Has anyone Seen or Heard from Colin Hyde?

[n2916s]

My axles from Inland, installed three weeks ago, came with shock brackets, ready to bolt up...

[GeocamperAS]

Originally Posted by n2916s

My axles from Inland, installed three weeks ago, came with shock brackets, ready to bolt up...

I'm surprised. I can only go on my phone call to Andy 4 years ago for my 74 Argosy and now for my 78 Minuet. Both times he told me I had to have them welded on. Maybe it's a Argosy thing or a age thing.

[1966Florida]

"I can vouch for Colin--he's a great, great guy and extremely knowledgeable about Airstreams and vintage trailers. "


I dont think anyone on the forums would disagree with the fact that Colin is a great guy. I am sure he is. I am sure he knows more about Airstreams than most people on these forums.

Here is what I learned from ordering axles with Colin:

Instead of the axles arriving within the original quoted time of 4 weeks- they took 8 weeks to build.

Colin would not return my phone calls or emails for 2 solid weeks (week 9 and 10)

By week 8 with no axles in sight -I had to spend $250 dollars to rebuild my old axles for my cross country road trip because the new ones did not arrive in time for me to install them. I allocated 8 weeks for this process- unfortunately this still was not enough time to receive the axles.

You do not need a commercial address to ship to as Colin required IF you are able to pick them up at the commercial shipping hub as I did. If this would have been coordinated when the order was placed - I believe it would have reduced the cost of shipping. I simply drove up to the loading dock with my truck and drove away with my new axles on a pallet.

By week 12 I called the Axle company directly and it appeared that my axles had been sitting ready for shipment for quite some time.

Once I left for my trip on my old axles- I did not want the new ones sitting on my front porch so 2 months turned into 3.

The axles did fit perfectly- Colin has the golden Airstream service manual along with the knowledge and expertise to make this process work.

If Colin is going to continue to take axle orders- he should hire a secretary to follow up with all of the necessary logistics.

[carl2591]

most of the time you can go to trucking company local terminal and pick up the item if you have a truck, and or utility trailer to put them in if heavy.

I have done that with item several times and yes it less costly due to less handling of the item., Plus depending on where you live you might can get if faster as well.

have to ask what you did on axles to make them ready for the trip vs replacing axles as you had intended. $250 buck is not a lot depending on what was done.

[Mtmanor]

I saw Colin talk at Alumapalooza and went home and emailed them. Got one response about a commercial ship address which I sent. I've called, I've emailed, I've been annoying to myself because I try calling in between customer calls. Nothing...no response.

We have a Redneck trailer shop here but they've never had a request for 32 degree axles.

Does anyone have a copy of their receipt showing the measurements and/or part number, instructions?

It's a '66 Tradewind with double axles.

Please,
Thank you,
mm

[Monza]

It's kind of amazing about the axle dealers, just bad service, and customer support. I've read the many debates who is better... so I called both. Had to leave a message with both stating I want to purchase axles. Two weeks and neither of them has returned my call, I'm in the retail business, my customers can expect to talk to a person 99% of the time or have a call back immediately if they happened to leave a message.

Called the local Dexter axle guy, he said we'd make it our selfs and not use Dexters, but then he had no idea what I was talking about when I talked about the degree of the axles, so I didnt pursue that avenue very far.

[ALANSD]

Originally Posted by 1966Florida

[B]"I can vouch for Colin--he's a great, great guy and extremely knowledgeable about Airstreams and vintage trailers. "[/B

By week 8 with no axles in sight -I had to spend $250 dollars to rebuild my old axles for my cross country road trip because the new ones did not arrive in time for me to install them. I allocated 8 weeks for this process- unfortunately this still was not enough time to receive the axles.

.

Please tell us about the rebuild process. There used to be a company here in N Georgia that offered rebuilding and replacing the rubber in the torsion axles. It was about 250 as I recall, but sadly they left the State. I understand that you can get this done in Indiana, but you have to bring your axles to them, and not on your trailer LOL.. Many of us would like to spend 250 versus 1200.

[ALANSD]

I found this which leads me to think it is not happening...

http://www.airforums.com/forums/f437...xle-75539.html

[nickclifford]

Originally Posted by 1966Florida

Does anyone know if Colin Hyde is well?
I order 2 axles from Colin for my '66 Overlander 4 months ago. I still have not received the axles. I paid $1220.00 (shipping included). I can not get in touch with Colin. I have tried his mobile # and his email? I am not sure what else to do? Can someone please tell Colin to call Jim in Orlando? Thanks

Sounds like a pattern here, I purchased mine from Colin about 4 yrs ago and he was super helpful on the phone, we chatted for quite a while about my trailer. I forget how long they took now and a bit longer than expected but the worse part was the total lack of communication !!! I was panicked as wanted for my first road trip .. recall they arrived just in the nick of time.

