Opinions needed on alignment issue-Brackets cut for mechanic's access???

[jremington59]

After getting my front end finished it was finally time for the alignment. I took the truck in to a shop that's been in business for at least 30 years by the same owner. And a friend of mine works there.

When I got there they were running behind so I removed and put in the 4 new camber bolts needed for a proper alignment. The owner wasn't there at the time so one of the mechanics said if I wanted I could do it, as they know me from other things I've had done. I'll also add they specialize in alignments and have a great rep in my area.

Forward a few hours and I'm wondering why the alignment isn't finished and I'm told the guy doing it just up and left for a couple hours. Finally after 5 hours and a few test drives I'm told it's finished.

I wasn't real impressed while driving home but figured the tires were a little worn and with the change of the camber and caster a set of new tires would finish it off. When I got home I took a look and this is what I saw.

Needless to say I was speechless. I returned and questioned the guy that did the work and he told me that "it wouldn't hurt anything and would be easier to get a wrench on the bolt for the adjustment".

This is where I need opinions. He hacked off the front of all four upper control arm brackets. Common sense tells me that seriously weakens the integrity of the brackets. And these vehicles have a lot of weight to them. Other than what an absolutely stupid thing to do, what's you opinion on the safety of this now?

 

[Turdle]

Any time metal is cut leaving a 90 degree hack it makes it easier to tear.

Even if they "could" get away with removing that material, the cut should have been pre drilled at the corner and then a connection cut made. This would leave a round inside corner.

Try this yourself with some paper.

make 2 cuts, one with a curve and one with a straight 90 degree angle and see which one tears easier.

IMO they did irreparable damage to your vehicle and you should figure a damage amount to take them to small claims court with.

 

[jremington59]

Thanks Turdle. I'm really sick about this. I've spent a lot of time going through this vehicle keeping it in great shape. Now I can't believe I wouldn't be able to to put a 15 mm socket on both ends of the cam bolt and draw the bracket together without the front to support it.

All I can think of is to remove the control arm and have a plate welded back onto the front. I don't know if the bracket is bolted and welded onto the frame or just welded. I'm not sure who to contact at Ford to get an opinion on what this does to the strength. But all I think about is going around a curve at 60 and having one of those tear off.

I'm really trying not to "lose it", lol, and start screaming at people about this. The owner is a great guy. I mean he really is. Sometimes I think to nice.

 

[99SportX]

I would be so ANGRY :fire: with them if I got my truck back like that. Not only is that totally unnecessary, it is unsafe. Any other shop can do an alignment without hacking the frame. While it would probably hold, it is not right, and why take the risk?

As Jon said, the hacked corner is a point of concentrated stress. That is why you see radii or tapered gusseting in most structural areas. Ford spends a lot of time engineering their vehicles. Adding steel costs money and overall weight. They wouldn't add a bunch of extra material unnecessarily.

If the shop is doing that to more than just your vehicle, they are putting themselves in a very bad place legally. I hope they have good insurance. If a failure resulted from their hacking which caused loss of life, they would be done for.

 

[swshawaii]

Maybe the "butcher" didn't have a 21mm deep socket. Unbelievably stupid.

 

[imp]

Not only weakened, but when the bracket breaks, serious injury or death could result. This really needs legal representation.

The "fix" would involve removing almost everything, certainly the control arms, get access to weld pieces of angle in place to re-make the bracket.

This act destroyed a basically sound suspension system. imp

 

[blueka]

wow.. I'd be taking it to another shop, get them to write a report, get legal representation and have them either repair what they did, or put another frame under it.


Si

 

[gmanpaint]

WOW!
I would talk to the owner to make the repairs at his cost, provide a loaner vehicle while the work is being done. If he gives one iota of not wanting too, just walk away and call a lawyer, the BBB, and your INS company to make a claim.

Do not drive that vehicle!

That's about the most messed up thing I have seen in a long time.

Sad.

 

[Blee1099]

They compromised the integrity of the mount.. Ford didn't design the upper control arm mounts to be a "C" channel.. If they did they would have done it themselves.

 

[jremington59]

I went out this morning and took a closer look and it's visibly obvious that the front of the bracket is flexed inward at an angle from the bolts being tightened and pulling it inward. I figured that would happen. And if things weren't bad enough the passenger side is cut deeper than the drivers side.

I'm going in and see the owner on Wednesday. To my knowlege he's not aware of it yet. I don't like to complain or cause issues but as I stated earlier I'm just sick about this. I wish the bracket bolted on but it doesn't. It doesn't seem to be an easy replacement. Even if we just weld a plate back on the control arms are going to have to be removed. This just wasn't necessary.

I was wondering if someone would have a pic of this bracket as it should be or could get one if they have a chance? Thx.

 

[Turdle]

Not only do we have pictures, we have a thread showing how it is supposed to be done.

http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=194453

 

[my98nnj]

Lawsuit, balls in your court. Have it repaired correctly by a really good body shop.

 

[TonyV2000]

He hacked off the front of all four upper control arm brackets.

Has there been any resolution?

I just took my truck for an alignment and mentioned this to the service writer and he didn't believe it.

I made sure to check the upper control arm brackets on my truck before I left the shop! I'm well aware of all the things some of these butchers (pun intended) can mess up, but I would NEVER have thought to check for that!

 

[1996BLKBauer]

That is just plain laziness, I would for sure sue the guy, maybe not the company. But the guy, Technicians like that should not work any anybody's car, heck I spent 5 hours trying to get a shock out of my Explorer before I actually did, sure I got pissed off, but it came out, with out ruining a seemingly perfect truck.

 

[jremington59]

They had a welder come over and look at it and he welded big thick plates back onto the front. They look bulky but I'm sure they'll serve the purpose. They also mounted and balanced my new tires for free so I got a little something for the headache.

After all this I'm wondering about taking it and having it aligned again somewhere else. I keep thinking if someone did this how smart can they be, lol. They used the old fashioned strap on the wheel gauge to align it. I always thought they had some alignment rack they put them on.

 

[TonyV2000]

Is the guy who originally cut the brackets still employed?

 

[toypaseo]

He hacked off the front of all four upper control arm brackets.

They used the old fashioned strap on the wheel gauge to align it. I always thought they had some alignment rack they put them on.

• Hacked off metal, weakening structure
• Used old fashion strap on wheel gauge

Please go elsewhere...

 

[jremington59]

And then things get better. I thought the toe looked off so I set up a line to check it. The back of the tire was 71 inches across and the front was at 70 3/8, lol. I just adjusted them myself and got them to within a 16th of each other.

I think I'll just bite it and take it elsewhere and get another one done. I have driven about 400 miles and see zero tire wear so I'm assuming the camber/caster should be good but I don't know whether to leave it be or not.