So I guess I will be the one to ask, and yes it sucks not having your boat running..

Before he stopped answering the phone, what was the communication like? was he being helpfull? did he tell you to pack sand?? were you up his asz sideways?

Owes money from past dealing yet he helps him pick a drive for his new boat and plans it all with Skater and young to build this package.


That would make Rik even more of an ******* if true so I am going to say no, that probably is not the issue at hand here.

If he owed money for past dealing then I am sure Rik like anyone else would tell him to get f*cred before ever even starting this project together.

Do you not think if i owed him money he would get on here and say it? Do you think he would let anything leave his shop with out being paid for? Again i am not the only one having these issues,he has made new(stronger cases in the spot were mine broke)and that is what he is supposed to be installing for me.You could ask Tres Martin,Eddie Young,they have put some hours in my boat with me,i'm sure they will let you no how i trim it.

That is one of the messages, if you can't get the gearing made and installed then to just put stock gearing back in. Please send my drives back to me, so I could get my boat back together. I left that v/m at least 2 weeks ago and I have yet to get a return ph call.

The last time i talked to Rik was about a month ago,he told me the new cases are painted and ready to go together and gears were getting cut next week.I said great keep me informed,everything seemed to be fine at that time,that is the last time i talked to him.

No matter how good his product is and how great a guy rik is, I like the op would be chitting myself by now. Quarter, half million trailer queen don't get it.
As for what was posted earlier I don't think guys building new skaters are looking to save money by cheaping out.

I am sure I must be wrong but you ordered a custom set of gear ratio for your drives and you understood it takes time since, I could be wrong but, a custom means one off set of gears and it tends to take however long it takes for one off stuff. Yet your wanting this custom item but are tired of waiting for the custom one off items and you in turn said your wife went on face book and mother F'd this guy and his business. You yourself started this thread to mother F him and his business and yet all you are wanting is a daily phone call from him telling you when the custom one off set of gears will be done after he told you it would take some time or however long it takes?Is this method going to get better service from a company? Is this going to get you something for free? Is this going to change the fact that you seem to want warranty for items that are 3-4 yrs old running 1,150 hp through a 800'hp warranties drive and your driving it 140+ in big water hitting side rollers as you put it and it's someone's fault other than your own? I guess you threatened to do this mother Fn if he didn't get it done or for free but now what's next? I don't see that this guy has anything to lose by not calling you nor getting the one off set of gears any faster than they are as you've surely mother F'd the hell out of him and his business which is clearly what you set out to do. Mission accomplished but when are you going boating again? Will he be there to support you in the future now you've set out to destroy him and his business because he didn't give you a daily phone call? I may be wrong but how is this shi* talking going to get the one off items any faster? When he does call you telling you that the custom one off items are finished what are you going to say? Hey rick I went on the Internet and tried to ruin your business because you were trying to help me with what I wanted but I really wanted this custom one off gear set for my boat plus daily updates too. How much of your money is he holding as I am sure he is not stupid enough to start a custom one off projects with you not putting some skin in it. Typically one off requires paid in advance right?

I would say he wants simple communication is all from what I am gathering.

There has to be more to it than that because if alls good then why would the communication break down unless someone made a pest of themselves or was not professional. I mean if this guy gave him all this money then he has to expect to get the special order gears but time line is always ? on custom one off things. You don't just slander someone and their business because they don't take your calls because the custom items are not finished yet.

Rik has been telling me he has been making this"one off" gearing for over 2 years now,actually the same"one off" set of gears the new 318 skater that Tyson ran in desert storm shootout needs,(he ran a set of 17 1/2x42 pitch props) I have been running 40-41 pitch since i have owned mine,and needing more.I am not looking for a daily phone call by no means,but after i was told it would be a few weeks to get it done,and after 2 months of hearing nothing i begin to call to see what was going on, and still no gearing,now another month goes by,i call again,he tells me gearing supposed to be cut next week and he has my new heavy duty cases ready to go.2 more weeks go by without hearing anything,i start calling again,he will not answer me so i figured the gearing is still not done, so thats when i left him messages to just please put my stock gearing back in so i could get my boat back together,and here i am,with still no return phone call. Me or my wife are not m f ing him,none of our post would even be here if he would of just returned one of our many phone calls, we just want answers to when we can get our drives back,so we can use our boat.It is not good business to get multiple phone calls and v/m and you will not return even1,especially with a customer that has spent a lot of $$ with you and has not had very good luck with your product.This leaves us feeling like that the sales pitch we received has not been fulfilled. If Rik would of asked me for $ up front to pay for the new gearing, i would of sent it over to him.I can only assume the reason Rik didn't ask for $$ up front is because he knows of all the issues we have had and that he was trying to make things rite.

