Fixing the Drive
11-18-2015
Author: Blog Editor in JeepandRV
So we spent all day Wednesday in the shop getting the front end of our rig back into shape. It was a great learning experience and I cannot say enough good things about the shop and those running it. We found Kaiser Brake & Alignment through the recommendation of the Freightliner shop in Coburn OR. I went online to read reviews and while there were not a lot the ones on there were good. We stopped in on the way to the coast and we were both impressed with both the look of the shop (everything tidy and a steady hum of work being completed) and the way that Mel Young went out of his way to explain and show us what needed to be done. We left feeling good that at least the work would be completed right.
Fast forward to yesterday. We arrived at 7:50am and by 8am the rig had been backed into the shop and the tires were coming off. Then the mechanic started breaking down the joints and found that we needed wheel bearings, our rig is coming up on its 13th birthday and has over 82k miles so not surprising but loved how he took the time to show us the wear and allowed us time to discuss if we should spend the money now or later. We chose now because we were already paying to take everything apart to get to the ball joints so in the long run it would be cheaper. Throughout the day they continued to show my husband what they were finding so he felt comfortable with the repairs being completed. They stayed late finishing up the alignment as we had an 8am appointment at the glass shop to get our new window installed.
We have now been in some 7-8 shops and hands down this was the best experience we have had, not a cheap repair but nice to drive away with confidence that the repairs were completed by professionals and that we actually understood the process. My only regret is not taking photos while they were working to share on this blog but I was inside fighting with our extended warranty company (more in the future on this). If you are wanting any work on your brake, alignment, or tires then you should visit Kaiser Brake & Alignment and ask for Mel!!
What we have learned is going forward we will not be visiting any "RV repair" shops. We will stick with specialty shops who are really good at the one thing they do rather than trying find a "jack of all trades". Jim is getting really good at the house repairs which just leaves the chassis and now we know where we will be stopping each year for an inspection so hopefully we can prevent future issues through maintenance. If you are like me and read the many forums it is clear that great service is the exception instead of the standard. That is not acceptable and needs to be fixed since we are paying way too much for mediocre work.
When we were looking for an RV I read many forums, books, and blogs which gave me great information about the house but nothing that jumped out to me saying "inspect the chassis". We even hired an inspector who spent a lot of time checking for water intrusion, took it for a test drive, and testing the house components but never did he tell us to take it down the road to a shop to be put on a lift for a chassis inspection. We may or may not have purchased the rig if we had known what was under there, maybe it came after we bought it, but we will never know since we did not have it looked at. It just makes me wonder, how many people are driving down the road unaware of what is under their feet?
If you are in the Eugene OR area, stop in and say hi to Mel at Kaiser Brake & Alignment!
Fast forward to yesterday. We arrived at 7:50am and by 8am the rig had been backed into the shop and the tires were coming off. Then the mechanic started breaking down the joints and found that we needed wheel bearings, our rig is coming up on its 13th birthday and has over 82k miles so not surprising but loved how he took the time to show us the wear and allowed us time to discuss if we should spend the money now or later. We chose now because we were already paying to take everything apart to get to the ball joints so in the long run it would be cheaper. Throughout the day they continued to show my husband what they were finding so he felt comfortable with the repairs being completed. They stayed late finishing up the alignment as we had an 8am appointment at the glass shop to get our new window installed.
We have now been in some 7-8 shops and hands down this was the best experience we have had, not a cheap repair but nice to drive away with confidence that the repairs were completed by professionals and that we actually understood the process. My only regret is not taking photos while they were working to share on this blog but I was inside fighting with our extended warranty company (more in the future on this). If you are wanting any work on your brake, alignment, or tires then you should visit Kaiser Brake & Alignment and ask for Mel!!
What we have learned is going forward we will not be visiting any "RV repair" shops. We will stick with specialty shops who are really good at the one thing they do rather than trying find a "jack of all trades". Jim is getting really good at the house repairs which just leaves the chassis and now we know where we will be stopping each year for an inspection so hopefully we can prevent future issues through maintenance. If you are like me and read the many forums it is clear that great service is the exception instead of the standard. That is not acceptable and needs to be fixed since we are paying way too much for mediocre work.
When we were looking for an RV I read many forums, books, and blogs which gave me great information about the house but nothing that jumped out to me saying "inspect the chassis". We even hired an inspector who spent a lot of time checking for water intrusion, took it for a test drive, and testing the house components but never did he tell us to take it down the road to a shop to be put on a lift for a chassis inspection. We may or may not have purchased the rig if we had known what was under there, maybe it came after we bought it, but we will never know since we did not have it looked at. It just makes me wonder, how many people are driving down the road unaware of what is under their feet?
If you are in the Eugene OR area, stop in and say hi to Mel at Kaiser Brake & Alignment!
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