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Having a bad week with EMPI
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Brian
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PostPosted: Wed Nov 27, 2013 12:21 pm    Post subject: Having a bad week with EMPI Reply with quote

Luckily, I was only driving on a major road. Only hit one truck too.

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PostPosted: Wed Nov 27, 2013 12:26 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

You live close enough to collect the parts and pictures and take them directly to the company and see what they plan to do about the problem. It could have been alot worse.
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PostPosted: Wed Nov 27, 2013 12:29 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I've always stayed away from cheap parts that can cause a catastrophic failure line suspension and internal engine parts.

Glad you weren't hurt.
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PostPosted: Wed Nov 27, 2013 12:44 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

glad you werent hurt.. be careful
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greg mgm
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PostPosted: Wed Nov 27, 2013 12:44 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Damn! Shocked

How old were the parts?

Thanks for sharing this.
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Brian
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PostPosted: Wed Nov 27, 2013 12:51 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I got extremely lucky I wasn't hurt. The spindles were put on less than a year ago. I went over to B&R and talked to Gary, he said he hasn't seen this happen before with empi spindles, so we're going to ship them back and hopefully they honor their guarantee.

Maybe this Christmas I'll be on the hunt for a Thing beam instead of buying presents.
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PostPosted: Wed Nov 27, 2013 1:46 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

You would get better results if you went in person. 301 E. OrangeThorpe Anaheim. Call talk to a manger and send him/her the photos and arrange a meeting. just a thought.
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PostPosted: Wed Nov 27, 2013 2:05 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

BETTER YET, find a manager's email address and send him a link to this thread! Publicity is a wonderful motivator, whether good or bad, it lights a fire under people's butts and helps them make good business decisions.
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PostPosted: Wed Nov 27, 2013 2:28 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

This should help the resale value of thing lift spindles. Wow. Glad you are okay and nobody was hurt.
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PostPosted: Wed Nov 27, 2013 4:40 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

After blowing up your picture and looking at the fracture / rust lines, this spindle has been waiting to fail for awhile. Unless you kissed a cub sometime before this shear, it shows classic signs of a part that was faulty from the day one. I have hit boulders with my Baja wheels (with OEM spindles), yet I have never sheared off a wheel.

I would demand a total refund and any towing and other costs that you have occurred. If they do not compensate you, please take them to small claims court. If we keep accepting inferior parts as the norm, that is all we will ever get.
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md perf
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PostPosted: Wed Nov 27, 2013 4:57 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

could be porosity in the casting. if the metal looks like it has little bubbles in it, then it is a faulty casting 100%
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PostPosted: Wed Nov 27, 2013 11:06 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Damn looks like you got lucky. Good luck getting anything out of empi their warranty is about as good as their quality control.

I purchased stuff of them a while back and it failed, they admitted it was an issue and would rectify it on the next batch, funnily enough they didn't offer to replace them and when ask directly they said no.

Luckily I bought them off Dan's Performance Parts and he honored the warranty on their behalf and paid for new ones out of his own pocket, from a different supplier. Since my issue was only with their ball joints and tie rods it was relatively minor compared to yours.

Empi use to be good quality and now it is just Chinese junk and they work on getting price down and volume up.
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PostPosted: Thu Nov 28, 2013 9:12 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Iguana wrote:
Damn looks like you got lucky. Good luck getting anything out of empi their warranty is about as good as their quality control.

...

Empi use to be good quality and now it is just Chinese junk and they work on getting price down and volume up.


Lucky is right!...could have gone very wrong very fast. I'm glad you are ok!

I must say, EMPI does not have a good track record with their warranties. It is usually easier to just go to the company you bought them from.

That being said, I do have to give a lot of credit to EMPI. They have been instrumental in keeping our hobby alive! They are no different from any other aftermarket automotive equipment manufacturer. Some of their stuff is cheap while other stuff is excellent. You just have to know which parts are hot and which are not. This is something that can only be gained by experience and lots of miles. Fortunately, you don't have to put all the miles and time in by yourself. Loads of people around here have already done that for you. Personally, I would NEVR hesitate to buy their CV joints, axles, and carburetors Wink
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PostPosted: Mon Dec 02, 2013 4:49 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

An update on this, I'm basically out of luck.
I went over to B&R and talked with Gary and come to find that EMPI has discontinued their lift spindles. I wonder why? He said they claimed it was from them not being a popular item.

Here are some up close pictures of the spindle, as you can see it broke on day 1.
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Notice the rust line on where it was broken and where it finally snapped off. It clearly is a miracle that I had put on 10,000 miles on these. On road and mildly though the desert.
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I was told that I could just weld them back together, but I have also been told cast iron doesn't take to kindly to welds. So I'm not going to trust that. So if anyone has some Thing parts, please PM me.
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bowtiebug
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PostPosted: Mon Dec 02, 2013 5:03 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Man you got lucky , could have been Deadly , glad your OK .

Either go with thing spindles ( my choice ) or tweed ..

Good Luck !!
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PostPosted: Mon Dec 02, 2013 5:06 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

All you would need are Thing spindles. You can swap the lower arms side to side, and the spindles will bolt right up. A buddy of mine did that and has worked great for a long time.
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PostPosted: Mon Dec 02, 2013 5:08 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

bowtiebug wrote:
Man you got lucky , could have been Deadly , glad your OK .

Either go with thing spindles ( my choice ) or tweed ..

Good Luck !!


Thank you, I'm going to invest in going with the Thing spindles. I'm going to try to get a hold of some Ghia spindles in the mean time to hold me over. It's hard having a daily driver out of commission.
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Vanapplebomb
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PostPosted: Mon Dec 02, 2013 5:47 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Why Ghia spindles? Bug spindles are the same, minus the large tab for disk brakes... if you don't have disks, then just grab some cheap used bug spindles.
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Brian
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PostPosted: Mon Dec 02, 2013 6:06 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Vanapplebomb wrote:
Why Ghia spindles? Bug spindles are the same, minus the large tab for disk brakes... if you don't have disks, then just grab some cheap used bug spindles.


Thats exactly why. I have discs in the front.
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PostPosted: Mon Dec 02, 2013 6:31 pm    Post subject: EMPI Spindles Reply with quote

I purchased a set of Empi raised spindles last year and the hole for the upper ball joint was cast or drilled way off center. No way I could use the spindle or wanted to the way it was constructed. Returned set to supplier and was told Empi had found their jig was off so they discontinued the spindles. I went with Kustom1 warehouse spindles and am real happy with them.......
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