I wasn't going to say or post anything about this, but the problems I've been experiencing are something I don't want other people to go through so I'll share.

About 1.5 years ago I had Jeb Burnett of www.deepfreezecryo.com do some work to the independent rear end in my car. He custom built a spool for me, installed 4.09 gears, replaced a bent half shaft, replaced a broken outer stub axle, and cryo treated the entire thing; housing and all.

I recently broke the teeth off the ring gear of his 4.09 gear set. I was billed for a cryo treated set of Richmond gears, imagine my surprise to find Dana gears in the case.

The failure was caused by a bolt falling out of the spool. In order for the spool to hold the inner stub axles in place, 2 small holes were drilled into the stub axles. Corresponding holes were drilled and tapped into the spool. Special bolts with non-threaded tips are then threaded into the spool, and the blunt end of the bolt sticks down into the axle holding it in place.

One of those bolts fell out, and found its way into the ring gear. That bolt ran up between the ring and pinion, and broke teeth off both.

The other bolt was loose, only hand tight, but it had not yet fallen out.

As my machinist continued to disassemble the rear end, the reason the bolt fell out was discovered. The small hole that was drilled into the passenger side inner stub axle had a broken off drill bit in it. That prevented the use of one of the special bolts with the smooth tip, instead a normal bolt was installed.

We were also surprised to find 'DANA' on the gear set, as I was billed for a Richmond set of gears.

Once the stub axles, carrier, and ring gear were removed we flipped the third member up and removed the pinion nut. The pinion literally fell out of the third member and hit the ground. That made sense to me, since we removed the nut, but it concerned my machinist because most of the rear ends he does require at least light taps with a hammer to remove the pinion.

The pinion is much smaller than the stock 3.45 pinion. 27 splines as compared to the 29 spline stocker. This creates a situation where the pinion is too small to fill the hole in the third member, so the solution Jeb used was to slide a piece of pipe over the pinion and tack weld it in place. The three tack welds were broken, and the pinion had turned slightly in the piece of pipe.

To sum up:

Dana instead of Richmond gears
Broken drill bit in the stub axle
Pipe welded to pinion

I've heard such good things about Jeb, and I supported him for a long time on the other forum, but I can't let this level of shoddiness pass.

Jeb will not return my messages or answer the phone, and his E-mail address no longer works.

As it stands today, the only thing he touched from a year and a half ago that hasn't failed in one manner or another is the case itself.

I'm curious about one thing...

Why is the Dana vs. Richmond a problem? (Or are you thinking he just threw in a used R&P?)

Is the Richmond set supposedly better in any way? Any strength difference between the 4.09 Richmond pinion and the 4.10(?) Dana pinion? Did the use of the Richmond pinion result in him needing to weld the pipe (shim) to correct the OD? I don't understand why the pinion would have to be tapped out with a hammer regardless, from my experience the bearing race is pressed onto it, and just comes out with it, there's nothing holding the bearing together.

Sorry to hear about this. I hope your taking legal action.

If evrything you've said is true....Sounds like a case of fraud if I ever heard one.

You should get what you pay for without debate over whether one or the other is "better". Is Castrol just as good a synthetic as Mobil 1? Maybe yes maybe no, but If you get billed for one you darn well should get what you pay for!
The drill bit is the nail in the coffin...shoddy workmanship and a devious "correction" that led to failure down the road. Disgraceful!

Wow. That's insane.

As costly as this is, at least the D44 case wasn't damage.

But the rest sounds like a near total loss.

Talk about shoddy.

And I agree, you were billed for "X" and found "Y". That leads to suspicions... It's like a lot of things... that beautiful woman with too much perfume... what else is she covering up?

Is he still in business?

The site has some kinda threat that pissed off Vista!

http://www.precisesecurity.com/blogs/2008/07/22/htmlframerz/

Ain't that special.

This is what ZabaSearch.com says about Jeb Burnett in Little Rock, AR:

JEB BURNETT More info available for a fee Record Created: 10/2003
11 BREEDS HILL CT Satellite Photo & Map Google
LITTLE ROCK, AR 72211 (501) 219-2838 White Pages BURNETT Business Listings
Complete Report on JEB BURNETT


JEB BURNETT More info available for a fee Record Created: 04/2006
12506 PLEASANT VIEW DR Satellite Photo & Map Google
LITTLE ROCK, AR 72212 White Pages BURNETT Business Listings
Complete Report on JEB BURNETT


JEB BURNETT More info available for a fee Record Created: Unknown
4304 CARTER LN Satellite Photo & Map Google
LITTLE ROCK, AR 72223 (501) 664-5847 White Pages BURNETT Business Listings
Complete Report on JEB BURNETT


JEB BURNETT More info available for a fee Record Created: Unknown
4304 CARTER LN Satellite Photo & Map Google
LITTLE ROCK, AR 72223 (501) 868-1820 White Pages BURNETT Business Listings
Complete Report on JEB BURNETT


JEB BURNETT More info available for a fee Record Created: 09/2005
5 BROADVIEW TER Satellite Photo & Map Google
LITTLE ROCK, AR 72207 (501) 664-5847 White Pages BURNETT Business Listings
Complete Report on JEB BURNETT

Quote:

If you believe marketing, richmond are harder and stronger? Who knows. But he didn't get what he paid for.

