Macross

First off I have a 95 hardbody sev6 4x4 at. I bought this truck about a year ago and really haven't had many issues with it. I repaired the frame, replaced the entire fuel system, all of the brake, and the entire exhaust system. It's a pretty nice little truck. The speedometer has always been about 10mph high at around 60mph, so it'll read 70 when going 60. anyway, I've put about 15k miles on it since I bought it with 145k miles, it's right at 160k miles. So I was driving the other day merging from one expressway onto another accelleating from about 30mph up to about 80mph when all of the sudden my speedometer drops to zero. about a minute later the CEL pops on. I drive it to my local shop and theres one code in the system stating vehicle speed sensor circuit. They try to remove the speed sensor, and it comes out in about 3 different pieces. The main mechanic who I think is pretty good, threaded a tap into it, welded a stud to that, then put a socket over it creating a puller and managed to pull the speed sensor out. The blue 18 tooth gear was completely intact. The local parts store had a 4x4 speed sensor in stock but it was for the non 31" tire model and was sold without the gear. it looked exactly like the one I pulled out, sensor, plug, and all. I figured the normal one would be better since my speedo had always read 10mph high. We swapped the old gear to the new sensor, installed it, and no luck, still no speedo, still same CEL. The next day I drive over to my friends work and pull the working cluster out of my old 95 hardbody sev6 4x4 at... YES this is my second one lol. I swap his known good cluster into my truck and the speedo is still inop an the CEL comes on. I take the truck back to the shop where we trace down the red and white wires from the cluster to the sensor for continuity and there is. They remove the speed sensor and turn it by hand AND THE SPEEDO WORKS AND THE CEL GOES OUT.... reinstall the sensor, NO SPEEDO, and about a mile down the rd. the CEL comes back on. I'm now looking at pulling the transfer case and splitting it open.... IS THIS VERY COMMON? I've heard of the sensor and cluster issues, but I've never heard of this issue? can the gear that drives the speedo gear on the output shaft come off, or slide down? meanwhile leaving the speedo gear intact? is there anything else I can try? I appreciate all of your help Nick

The thorley headers are four pieces with the y pipe being two. The two parts can't be removed individually thus it's a good amount of labor to remove and reinstall. The flange is just above a cross member so not easily accessible. At this point I wish I had gone pace setter. Al least my expectations would have been lower and I would have paid significantly less than half of what I spent on the thorleys even prior to fixing them. Even if the exhaust shops labor rate was high, thorley should at least partially cover their mistake. This wasn't years later, and it wasn't me in my own garage. I have pictures and receipts, neither of which they even cared to see. It seems to me like thorleys warranty policy is pretty much useless. Any glaring flaw, Thorley would hopefully catch, however, small flaws like my flange won't be caught until the time of the install, which at that point the customer will have to pay more money to ship them the part wait for them to get it, wait for them to inspect it and then wait for them to ship it back. Most people would make it fit as you suggested with gaskets, heat, or sanding, etc. which means their warranty is basically a sham. Sure, if you're willing to jump through all the hoops they'll warranty stuff. I just don't see that happening, and frankly, for their prices, you shouldn't have to. I've had Chinese eBay parts fit better and cost less than half the price, and ironically have had less hassle when there was a problem too. All in all I think this sort of mentality leads to sloppy fabrication on their part. They know that when people are in a jamb, they'll fix the factory mistakes rather than spend money shipping them the parts and waiting weeks to months for the parts to come back, simple as that. ..

Hello I'm a new member here, but i'm not new to this forum. This forum has helped me on a few occasions with my projects and I feel as though sharing this problem I had with Doug Thorley could potentially benefit someone here. I've been into cars for over 17 years, I've been a mechanic , service writer, and manager. I purchased my second 95 hardbody sev6 4x4 automatic last year and have spend the last few months restoring the underside of the vehicle, patching the frame, all new fuel system including lines, all new suspension including control arms, leaf springs etc. I'm very particular to say the least. I always look at the pacesetter headers on my previous hardbody as a mistake, it took a long time to get the y pipe leaks sorted out. They were $250. This time around I went after a set of Doug Thorleys generally hearing better things about them compared to the woes of pacesetter. Well I was sadly mistaken, however this time I paid $600.00. Simply put the y pipe collector flange was warped about 1/8". The day came to install the headers which I did, I then made the 13 mile journey to the exhaust shop whey I was getting a fully stainless 2.25 custom cat back made. They call me the next day to inform me of the bent flange. the only solution is to unbolt the two y-pipe pieces from the headers and sand the flange true on a belt sander... seeing as it was already at the exhaust shop, and I don't own a belt sander, and I needed the truck, I paid $150 to have the parts removed, fixed, and reinstalled. Thinking I would be covered by DT's lifetime manufacturers guarantee. Well I was sorely mistaken. I called DT shortly after receiving the pictures from the exhaust shop and needless to say the conversation did not go well. I spoke with a guy named Mike and he was quick to point me in the direction for DT's official warranty policy which mandates that no part of their products may be modified in any sort of way. Just so that it was clear for me, he broke down the warranty process for me, which if your curious requires you to remove said problematic part, pay for shipping to them where they will then inspect the part (in a jig he said haha), and then they will then ship out a new part if they have found the old one to have fault. Basically weeks to months runaround best case scenario. I've since done a google search and low and behold I'm not the only person this has happened to. I'm sure this isn't the case on most of their stuff, but be ready if you end up having issues. I asked Mike as a human being the call he would have made, vehicle at the exhaust shop, warped flange, 150 buck and two extra hours of time vs, weeks of waiting "best case scenario" and he just reiterated the warranty policy and then said that he would not be answering my question. To which I responded that his silence was a good enough answer for me. Another thing to note is at the time I ordered these, which was about 5 or 6 months ago they didn't have any in stock and pointed me to a distributor that had a set in Florida, from whom I purchased them from. So they may have actually had to make another piece to send to me. It might have cost me $150 extra bucks but if it helps any of you, then i'll consider it well spent. Is there a way to attach images? I do have before and after pictures. Thanks for your time.