. Join one and I bet one or a bunch of the guys on there would have helped you out putting them in, for very little or nothing. I have had help this way and lots of those guys know their stuff.

Just always try to return the favor and I have always given some cash for their time but hey are really just trying to help out out of love for Jeeps. Just real solid guys.
 
If your gears are loud from the moment they are installed, they aren't going to get quieter in my experience. When I had my gears done, they were quiet from the start without any issues whatsoever. The fact that they are loud says that something is wrong.

I will say that $1300 in labor is about the going cost, so he didn't really give you a deal there. I paid $1200 for labor on my gears.

I don't blame you for being upset, I would be as well.

The loud gears concern me though, they really do.
I wasn't complaining about the labor, I knew that price going in. Though he said 1200 and not 1300. Everything after that ticked me off though.
 
I wasn't complaining about the labor, I knew that price going in. Though he said 1200 and not 1300. Everything after that ticked me off though.

Oh no, I was just trying to say that he shouldn’t act like he’s giving you a deal on the labor, because that’s really the going rate.
 
I've been driving around and listening and honestly I don't hear a roar, whine, grinding, or anything. I heard a few pings on deceleration when I first drove it away but nothing since. Haven't hit over 60mph yet and don't really plan to until 500miles. Biggest issue is narrowing down these vibes I have again. I suspect the toe-align, however, 7*~ is where I'm at right now with the caster up front which feels better than the 4* they gave it back to me in.

I appreciate the responses guys. $2k is a lot for me to walk away from just not feeling happy about it.

@Stockli, I regret not asking for help earlier. I really wanted to do this job myself. I know it's tedious, takes patience and the right tools. But if there's anything I learned down here in CU, the University of Youtube and the books get you a long long way.
 
Oh no, I was just trying to say that he shouldn’t act like he’s giving you a deal on the labor, because that’s really the going rate.
Ah, I gotcha! Most places here wanted $1400/$1500. One guy said $2000. I ran as fast as I could out of there.
 
Too bad you ran into that. I've done a little business with All Seasons 4 X 4 here in Broomfield, small shop, great work, and they seem to know their stuff. Four 5 star reviews, and those write-ups pretty well match my experiences. Hope everything turns out okay with that noise you are talking about-
Ray
 
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Damnit, passenger side Dana 30 has a leaking seal. Not too bad, hut definitely a mistake on their part and still a leak. Doesn't look to hard to replace that seal. Just empty, crack open housing, take bolts off (ensure they go back the same), pry carrier and shims off, knock out seal, clean, put new seal in, put carrier and shims back in, torque to spec, refill and good to go right? I missing anything?

Just don't feel comfortable ever taking the vehicle back there again. Think I'll wait until at least the 500 mile break in before doing this though
 
Damnit, passenger side Dana 30 has a leaking seal. Not too bad, hut definitely a mistake on their part and still a leak. Doesn't look to hard to replace that seal. Just empty, crack open housing, take bolts off (ensure they go back the same), pry carrier and shims off, knock out seal, clean, put new seal in, put carrier and shims back in, torque to spec, refill and good to go right? I missing anything?

Just don't feel comfortable ever taking the vehicle back there again. Think I'll wait until at least the 500 mile break in before doing this though
Basically, yep. Best to do both seals at the same time while you are in there. I used a socket with a couple ft of extentions to drive the new seals in. They are a tight fit.


There must have been a time
when we could have said no.
 
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Basically, yep. Best to do both seals at the same time while you are in there. I used a socket with a couple ft of extentions to drive the new seals in. They are a tight fit.


There must have been a time
when we could have said no.
Awesome, thanks man. any issues with gears afterwards. I fear taking the carrier out but if shims are not changed and bolts tightened back to spec. should be no issues right?
 
Correct, just make sure the shims stay on the same sides and the caps stay on the same sides oriented the same way. (that part is critical)

Be aware that with a fresh gear setup there should be some preload on the bearings, it may be a challenge to get the carrier out (a pair of box end wrenches will solve that) and to put back in. Make sure none of the shims are damaged going back in, you may need a deadblow hammer to put the carrier back.


There must have been a time
when we could have said no.
 
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Take it back.

FWIW I just had G2 4.88’s installed and after parts, labor, taxes, and shop fees it was $1800. I had the money and didn’t want to do it myself in my residential garage with no lift and no space. Both my pinions leaked a little and the shop replaced both seals no questions asked. They did note I had some light grooving on my pinions and if it leaked again they would charge me to replace them but no labor.
 
The "incorrect " price quote had zero to with the "distributor". He just wanted more money.

Any qualified gear shop knows exactly what they are getting into, or may get into.

I run a business, and have a simple policy ...all changes and cost increases are agreed to in writing by both parties.... prior to the work being performed. Always.

Sorry, but according to your side of the story , it appears he kept the agreement loose intentionally and likely has decent success with that ..often it's a way to compensate for not bidding accurately.

Job vision from experience is the mark of a professional, and good estimates will reflect that.
 
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Honestly in my opinion you should take it back. Yeah there was some drama, and he's not going to be happy to see you again, but he fucked up the seals. He'll know it's his fault.

The OP posted this in March of 2018 :LOL:

Do you think he still has time to take it back? ;)