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What is the one type of machine that you just hate repairing.........

Vetech63

Vetech63

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Joined
Aug 10, 2016
Messages
6,440
Location
Oklahoma
.........You know, that one you just cringe when its even mentioned. When you get that call and know that's what they are calling about. The one phone call that you really don't want to answer, and hope they don't leave a message. That call about a machine that you hate so much..........you would rather take a vacation in Somalia in July than work on it.:confused:

Hell, Ide work on a dam truck to avoid these..........
Conveyor.jpg

For me its conveyors on anything. I never get on one of these that isn't a basket case. This one dropped a carrier roller right into the idler drum and locked it up tight. The cage around the drive motor coupler so full of crap it was squealing after I got the roller out of the drum. No Access worth a dam, wind blowing 30 mph, every other bolt breaks off, half of the carrier rollers are missing and unaccounted for (Im sure they are in several building pads around town) and there is ALWAYS more damage once you start looking them over. :mad::rolleyes: Was a long 2 days of work but its going, for now o_O
 
LCA078

LCA078

Senior Member
Joined
Sep 29, 2019
Messages
292
Location
Austin, TX
My dad was a one-man machine shop and used to make custom drive shafts for the local fabrication shop who specialized in fabbing larger conveyor systems and slurry mixing tanks. I remember him getting emergency calls to machine up new shafts due breaks like this....and I distinctly remember the installation crews who would come in to pick up the shafts were NEVER happy to have that job. Almost like it was punishment by management for those crews to work on 'em. I could only imagine how those things are treated and what you have to deal with.
 
JPV

JPV

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Joined
Aug 20, 2015
Messages
756
Location
S.W. Washington
For me it is a Feller Buncher. They are 10 pounds of crap packed in a 5 pound sack, usually it is a hose or something somewhere there is no access that makes any sense, and they are sitting 1800 feet from the road straight down a steep hill in the brush, packing in a ladder and everything else plus a bunch of oil....
 
John C.

John C.

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Joined
Jun 11, 2007
Messages
12,870
Location
Northwest
Occupation
Machinery & Equipment Appraiser
Any tracked carbody machine with a tilting house.

The other worst machine for me was a Terex loaded five high container stacker. They are Hyster now and nearly the same machine. They always work in a salt water atmosphere and everything gets stuck and seems to have to be taken apart with a thermal lance. Even the landfill machines were easier to work on.
 
S

Shimmy1

Senior Member
Joined
Aug 14, 2014
Messages
4,352
Location
North Dakota
JPV said:
For me it is a Feller Buncher. They are 10 pounds of crap packed in a 5 pound sack, usually it is a hose or something somewhere there is no access that makes any sense, and they are sitting 1800 feet from the road straight down a steep hill in the brush, packing in a ladder and everything else plus a bunch of oil....
Click to expand...
You win.
 
C

cuttin edge

Senior Member
Joined
Nov 9, 2014
Messages
2,735
Location
NB Canada
Occupation
Finish grader operator
Asphalt plant bag house, changing the bags in the middle of a big mix. Really dark, really hot, and really dusty. Haven't done it in a long time, but it makes me feel dirty just thinking about it.
 
crane operator

crane operator

Senior Member
Joined
Mar 27, 2009
Messages
8,322
Location
sw missouri
In part of my misspent youth, I worked for a company that rented, sold and repaired these for the local farming community:

betterbilt tank 3.jpg betterbilt tank 1.jpg


See that nice little bolted back door for cleaning access? Guess how long that seal lasts in its native environment. Its spade work to get them clean enough to install the new seal. Or the back valve would freeze up and they would ruin it and the mount. Or they rust out the pipe valves and you have to get enough of the rust gone- to weld in a new pipe or valve. Fun times!

Application work takes place in the winter, and so they would break when it was too cold to pressure wash them off. Pull them into the shop and they will thaw out, but it would tend to make the shop smell nice. Not as nice as when you would start cutting and welding on it- the scent of burning rust and manure still has a place in my olfactory memory.

For those not in a farming community- they are vacuum tanks, for hog confinement pit building clean out and field application. A farm version of the septic tank pump truck......
 
C

cuttin edge

Senior Member
Joined
Nov 9, 2014
Messages
2,735
Location
NB Canada
Occupation
Finish grader operator
crane operator said:
In part of my misspent youth, I worked for a company that rented, sold and repaired these for the local farming community:

View attachment 235531 View attachment 235532


See that nice little bolted back door for cleaning access? Guess how long that seal lasts in its native environment. Its spade work to get them clean enough to install the new seal. Or the back valve would freeze up and they would ruin it and the mount. Or they rust out the pipe valves and you have to get enough of the rust gone- to weld in a new pipe or valve. Fun times!

Application work takes place in the winter, and so they would break when it was too cold to pressure wash them off. Pull them into the shop and they will thaw out, but it would tend to make the shop smell nice. Not as nice as when you would start cutting and welding on it- the scent of burning rust and manure still has a place in my olfactory memory.

For those not in a farming community- they are vacuum tanks, for hog confinement pit building clean out and field application. A farm version of the septic tank pump truck......
Click to expand...
A dairy farm in my area has the grated floor, and they pump the manure out of the basement of the barn, and into a tanker truck that looks like a monster truck. The pump goes on a 3pt hitch, and is driven by the pto. Seems to me there is a propeller on the end of the pump, must spin up the dung. Never actually seen it in operation. We were doing some asphalt prep between the barns, and there was a brand new New Holland tractor, covered , and I mean covered inside and out. There is a 90 degree fitting off the pressure side of the pump. The clamp failed, and the steel fitting took the back window out. I guess there was a bit of hesitation as to who was going to jump into the rapidly filling with **** cab to shut her down.
 
crane operator

crane operator

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Joined
Mar 27, 2009
Messages
8,322
Location
sw missouri
My old boss took a bath in a similar situation. Wrong PTO gearbox in a new stand pump, when the farmer put the rpms to the pump when loading the first tank full, the stand rose right up off the ground, and cascaded it everywhere. He went straight to the house, stripped in the garage, and to the shower.

Smell of $$$$
 
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