Seattle-Founded in 1972 by David Lee Sr. in the industrial area south of downtown Seattle, Drivelines NW Inc.(DLNW) has grown to three locations, said current Owner David “D.J.” Lee, who has worked around the business since his high school and college years. He said his father has been retired for several years.
Lee said he began full-time in the company in 1986 when the Lees opened Front Wheel Drive Inc. (FWD), an axle manufacturing firm then located in Lynnwood north of Seattle.
“There was a real need for front-wheel-drive units, and we offered a unique service to the industry,” he said, adding that FWD was moved to Everett in 1990, adjacent to the DLNW branch that had opened in 1987.
A 2,500-square-foot DLNW branch in Fife near Tacoma had opened in 1978, Lee said. The DLNW corporate headquarters remained based in Seattle until a few years ago when the 16,000-square-foot Everett facility owned by the Lee family became the head office, he said.
In 2007, Lee said he purchased property on South Brandon Street, designed a new parts and service center, and moved the Seattle branch into the 8,000-square-foot operation that opened last year.
When DLNW first opened, there were no driveline specialists in the state, according to the DLNW Web site, and no balancer designed to service drive shafts.
“It was a bit different when we opened as there were lots of rear-wheel cars and light trucks the from the ’60s, as well as heavy-duty trucks that were breaking down regularly,” Lee said. “We sold lots of replacement parts and performed a lot of repair on drivelines of all varieties, including 4x4 units and lots of commercial vehicles.”
From the beginning, Lee said DLNW was a repair, design, and fabrication facility for all types of power transmission systems, couplings, and universal joints. He said the firm has engineered hundreds of drive shafts and power take-offs (PTOs) for vehicles, marine units, and specialized equipment.
The marine aspect of their business drove DLNW to become an Aquadrive distributor in the early 1980s, Lee said, adding that marine and Aquadrive sales represent about 15 percent of their overall business.
“We sell marine parts all over North America and repair and design systems for everything from pleasure craft to large commercial vessels,” he said. While there are some repairs due to breakdowns in the summer months, he said that much of the marine work occurs during the fall and winter, slower months for vehicle sales and service. “Much of the commercial work is planned due to safety issues and is preventive service or replacement.”
“While we work on anything with a drive shaft, replacement and repair of heavy-duty trucks has been the bread-and-better for Drivelines since the beginning,” said Roger Shannon, a 25-year veteran at DLNW and the company’s operations manager based in Seattle. “While some business is seasonal, the fleet business is a year-round for repair, parts, and replacements.”
Lee said longtime outside Salesman Jules Lunenburg calls on fleets and other accounts from South Tacoma to Arlington.
Changes in the industry have altered the type and style of business DLNW offers its diverse customer base, Lee said. “Cars and light trucks are built better, and OEs have increased the size of components from a design and manufacturing point,” he said, adding that automotive U-joints often last 100,000-150,000 miles.
“PTOs are not as big a market today as they were in the past as more are standard OE equipment,” Shannon said.
Heavy-duty trucks have also had major changes that have affected repair and replacement of drive shafts, Lee said. “Heavy-duty fleets now use more automatic transmissions that allow for less shock load. And OEs produce better, more technologically advanced components than before,” he said.
On drive trains, from cars to heavy-duty trucks, Lee said people are more sensitive to vibration today. “We have to produce better tolerances on drive shafts, so we continually bring in new tooling and balancing equipment to build better drivelines.”
Shannon said the company has a total of five balancers plus other specialized equipment to repair and build everything from small-car to agricultural drive shafts. Lee said the three branches repair 40-50 drive shafts per day on average.
Parts, including those for shop repair and manufacturing, represent about 60 percent of the business at DLNW, Lee said. “We stock more than $1 million in parts from manufacturers like Spicer, Neapco, Meritor, and Precision,” he said.
“We’ve taken on a wider range of services over the years, so our parts inventory has broadened,” Shannon said, noting that the company has the largest inventory of parts than any business in the Northwest. Parts are sold to other driveline service shops, parts outlets, repair shops, fleets, and retail customers, Lee and Shannon noted. “U-joints remain the top seller in parts,” Shannon said.
While FWD was a major production facility for many years, price competition from off-shore suppliers and a drastic cut in price have caused that element of the company to become more of a custom manufacturer, Lee said.
Raw materials and parts have changed some at DLNW, but Lee said that overall, “it’s an apples-to-apples comparison.” U-joints, he said, have had stable pricing, but higher quality units are available and most customers want the high-end products.
“Tubing has remained at the rate of inflation, but there are more aluminum components and shafts today,” he said. “Aluminum is softer and creates more repairs.”
While the wholesale business at DLNW was once 70 percent of its sales, it still represents fully 50 percent, Lee said. “We sell products all over the world and service our core territory of Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and Alaska well, and we offer daily delivery in the Puget Sound area,” he said.
A member of several trade organizations, including the Pacific Northwest Marine Trades Association, ASA-Washington, and the Towing & Recovery Association of Washington, Lee said both he and his father were active participants in the Washington Automotive Wholesalers Association (WAWA) over the years.
“We were one of just two families where both father and son served as chairman of the board of WAWA,” he said.