Quote:

The inner cone is pressed on the pinion, the race is pressed into the case. The outer cone has a VERY LIGHT press onto the pinion so it normally needs a light tap to come out.


Josh: why are you using 4.09:1 gears?? 30" slicks?

-- Joe

Thats sad, you havent been having very good luck lately.
I really hope you get this worked out it can be real fru$trating. Breaking a part is bad, finding out you didnt get what you paid for and it tearing stuff up is another.
Ouch.

Ouch!

Hope you get them good.

In this day of "instant imformation" it's really stupid for someone to do that to someone.

Quote:

Nah, I'm looking for 6500 or so at 125 MPH in 4th.

I'm actually dialing back to a 3.9X gear when I finally get this rear end deal sorted out in hopes of being able to see some low 130 MPH traps without having to spin the motor to 7K.

I ran the stock TPI and the 4.09 gear for quite awhile and liked it. Most people will tell you it won't work, and while shifting into 5th at the drag strip does kinda suck, the car was pretty fun around town.

Quote:

It's not really worth it to pursue that. Deep Freeze is an LLC, and while I may be able to get somewhere with a sharp lawyer, the $1500 I spent there is pretty much going to get chalked up as a lesson learned.

just because they are an LLC does not mean you can't sue the business entity.

The nature of their incorporation is a tax issue, not a liabilty issue.

Quote:

Unfortunately, unless Josh can pursue it in small claims court, his lawyer will likely cost more than you're trying to recover. It's a catch 22. Been there; it sucks.

I am not saying it would be feasible, just not impossible.

I'm not going to pursue anything like that. It's not worth the money, or more importantly, worth my time.

I managed to order my new parts today, so I should be ready here pretty soon. Wish me luck!

Hmmmmmmmmmm.............

Well, hope you get your parts quickly then. To me its all about principle. I have fought small things before but never had to go to court. At that point it may not be worth time/money. Good luck and I hope you get everything back together quickly.

Josh
Sorry to hear about it.

I had Jeb do an single plane intake (Victor 2925) for my new LTX. I have to say I was expecting that "some fitting" was going to be needed on my part, but I ended up re-doing about 3/4 of what I bought from him to make it fit on the motor correctly. I'll also say for what I paid, I wasn't very happy with the workmanship.

I will also say he at least returned my calls and emails and tried to make it right. I do know he has had some health problems lately. If you PM me I'll give you the contact info I have for him.
Will

gee... if the health issues are right, then perhaps he should take a break...

Back when Jeb first did the work for me, there was a huge problem getting my stuff done and sent back to me. It took 4 months for me to get my stuff back. Throughout the whole ordeal, Jeb was right there with me, apologetic, and willing to do a bunch to help me out. He even offered to pay me for an event that I missed because of the delay. He offered me a set of heavy duty Lake Wood U-joints, and despite the delay I felt like he genuinely was sorry about the problems, and genuinely was a good guy.

I'm not sure what is wrong with him now, but I think we (as a hot rod community) should steer clear until things straighten out with him.

As far as pursuing it on principle, I would like to but I simply don't have the time or monetary resources. The new set up for the rear end is going to run me close to 1K, so that has pretty much taken up any extra money I had laying around.

i would really love to know who else does these or what is all involved in getting a spool to work.

Quote:

Jesse Azzato (ski dow it on CF ) was also doing D44 spools.
He ran one in his before he changed to a solid rear.
I recall there was some machining needed to make it fit the Vette case and the afore mentioned screws to retain the stub axles.

www.azzatochips.com/index.html

Quote:
he sold his setup but he got his from jeb.

josh could i get pics of your old spool? joshua.huber@hotmail.com!!

Im sure Josh is in a big hurry to buy something from him.

Quote:
lol

Lol, I think I'll steer clear of the Ski Doo, some dude on the other forum named Neat has convinced me that I should steer clear of his stuff. Besides, the spool he ran is the same one I was using, also built by Jeb Burnett, not designed, built, or distributed by the 'Doo. Mine was actually the first one Jeb did, Ski Doo's was a copy of mine. Hmmmm, that's weird, Ski Doo having a copy of someone else's stuff in his car and trying to take credit for it. Kinda like the single plane intake on his car that Jeb built, yet the 'Doo takes credit for it. Or the motor that Corky built that he takes credit for. Or the solid rear that Never Lift... *sigh* I digress...

I am selling my spool if you want it. There is a thread on the CF about it. There really isn't much to making it work if you have a good machinist. Notching the stubs for bolts, and building a sleeve for the pinion, those are the main hiccups.

Also, I sent you an E-mail but I took the "!!" off the end of the address. Also, your inbox is messed up on the CF, so I tried to send you an E-mail via the forum a couple days ago about the spool.

Anyway, my E-mail is joshkinzey@gmail.com

Shoot me a message if none of the messages I sent you made it.