So you think he owes you something because your putting more power into the boat than you originally started with and this is somehow his fault? Your racing the boat and want a warranty? How long is the warranty on the arnesins? So you say you haven't paid anything for nor torwards these new custom gears because he feels guilty? Did you offer to send money to get the order started as your the good guy here from what I am reading and he is the bad guy. Sounds like you threaten him with this public outburst and now your in a corner of a wet floor as you and your wife have certainly mother F'd him as everyone is saying this to you. I just hope for his sake your not one of these 6'6" bullies that threaten everyone in order to get what you want.

wow,have you read through this thread.rik won,t call him back after telling him the cases are built&painted.if i understand correctly rik was on board with this build from day one and speced the drives.rik knew the boat,the power and the intended use of the boat.the drives were installed at skater.i think peter and his people installed the drives properly so that is not the problem.did rik error when he said the drives were what the boat needs?the question about owing rik money was answered buy the op,PAID IN FULL.you say the gear sets are custom one off and take time,they may be custom but 4 months for a gear set,i don,t think so.you say the op is trying to destroy rik and his business,to me it looks like the op just wants rik to return his call and does not know another way to get that call.i think anyone who spends over 400 grand on a boat would be pizzed if they had to wait 4 month on drive repair and can,t even get a return phone call.boatless,if you have factual information about this drive issue please post it.also,if i read this right the gear set,and all the other parts need to be installed in the new cases that are painted&ready for assembly.their are two sides to every story,i wonder why rik is not telling his story.

6 6 bully,i think he must be 7 6 and a mma fighter!boatless,you have no idea what you are talking about but you look pretty foolish right now.as i said earlier,if you have factual information please post it because so far you appear to know nothing about it.maybe before posting again you might try reading the thread from page one!

If your definition of a pest means someone who started calling months after drives where sent and weeks after the promised deadline than yes I am a pest. Unprofessional is not returning your customers calls. Unprofessional is making promises on product, deadlines, and not following through. There is no slander here only stating facts and asking others if they have had the same issues or if they had any advice. After all I have a lot of hard earned $ invested in a product that has had issues from day one. I understand timelines for special products and I could understand if I had been told months not weeks for my drives to be completed. Rik is the one who set the deadline of drive completion at a few weeks not me which lead me to believe gears where either completed or almost completed.

Now it's this ricks fault that the boat cost 400k? The boat owner said he hasn't paid anything for the repair nor for the custom gear ratio he ordered and that the boat was at loto in september I believe he said and its only been 4 months. What happened to the other 4 months and why didn't he wait 4 months to start this project? This is not adding up. What I know is the boat owner has not paid for anything by his own admission because he thinks rick feels guilty. People have stated the boat started with 900's? and now has 1150's and your saying its ricks fault? The boat is raced and therefore it deserves an extended warranty? What would Mercury do? Would imco give him a 2-3 yr warranty? I think the boat owner by his own admission tried to bully this rick guy to get his "guilty repair and upgrade" and went into the Internet to motherF him and did it. I mean this thread doesn't anywhere say rick please give me a call does it? What about email?

I read it your just got a hard with your friend and don't see that your friend is motherFn this guy to get what he wants. If it's was anything else the thread would have said give me a call.

you really need to read this thread from page one,then maybe you will stop posting with pure emotions .the op just wants a phone call from rik,just an update about his drives!

yep,you got me,i do know the op,that is part of the reason i am asking you to read the thread from page one.you just are not getting the message and my bet is you never will.now i have to ask,do you know rik?do you have any factual information about this thread?NO.i am not going to argue with someone who can,t comprehend what he reads.

