Downey Off-Road sucks

[Sean]

Well i have heard it in the past but didnt beleive it. I ordered SBC motor mounts from them last week. Asked if they were in stock, "oh yes sir, will be to you in three days." Well i noticed they hadnt charged my Visa yet while the T/C adapter i ordered from Novak and the stud girdles i ordered from Competion Products the same day were charged right away and showed up this week.
So i call today. And what? After five minutes on hold, "sorry we seem to be out of stock on those."
Why lie? Being unable to fill my order is forgiveable. Lieing about it not so much. If it was an honest mistake i should have been given a curtisey call apprising me of the situation. Never again.
We will see if North West is any better.

[rocktoy]

NWOR is worst than downey. I actually got my stuff pretty fast and it worked well from downey. NWOR has the worst possible customer service ever and their product it right behind thier service.

[Sean]

Yup, those idiots are even worse. After being put on hold for 5 minutes and booted three times, yes i am a sucker for punishment, they would not place my order. Even though their mounts were way, way over priced at 195 dollars guy says he cant ship them because "they" have a "400 dollar thing" for over the boarder shipments. Im confused by this and ask "who has a 400 dollar mininum?" We do he says and starts rambling about how it takes six pieces of paper work to ship anything across the boarder. And the whole time dudes talking to me with a pissy tone. How these idiots stay in business i have no idea.

I guess i will buy weld in ones or fab my own. I just wanted the convience of bolt in, i figued less messing around.

[Sean]

Well i checked AA because i thought i would have to go weld in. Turns out they are making bolt ins now too, for 40 dollars cheaper then crappy NWOR. Professional and friendly on the phone, you know, they way business is supposed to be run.

[Hoodlum]

Sean we ship over the border without that much BS.All I ever fill out is the customs form.It's all in how you fill out the form.And we ship orders there at least 10 to 15 packages a week.Shoot me a PM I should be able to help you out with this one.

[Sean]

Thanks man but i ordered them from Advance this afternoon. As far as the issue with shipping to Canada, yeah i dunno. I have had over 12 orders deleivered from the states in the process of building the motor for this swap and never had an issue with a vendor.

The 60 and 14b are going in weekend after next. Just waiting on my Stak mini three speed and i can get the drivetrain in. Soon as i start the axle swap i will start a build up thread.

[rocktoy]

I love my 60/14b combo but the 14b is a total rock anchor. I've ground mine till the bottom bolt barely is usable and it gets hung up on everything.

[Sean]

Yeah for now i am just leaving it stock besides the disk swap so i can clear 15s. I am hoping to have this thing done for when the snow flies. Lockers and gears will come next year and when i do that i will see about making it less of a pig. I know some guys in a machine shop so i think i can get the gear turned down for nothing and a friend said i could use his milling machine to take down the housing. For now it will be 4.10s with the rear welded though. Next year im hoping to add an Eaton Electric in the front and some kind of locker for the 14. Maybe regear though that will depend on how i like the 4.10s. The 383 i built for this is pushing over 500 HP and has a flat torque curve of over 400ft/lbs of torque from 2000rpm through redline so it might be fine with the gear it has and a crawl ratio of 140:1.

[rocktoy]

Wait let me get this right here. Your bolting a 500hp motor to the tiny little mounts for a toy motor with bolt on adapters? You know guys plate the frame for 4.3 swaps cause its thin right?


Whats the rest of the driveline? I've driven rigs with big power and auto's with doublers and they are fun untill you have to fix them. If you plan on getting it with this rig start planning upgrades for the 60 now. I took out a 35spline shaft and a joint with a 22re. A 60 isnt unbreakable especially with that kind of power.

[Sean]

Meh, the worst thing that can happen is i tear the mount off the frame. The bolt in part from advance adapters is stout. If that happens i will fix the frame and go from there.

As far as planning upgrades, well i am. Like i said the front is going to stay open for now. If i break something i will fix it, its what i do for a living so i really dont mind. With my toy axles and toy power i was breaking something every other time i went out wheeling in the snow. And im not exaggerating that. Im not new to this game, my toy axles are pretty much fully stuffed with the good shiat(longs,lockers,5.29s) and my 60 will be eventually as well. Im sticking with the 37s for now but the future is 39s, longfields super 60 set, 35 spline hubs and an electric eaton. All in due time.

My original build was for rockcrawling. Now im building more for snow running, which requires lots of horse power to move big tires through. 500+HP motors are common place in big snow rigs. The way i built the motor was with high flowing heads and a realitively small cam to make good power throughout the power band. With a cam swap and fuel/intake change i could probably push close to 600 out of the motor, but then it would be too peaky.

The drivetrain is 383/sm465/stak mini three speed, Chevy Dana 60, Chevy 14b. The sm isnt rated for that torque but it has been used behind strong big blocks for years so im not concerned. I think the stak is rated at 10000 ft/lbs and even with 525 ft/lbs of torque in 6.55:1 low its only about a third that.

Growing up my dad had a dodge 3/4 ton 4x4 with a built 440 on 60s and never had an issue. And thats with at least 50% heavier with about the same torque. I dont anticipate any problems with my front as long as it is open. But im will to find out.

[rocktoy]

ok cool then carry on


I did the whole toy axle deal. Broke 4 30spline long inner stars, R+P's and knuckle's like crazy on 37's. I've broken a 35outer and joint on the 60 but it was being pushed really hard. I run 39's now with more wiegh than before and super low gears(230ish -1)


I wheel with a few guys with K5 truggy's and such. No one has over 400hp and they break stuff. Our terrain is probly alot different though than yours. Hell a foot of snow here is alot

[starkist]

i've been there, they are small time........maybe i should start a new SUCKS THREAD