Local Vendors. . .Raves and Rants

[OldGreen]

Welcome to the 21st Century to the service providers of the local area!!

Please use this thread to list contact information for shops that have treated you right!!

Guidelines: Please keep it to off-road/automotive related products and services that have some sort of a brick and mortar presence in the LOCAL area. Just list their name and contact info and what your experience was. If you want to discuss them, then start a new thread. If you are a vendor, then get someone that doesn't work for you to post here about their positive experience or you will be considered a spammer. . .

Warning to all local vendors: Provide good service at a good price, or we will call you out. If you are great, we'll be your biggest fans.

[White trash]

Mireles auto repair in prosser. Sent many people to him and haven't heard a single had word about anything. He does gears for the best rate you'll find around here too.

Heck years ago I used his press to change a wheel bearing and not only was it free but he even have me a beer while I worked.

[Wrench]

Twin City Metals
Kennewick
Best place I have found for metal and welding supplies. They also sell scrap, which can often bring the cost of your project to a minimum.

Greg's Machine (Greg Brott)
Kennewick 509-783-9638
Does great machine work and fabrication at minimal cost. He does all the machine work for the local motorcycle shops.


Donald A Zacher
Engine builder/machinist
3617 W Wernett Rd
Pasco, WA 99301-2555
(509) 547-4177
If you want to build an engine that runs hard, talk to Don. Great prices, also.

[White trash]

We deal with twin city metals a lot too, they kick butt for scrap both in and out.

Metal fab in west richland sells quality new pieces of scrap by the pound.

Oxarc in Pasco has great deals on consumables and gases. If you talk nice and buy stuff regularly they will offer you a 10/23 card that gives you a sweet discount on everything. I get my favorite gloves for $10 vs the $18 regular price.

[Wrench]

Metal fab in west richland sells quality new pieces of scrap by the pound.

Thanks for the tip!

[TJDave]

I'll plug this business for anyone working on their pile in BC.

He helped me out a number of times when I was doing my latest work on the TJ.

Detloff A & M Auto Parts

1009 Dale Ave
Benton City, WA 99320
(509) 588-5973

[iaccocca]

If anyone is battery shopping make sure you give Dave McMains a call at Standard Battery Moses Lake, use the secret Peak Putter / modified PNW4WDA handshake and count your savings. And, if you are working on a dual battery setup, pick his brain.
And, they deliver!

Contact: Dave McMains
Phone: 509-765-8246
Fax: 509-764-2392
Email: DMcMains@batterysystems.net

[SPR]

I second the Dave McMains endorsment.

[Lud]

I second the 10/23 card at Oxarc. I save a few bucks on filling my CO2 tank every time I use it.

[iaccocca]

My 2010 Christmas money went to buying a Moos-Fab spare mounted tire rack. And, I am glad it did. You can debate whether my long Jeep should be made longer, but I just want to brag on how it held up. On the Stag Run snow run I slipped into a tree-well (after trying to teach a young Jedi how to avoid tree-wells.) Well, the tree got to the back of the Jeep quicker than I expected. The crack sound it made stopped the lead Jeep in its tracks to see what the heck had happened. [Ask Jose.] I keep a shovel on the back of the rack and assumed that was said crack, but the noise was the tree. Shovel fine. Rack, fine and straight as ever. Jose's manufactured bumper and tire carrier... fine.




B.J. is fun to deal with and his PNW4WDA discount is very generous. This is a great rack, and it would be expecially nice to have on a NPR run.

Contact: B.J. Moos
Phone: (509) 430-1868
Email: MOOSFAB@verizon.net

Moos-Fab

[Wrench]

Based on chatter in the chat box, I put a plug in for:

-Nine to Nine auto in Pasco. They seem to be able to find parts when no one else can, and are reasonable in price.

-Chris at Tri City Battery in Pasco. That guy can diagnose / rebuild starters and alternators blindfolded. OK, so I am exaggerating here, but he knows his stuff.

-SAS Auto Electric in Kennewick. Just as capable and reasonably priced as Chris, and also has a large stock of parts.

[SPR]

Cool thing about SAS is the owner often fixes the starter or alternator right in front of me and is always very helpful and patient with I ask questions. Kind of uncommon for that level of service in our "throw it away" society.

[bobracing]

Based on chatter in the chat box, I put a plug in for:

-Nine to Nine auto in Pasco. They seem to be able to find parts when no one else can, and are reasonable in price.

