DickWells
03-18-2011, 11:25
One of our couples from Minn., use a 33ft fifth-wheel, with nice rugged alloy wheels and LRE Marathons. They nearly wore one of them out, getting from home to Brownsville. We thought we had him all set for an alignment, here in town, but the deal has fallen through.
Back a month or two, he was sent to the Red Barn, and I went with him. Ten seconds of listening to the guy behind their counter was enough for me. "Oh, sir, we don't bend the axles, any more, we just replace the axle." !!!! Around $800.00! "Let's get out of here." Now, two days ago, he had finally found what he thought was the right shop. Guy has 15 years of experience with trucks and tailers. "Bring it in Thursday at 1:00." The owner got a call at 12:30 that they couldn't do it then, so bring it in at 8:00 on Friday (today). Hooked up and tore-down for the second time in two days, and I drove the thing over for him this morning. The owner has had a stroke and gets pretty intimidated in tight places. A call at 10:30 tells him that they can't do his trailer there! I go over to drive it back and park it, and learn that they don't have a yoke and jack system big enough for his trailer!
No other place in town, and (apparently), no other place down here in the lower Rio Grande Valley! Soooo. Can anyone point us to a place, up the line, preferably in the McAllen area, where he can get his trailer aligned? Or, barring that, somewhere along the way, up in San Antonio, or Dallas, or Houston? He has a bad enough camber and scrub problem in his left-rear, that I think he's in danger of wearing the new tire that he just put on there, completely out on the way back to Minn.
It's a sad fact that something like 90%+ of travel trailers need a wheel alignment, right off the showroom floor!
Thanks, DW.
Back a month or two, he was sent to the Red Barn, and I went with him. Ten seconds of listening to the guy behind their counter was enough for me. "Oh, sir, we don't bend the axles, any more, we just replace the axle." !!!! Around $800.00! "Let's get out of here." Now, two days ago, he had finally found what he thought was the right shop. Guy has 15 years of experience with trucks and tailers. "Bring it in Thursday at 1:00." The owner got a call at 12:30 that they couldn't do it then, so bring it in at 8:00 on Friday (today). Hooked up and tore-down for the second time in two days, and I drove the thing over for him this morning. The owner has had a stroke and gets pretty intimidated in tight places. A call at 10:30 tells him that they can't do his trailer there! I go over to drive it back and park it, and learn that they don't have a yoke and jack system big enough for his trailer!
No other place in town, and (apparently), no other place down here in the lower Rio Grande Valley! Soooo. Can anyone point us to a place, up the line, preferably in the McAllen area, where he can get his trailer aligned? Or, barring that, somewhere along the way, up in San Antonio, or Dallas, or Houston? He has a bad enough camber and scrub problem in his left-rear, that I think he's in danger of wearing the new tire that he just put on there, completely out on the way back to Minn.
It's a sad fact that something like 90%+ of travel trailers need a wheel alignment, right off the showroom floor!
Thanks, DW.