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This will be an interesting thread moving forward......

Vetech63

Senior Member
Joined
Aug 10, 2016
Messages
6,362
Location
Oklahoma
The first thing I noticed upon tear down is that they didn't replace any of the isolation mounts..........so the radiator was sitting too low in the hardnose to begin with. The lowers were half the height of a new one.
310SJ hardnose bolts.jpg
The other thing is that there are only 4 bolts that hold this hardnose to the mainframe, 2 on each side. When I removed the bolts, the upper right side bolt was broken.....with the head of the bolt still in the hole. This pic is of the left side............I noticed that the bolts are smaller than the holes. The odd thing is the parts page for this shows a M14x40 bolt as the factory bolt, but the holes are around 9/16". They don't seem to be wallowed out but with that much clearance the hardnose can be pushed back almost 2 inches at the top of the radiator IF it were to be pushed on.........say by hitting the side of a dump truck while they were loading it with dirt. I bel;ieve this is what happened both times........so I am going to have to beef this up a bit. These operators are not paying attention, not noticing, or not caring.
 

sfrs4

Senior Member
Joined
Jul 22, 2013
Messages
683
Location
Great Britian
Occupation
parts admin
I would've thought what that company really needed was a maintnenance planner.
By the sounds of what Vetech has posted previously they own enough pieces of equipment to justify the position.

In principal this is the way forward, someone to plan maintenance, get the parts and maintain a stock of common parts, and generally keep the guys busy, the issue comes with you who you place in this job, realistically you need an old boy who has been on the spanners and is getting fed up of the humping stuff about and knows how the job works.... but they are sometimes not office savvy enough to do all the paperwork etc and keep up with office politics, so you ideally need 2 people one smart with the office environment and one with physical machines, tools and people. but neither with more power than the other.
 

Nige

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Joined
Jun 22, 2011
Messages
28,984
Location
G..G..G..Granville.........!! Fetch your cloth.
In principal this is the way forward, someone to plan maintenance, get the parts and maintain a stock of common parts, and generally keep the guys busy, the issue comes with you who you place in this job, realistically you need an old boy who has been on the spanners and is getting fed up of the humping stuff about and knows how the job works.... but they are sometimes not office savvy enough to do all the paperwork etc and keep up with office politics, so you ideally need 2 people one smart with the office environment and one with physical machines, tools and people. but neither with more power than the other.
Exactamundo. My planners were generally always ex-mechanics who had moved away from the tools for whatever reason but had "been there done that" and were respected by the wrench turners. The time they can save the shop floor on a big fleet by keeping parts available and using their crystal ball to forecast what's going to need what and when pretty much pays their salary. As an example TS would be a perfect candidate as a planner after he retires from pulling wrenches.
 

DMiller

Senior Member
Joined
Feb 21, 2010
Messages
16,432
Location
Hermann, Missouri
Occupation
Cheap "old" Geezer
Foreskin at Mack when I worked there was a wiry little Irish descent fella
Herb Talley, could almost tell you the parts to pull to build a END from memory, could listen to a engine or trans and give estimate of life left, sadly he left this world not long after a lay off as I was growing in the industry.
 

Truck Shop

Senior Member
Joined
Dec 7, 2015
Messages
16,556
Location
WWW.
That is a area commonly overlooked. Any fan be it metal or plastic especially plastic can crack where blades
attach. The older the fan more than likely hair line cracks are present, plus the larger it is.

I towed one years back that had radiator replaced two weeks before. The truck was on a short grade just
before the crest, driver said engine had just reached 2100 and he was getting ready to shift up when the
fan hub engaged. Exploded lost four blades all on one side, destroyed rad, shroud and everything around it.
Driver said it about shook his teeth out.
 

Zewnten

Senior Member
Joined
Apr 2, 2018
Messages
553
Location
Earth
These operators are not paying attention, not noticing, or not caring.
That's just job security

Seriously though I;m fixing a 544K and I think the operator thought it was a multifunction machine, use the belly apn for grading and the rear for dozing. I found a golf ball sized rock jammed against the DEF lines inside the access cover.
 

kshansen

Senior Member
Joined
Mar 11, 2012
Messages
11,129
Location
Central New York, USA
Occupation
Retired Mechanic in Stone Quarry
That's just job security

Seriously though I;m fixing a 544K and I think the operator thought it was a multifunction machine, use the belly apn for grading and the rear for dozing. I found a golf ball sized rock jammed against the DEF lines inside the access cover.
Sometimes it can be a toss-up between hating people like that and glad there are people like that. If you get paid to fix things, they can be good for your bottom line! But if you depend on that company for your pay check, it might not survive for long and you will be out of work.

I have to lay 99% of the blame on management for operators that abuse equipment. These so called managers seem to think if a machine is not being run to death it's not making them money!
 

Vetech63

Senior Member
Joined
Aug 10, 2016
Messages
6,362
Location
Oklahoma
I got the 524K loader done this morning. I will be going back together on the 310SJ in the morning. The heat here has been miserable, so I have been leaving at 4 am and trying to finish my days before 2 pm. 2 more days of 100 degree + and then some relief for a few days. I got 3 more calls from them today........all thinking they are having fuel filter issues. Does that surprise anyone?
 

Vetech63

Senior Member
Joined
Aug 10, 2016
Messages
6,362
Location
Oklahoma
This was a nice find this morning............
35G air cleaner lid.jpg
I opened the compartment to check it for hours on the filters and the air filter lid is nowhere to be found. The filter was close to falling out :eek:...........no telling how much dirt this engine has ingested.

On another note, they have a newer Hitachi excavator rented from the Deere dealer here. I don't know how long they have had it rented but it currently has 1818 hours, and the fuel filters are marked at 787 hours. Water seperator light was lit on the dash panel and the machine was struggling to run when I got there. I was asked to put fuel filters on it because the dealer had nobody available to come service this. I waited all week for a Deere service tech to ET their newer 700K dozer.........with no results and no calls. I am in the process of getting the company set up with another Deere dealer in OKC because this one isn't making the grade.
 
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