Yes, they have odd stuff, especially for older rigs. Got a yoke seal for a 12bolt with a 10bolt yoke. He wanted 3 tries before getting the book out, and did it.

-Chris at Tri City Battery in Pasco. That guy can diagnose / rebuild starters and alternators blindfolded. OK, so I am exaggerating here, but he knows his stuff.

I'm not sure you are exaggerating. But, if he doesn't like the starter, he will most likely find something else that fits and works better. An example is my 7.3 IDI, he really doesn't like the stock IDI starters so it now has a Cummins starter from a pea harvester. The truck has zero problems turning over in the cold.

-SAS Auto Electric in Kennewick. Just as capable and reasonably priced as Chris, and also has a large stock of parts.

I know they send customers back and forth if one doesn't have a part or doesn't work on that starter. Not sure you can go wrong either way.

[Grumpy]

Had to have some work done on Susan's Cabby that was a mite more than I cared to tangle with. Did the Google thing, and found Allied Automotive behind Overturf's. Looked at his FB page, and there's Jafo! Jafness said he's okay, so away we went. He ran into some issues on the thing, but stood by his quote for the original work. Even with some added stuff, I'm not sure he came out too far ahead on it. We're having some age related issues with fuel system right now, but the work Caleb did is just fine.

[Cave Dave]

I'll plug this business for anyone working on their pile in BC.

He helped me out a number of times when I was doing my latest work on the TJ.

Detloff A & M Auto Parts

1009 Dale Ave
Benton City, WA 99320
(509) 588-5973

X2 for Detloff A&M
I grew up with Mike riding dirt bikes and 4 wheeling, he has a lot of off-road experiance. He's an honest buisness man and will always find you multiple options on the parts you want.

[TJDave]

Have to put a plug in for Six States in Pasco.

While replacing a driveline u joint for the Ferd 250 last night, Bryan said the rear yoke ear was wallered out, and should be cut off and replaced.

Took the driveline to Six States a little after 1:00 today, and expected the old gas guzzler to be down for a couple days.

My neighbor, who works there, calls around 4 and said Sharkey just finished it, and he would drop it off at my house when he got off work.

Pretty darn good service!

[79chevy39.5's]

They were just bought out all six states so stay tuned as to start happens

[tobyw]

Sure they are big chain, but the local Discount Tire guys have been a pleasure to work with every time I've been there... Just today, I had them mount a set of Swampers on some old aluminum rims I've had in the shop for a while now - all 4 mounted with new stems for $17.36. Yep, that's $4 each plus some tax.

[OldGreen]

Sure they are big chain, but the local Discount Tire guys have been a pleasure to work with every time I've been there... Just today, I had them mount a set of Swampers on some old aluminum rims I've had in the shop for a while now - all 4 mounted with new stems for $17.36. Yep, that's $4 each plus some tax.

Richland? And czek yer dang texts....

[Wrench]

Plug here for Discount Tire also:

-great deal on a set of Michelin tires for my car. The Yokohama's I bought from them were junk, and they gave me some great warranty credit towards the Michelin's as replacement.

-season opener special on siping a few months ago: got all 4 tires for the Cherokee siped for $32. Standard price is around $12-15 per tire, and many places have stopped siping all together.

[SPR]

Anti Plug for the Pasco Discount Tire...

They charged Dolly $72 dollars to mount and balance her snow tires....

[Lud]

My MTR's and the Michelins are both from Discount Tire. They beat the online prices I got for the tires. I've lost the center caps on my wheels a few times and they have replaced them for free.

So six states got bought??

[iaccocca]

Pasco Round Table charged us a $50 refundable deposit for last night's meeting. They did not put us in the room requested and, more importantly are not willing to refund my deposit. When I call to discus this, almost inveriably, the manager is on a conference call. Never have they returned my calls. Maybe, if it was a conference call.

[TJDave]

That's pretty lame. We as a group spent some coin last night.
Maybe they can afford to lose a large group of good customers, and don't need to increase sales to pay for their new bar.
Somehow I highly doubt it.
I would contact someone with a little nicer office than the Pasco Roundtable manager.

[SPR]

I agree with Dave. Keep after the manager for your deposit. It's time for folks to search out new/better places than the noisy Pizza joints with nasty salad bars. Apple Bees was pretty good but lighting got worse and I think they charged us a minimum gratuity.