shop didn't replace clamps on steering rack

[The motor guy]

I remember watching a few youtube videos a while back and heard that these clamps are kind of hard to come by I think and many people just use zip ties. Anyways, I had the shop replace just about everything on my front end just so everything should be good for a while. I looked at the truck in the parking lot before I left and checked everything, but I took a better look once I got home and that's when I noticed they didn't put the clamps on the boots of the steering rack. They did on the inner tie rod portion, but they never put them on the inside bigger part. I looked at my friends dodge and noticed they did the same thing, but only the opposite. The shop told me to bring it back of course and they would take care of it, but it's really annoying.

 

[The motor guy]

Are the techs just lazy and don't bother to put them back on? Or do they get everything together and realize that oops I should have slide that clamp on before bolting this on and then just say oh well.

 

[OneEyeJack]

It's just a way for the shop and the mechanics to display how much care they put into their work.

The message is don't come back. Find a better shop. The only problem here is that a shop that is clean, neat, has trained and certified mechanics won't use cheaper white box parts and charges a fair price for their work.

That little bit more you might pay might be the best bargain in the auto repair business.

 

[The motor guy]

Originally Posted By: OneEyeJack
It's just a way for the shop and the mechanics to display how much care they put into their work.

The message is don't come back. Find a better shop. The only problem here is that a shop that is clean, neat, has trained and certified mechanics won't use cheaper white box parts and charges a fair price for their work.

That little bit more you might pay might be the best bargain in the auto repair business.

This place has been in business for like 40 years. I think it's just my luck since 95 percent of the time that I have someone else do work I end up having to go back cause they did something wrong. This is with anything. I think many mechanics get away with this cause the general population will never notice if they don't put something back on.

 

[GiveMeAVowel]

Good luck trying find that "better shop" that really cares about the customer, they are VERY RARE, and hard to find too.

As far as the price goes surprisingly often times you can find shops that charge top dollar and do poor work and find shops that charge very reasonable rates and do a good job.

I wish ASE or some organization would go into certifying shops themselves so that customers could be certain of reasonable quality and consistency.

 

[demarpaint]

In auto repair and many other businesses higher prices doesn't always mean better work, or higher quality parts are being used.

 

[OneEyeJack]

You just have to make it a project to find a good independent shop that does quality work for a reasonable price. That won't be a discount but it will be a bargain. Clean and neat is a good start.

 

[Trav]

Don't settle for friggin zip ties either, they screwed the pooch on the job they should fix it right with metal Oetiker clamps.
These clamps are important, they prevent water/moisture getting to the rack shaft and causing rust that is a major cause of seal and subsequent rack failure. Lousy mechanic who has no business working on cars, you don't just forget something like this.

 

[The motor guy]

They put some big black zip ties that are like 3 times the width of your standard zip ties. I guess it will do.

 

[The motor guy]

Originally Posted By: Trav
Don't settle for friggin zip ties either, they screwed the pooch on the job they should fix it right with metal Oetiker clamps.
These clamps are important, they prevent water/moisture getting to the rack shaft and causing rust that is a major cause of seal and subsequent rack failure. Lousy mechanic who has no business working on cars, you don't just forget something like this.


I understand what you're saying though Trav, but at least they didn't put regular sized zip ties on.

 

[Trav]

That's something anyway. I hate Mickey Mouse operators that do shoddy stuff like that.

 

[The motor guy]

Originally Posted By: Trav
That's something anyway. I hate Mickey Mouse operators that do shoddy stuff like that.


I don't know why shops act like they're so hard to come by. I see them looking on the internet. These clamps are $2.00 a piece. The problem with the plastic zip ties is they don't usually seal well by the part where they connect together, whereas a stainless band has an even clamping force all the way around. I think the clamps will be good enough though, just as long as the rack doesn't get submerged in water when my street floods in the middle of the night.