Rear Axles are never perfectly centered anyways, there is always a slight offset to account for axle wrap under torque load. There is still a spec to it but will vary for each vehicle.
Substandard repair work after truck damage - advice/help?
- Thread starter DriveHard
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I've been thinking on this....and I remember OBS Fords often seemed to be offset a little to the right.
But does axle wrap really move the axle side to side? I'm not saying it doesn't, I'm just trying to understand the dynamics here.
Owen Lucas
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Tell the shop you will bring it to a non-progressive body shop to have it nit-picked over, that usually gets the managers attention. Maybe tell them you'll make a YouTube video showing the quality of work, won't win you points though. Tell them if they don't make it perfect, you'll bring it back for every nib in the paint you notice and issue under the sun. Take a piece of painters tape and put it over every issue and tell them to fix it or you won't take it back till it's 100% perfect.
Owen Lucas
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I'd also leave 2 boxes of donuts in the truck, maybe another one for the front office. Moral is pretty low in these insurance shops, so buttering them up a bit can be helpful lol.
It does not solve the axle wrap, it solves the rear wheel tracking so it does not crab down the road.
JHZR2
Staff member
You realize that “preferred” shops are just another way to do the (illegal) practice of “steering”, right? They’re willing to take a lower rate and do things to a lower standard in return. The insurance co wins because they pay less, the shop wins because of more work. The insurance content takes those negotiated rates and uses them as a “proprietary” basis of going rates, so if you went to a different shop, their first action would be to deny the cost due to rate mismatch.
It’s all such a scam.
They did what was the cost expedient job because they had a pass.
any further explanation?
On a conventional solid rear axle, there is a torsional load across the axis. The drivers side wants to move forward and the passenger side to the rear.
I just don't understand where that force is being generated. I also don't understand why shifting the entire axle to one side or the other would counteract this. If this force is indeed there, maybe angling the axle a bit...but not just an offset. I looked up a few free body diagrams, and didn't see this force in any of them either.
Sorry, I am not turning this into a "Ted Talk" to make you understand. Accept it, discount it, does not bother me one bit.
dnewton3
Staff member
OP- Your thread title was misleading; this is not a "fraud" issue.
This is a question of quality of repairs.
Title has been updated.
This is a question of quality of repairs.
Title has been updated.
Was just hoping to learn from you. Thanks though. Any link or suggestion on where to look would be great as well.
No problem at all...thanks.
I will say IMHO it did fit, not that you did not make it better.
Define Fraud
a person or thing intended to deceive others, typically by unjustifiably claiming or being credited with accomplishments or qualities.
Yeah, wish I could find something to link directly. Just something that came up many years ago and if you google why vehicle rear axles are shifted right, there is a plethora of people making the same observation of them always shifted to the passenger right. Just about all feedback is that it is by design for vehicle tracking and weight distribution. Solid axle trucks with leaf spring rear suspensions seem to have the more noticeable shift. Closest I came to documentation on the subject was behind a paywall that I was not going to pay $129 for some engineering white paper.
