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TH Racing Todd Heemsbergen Tried to cover up bad workmanship and lied to me. Fort Worth Texas
I called Todd about a month and a half ago. I needed help rebuilding a motor for my 10 year old son. It turned out that he roasted the crank. This was entirely my fault as I allowed sand to get in the motor through the air filter. Todd was very nice on the phone and said he could help and recommended an engine rebuild service. I pulled the motor from the bike and prepped it for shipment. So In the process of stripping down the bike an motor you need to remove all fluids such as oil, gas, and coolant. This will be important later. Once the motor was out I disassembled the majority of the motor to fully assess the damage to the cylinder, pistons, crank, ect. I gently replaced all parts back together for shipping and repair. Todd called me after receiving and inspecting my motor. He told me about all the issues and gave me a quote for service. I paid via Todds payment policy and the work began. The work was done in a timely fashion and Todd did respond to my emails promptly.
So when I received the motor everything looked good. I spent 10 hours over the next 4 days reassembling the bike. Time to fire it up. She starts up great and after 30 seconds I see this wet spot pooling under the bike. So I take a look and I see that I have coolant dripping from the remnants of my coolant drain bolt. The best I can tell is who ever rebuilt the engine, they cross threaded the drain bolt. Then it appears they possibly tried to re thread the hole but didn't do it square so the bolt is threaded in sideways. Then to the matters worse the head of the drain bolt was ground flush with the case. There is even a part of the case that was touched by the cutting tool leaving a mark showing it was ground down.
So I email a picture to Todd ask him what to do. I'm thinking that it's just a stripped hole no worries right? Well Todd call me back promptly. I wasn't even upset if you can believe that. Before I ask a question Todd tells me he remembers receiving the motor with the drain bolt already stripped and with it's current "fix". I chuckled. Then he said initially they though the bolt was broke in shipping but couldn't find the head in the crate. He also said that it appeared epoxy was allied to the threads to stop the leak. Now I'm thinking great, you glued the dang thing in place also. What a mess. Remember how I removed fluid from the motor. Well I removed the coolant from the nice intact drain bolt that use to be on my motor. I then gently put that back in the proper location prior to shipment. I also never fully set the bolt because it was going to be pulled out in the service work. Secondly if the bolt snapped in shipment it would break completely flush with the case. Also I wouldn't have the tooling marks. FYI I have numerous pictures if this is ever questioned.
I didn't argue that the phone. There was no need. I would have just been lied to more. Todds solution was to "cap the hole with JB weld or get a new crank case. Lol a freaking new crankcase. All for a stripped plug. The fix he applied for the issue he created was probably close to the worse solution. This really wasn't a big deal to fix until he tried to cover it up and tell me I'm the one who did it. Unfortunately for me I might actually need a new case if the problem can't be fixed since since butchered it so badly. Time will tell as I have others try to fix Todds "fix". I do question the work that was done in the motor. I'll be using a new shop in the future. And Todd, Be honest with people. It's so much easier than lying. This is a fair representation of what occurred.
3 Updates & Rebuttals
Conclusion - PLEASE READ!
#4Author of original report
Wed, August 03, 2016
Rebuttal
#4Author of original report
Mon, August 01, 2016
I have a picture of my son on his bike taken the day the crank failed. It clearly shows an intact coolant drain plug. The next day I pulled the motor from the bike and prepared it to ship. I drained the coolant from that plug and placed the plug back in the hole by hand.
Here is the email I sent Todd after he called me back.
TH Racing
Fort Worth,Texas,
USA
Customer contacted immediately
#4REBUTTAL Owner of company
Fri, July 29, 2016
I was made aware of this claim within 24 hours. My company has been built on 100% customer satisfation for the past 16 years with satisfied customers world-wide.
For starters we have had over 18,000 motors through our doors. It is not uncommon to see KX 85 drain bolts sheered off like this due to their location at the front of the engine. We assumed it was a customer repaired item and must be holding antifreeze since there was no mention of this being an issue. Also, when rebuilding the motor there is no need to remove a coolant drain bolt that has already had the coolant removed. However, when the bolt is in normal condition it is removed and reinstalled with a new crush water behind it.
This is the side cover to the engine. The engine and it's failed components (crank shaft, cylinder, piston, bearings and seals) are what we rebuilt and charged for.
The customer did call me personally and explain the issue. I told the customer the PROPER fix was to replace the cover, but that he may get by with JB weld or some type of epoxy. The customer was so accepting of my advise I only assumed he was well aware of his existing issue.
I have placed a call to the customer immediately upon receiving this information and left a voicemail that I will replace his cover and apparently damaged items that we did not damage at our cost and cover the return shipping.
As far at the lying comment - I take exteme exception to that comment!!!
Todd Heemsbergen - President TH Racing