No one is blaming Rik for cost of boat where did that come from? Reason drives didn't get sent in Sept is because it was my understanding he was making the gearing all along , he did not need my drives to make the gearing. Never have I stated that I would not pay for the gearing. Rik agreed to cover cost of NEW UPGRADED STRONGER CASES and I would pay for new gearing. 900s? read the post on this tread from Wobble where Rik stated what horsepower my boat had in it before the boat even hit the water Rik has known all along. As far as payment if Rik would send me an invoice then I would be happy to pay it. I have to ask Rik on here to give me a call? I have tried calling him today several times with still no answer why will he not answer? Again my boat has 30 hours on it due to continuous issues with drives, so yes I feel a warranty should still be in effect.

I couldn't spot either of them in a room full of two people. Your so close to this your willing to trash a guy you don't know either. I'm not trash talking either of them. #rickgivemeacall

You are obviously miss informed.!

you are not trash talking,WOW.

all facts here,no trash talk!

all facts,no trash talk here.

It is funny you say you don't know Rik. Everyone needs to look at Boatlesss profile and check out all of his previous post. You will figure out there is definitely a connection here with Arneson.

Book at seat on a plane and confront him in person, looking some one in the eyes will accomplish a lot more than venting on Keys board. IMO
And yes I have a set of his drives and know what your experiencing on customer service....

23k lb boat,22" herring props and I do believe the 7's were standard,they were the bravo conversion kit.that boat puts some serious load on the drives and ran flawlessly.hp/tq are the about the same at 1200

I don't think you are dumb but you definitely have bad luck when thinking.

That's some funny chit right there! :)

I don't know Rik well,I don't know your situation and don't pretend to , but what is Rik going to supply you with , you keep saying gear sets but it the pictures it looks like the u-joint broke in the thrust tube not trying to start trouble I just don't see what it has to do with gears .

I don't know the op or Rik and I don't have a dog in this fight, but the most disappointing thing about this thread is that "no answer" is "an answer"

race boat and or team u joint should not slow down a ace mechanic tech

Replacing a critical part that has failed for an unknown reason makes little sense.

PSA

If you have the arneson 7M take the side cover off the standoff and feel the washers under the nut that holds the drive to the standoff box and make sure they do not spin, and feel tight. We had a drive that came loose and after inspecting it we found that with the lock nut tightened down on the stud until it runs out of thread and the stud tightened into the drive till it runs out of thread that there is .570" under washer to face of drive. The thickness of the standoff box on that hole was .364". So even if the nut is tightened as tight as you can get it the washer is not touching. The thickness of the standoff box holes were around .364" thick where the bottom holes are, the next holes up were .415" ,next ones up were .477" the top ones were .515" thick. A couple of the studs did have shorter flat sections so they might have been able to tighten up just on the top holes.

I had another person check their drives and four of the washers were loose on one drive and three on the other after they tried to tighten them as tight as possible. It's a simple fix just a thicker washer. But if you have these drives it might be something to check. When your tightening the nut make sure the washer gets tight and will not spin before the nut gets real tight then it should be good if you can get at least another turn out of it.

I have had Arnesons since 2002 and have broke several props (29), several transmissions(11), and a lot of driveshafts (7) from power but have never broke one of the arnesons. And I have taken those same arnesons off that boat and Rik rebuilt them with new propshafts since they were beat up from the props breaking and that is what I am putting on my new boat so this post is not against Arneson just something we have found wrong with a set that should probably be checked if you have them.

I admire the way our little "band of brothers" is always happy to share information to help one another out. This is a great example of that! The burning question in my mind is, have you ever shared this info with Rik?

Rik does seem to be extremely helpful... to those willing to pay astro-f#cking-nomical prices for his products. Everything will work awesome until you have them. Everyone forgets you need another 10k to fine tune props

I just started measuring it this afternoon, since I made the post I measured the other side and the standoff box is around .120" thicker consistently. So only the bottom washers were not tight.

You're not the first guy that has had a rough time getting responses after you fork out your first born for arnesons

I got good news Rik called me today. He said he should have my gearing by Friday and back togethers next week. Thanks everyone for all the help!

Hoping that you paid attention to what Tyson was referencing in his post, as in check then double check everything before you run them. The differences the he found may not sound substantial, but it's amazing how fast being .050 loose can become .125, then .250 and then vibrate itself into pieces...