[NevadaGeo]

Originally Posted by GeocamperAS

I'm surprised. I can only go on my phone call to Andy 4 years ago for my 74 Argosy and now for my 78 Minuet. Both times he told me I had to have them welded on. Maybe it's a Argosy thing or a age thing.

One phone call to Andy in 2007 and in a few weeks I had two axles and new disc brake pads and the hydraulic disc brake controller for my '78 Excella. Ready to bolt on, fit perfectly. Maybe it's an Argosy problem, or maybe it's a 2017 thing.

[Monza]

My axle dealer update.
After multiple emails and phone calls. Colin emailed me back after about a month and asked for my postal code, which was already in my first email. I replied with postal code with in minutes, it's been another month with no more reply or quote from Colin.

Inland, I did finally get on the phone, super helpful and my axles have been delivered, took about 10 days after the phone call. It did take a few calls to get some one on the phone.

[AWCHIEF]

Hyde has a strange sense of customer service.

[Rodmaker]

Hello
Has anybody gotten Axel's from Colin Hyde recently? I am replacing mine soon and wonder if his service has gotten any better?
Thanks

[TouringDan]

Originally Posted by Rodmaker

Hello
Has anybody gotten Axel's from Colin Hyde recently? I am replacing mine soon and wonder if his service has gotten any better?
Thanks

Rodmaker

No! The service is not good but it was acceptable. On the plus side he knows axles as well or better than anybody, so you will get what you need and they will fit perfectly. He also told me exactly which shocks to buy. His price was also very good.

I just finished installing my axles on my 66 Tradewind. You can read about it with photos if you go to "Dan's 66 Tradewind Improvements" post #116.

Dan

[OTRA15]

Here:

http://www.airforums.com/forums/f116...nts-94152.html

[Luigi123]

Fire him!! Demand a refund. Contact the Better Business B.

[Mtmanor]

So I couldn't for the life of me get a hold of Colin so I turned to Inland.

The order got lost.

They were very apologetic.

The order arrived 6 weeks later with axles rated 7,000 lbs. But they're for a '66 TradeWind and only needed to be 4,500 lbs.

Inland "I've been doing this for 51 years. How long have they been doing this?" won't take a return. That is now in dispute with the cc company.

Ordered another set through the axle shop who's doing the work.
Now they're here and being installed next week.

Moral of the story, order your own axles. If you trust your shop or your measuring skills. Ask the forum, there're people here that can help you.

Save yourself a lot of aggravation, time, money.

[carl2591]

following along to see how this works out. 7K vs 4.5K is quite a bit is difference in axle cap. is there a difference other than the cap. of the two axles?..

would 7K provide too harsh a ride vs 4.5K? my guess the brake hub is larger etc.

hope you get it worked out with Andy, they seem like stand up guys.

Originally Posted by Mtmanor

So I couldn't for the life of me get a hold of Colin so I turned to Inland.

The order got lost.

They were very apologetic.

The order arrived 6 weeks later with axles rated 7,000 lbs. But they're for a '66 TradeWind and only needed to be 4,500 lbs.

Inland "I've been doing this for 51 years. How long have they been doing this?" won't take a return. That is now in dispute with the cc company.

Ordered another set through the axle shop who's doing the work.
Now they're here and being installed next week.

Moral of the story, order your own axles. If you trust your shop or your measuring skills. Ask the forum, there're people here that can help you.

Save yourself a lot of aggravation, time, money.

[DavidsonOverlander]

There seems to be a lot of error in the axle business. The first time I needed axles (2006), I ordered directly from Axis. They put the brackets on the wrong way (switched back to front) and had to send me another set. There was no excuse for the error as they had my old axles there at the factory to copy. On the second set they sent me, one of the axles had a different angle of drop on one end as compared to the other. It was obvious at a glance, yet they spent hundreds of dollars on shipping and import duties to send it to me. So they had to send me another axle to replace that one. If you're keeping score, they had to send me 5 axles before I had a pair that I could use.

By the next time I needed axles (different trailer, 2009), Axis was no longer taking orders directly from customers so I went through Colin. Again Axis messed up by putting the brackets on the wrong way, and the weight rating was 200 lbs lower than ordered. I spoke to someone there and they admitted it was their mistake, not Colin's. Colin was good to deal with and even with Axis's error I received the axles within a reasonable time.

I know there have been many posts here from people who have had good experiences ordering axles, but if doing it again I would get everything in writing and double-check every specification so I have something to back me up if things go wrong.

[Dingo Girl]

My axle came from Colin & was a smooth transaction.
The problem was the welded on shock mounts. There were 2 lefts as opposed to a L&R.
I made it work but really look them over before accepting it.