Truck Shop
Senior Member
Now this is worth a discussion, they shrank the container and still the same price.
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Do they give you a 55 gallon drum of Crisco with that service manual?
- Thread starter emmett518
- Start date
One of my son's called me from work one day about a year ago, told me to sit down, so I did, then said and I quote "the idiot in charge [parts department] threw away all the paper service/parts manuals". At first I laughed and said, yea right, now what's up, he was dead serious, three huge dumpsters full of paper manuals got thrown out and hauled to the landfill?? For every machine they've ever worked on, from the most obsolete to the newest model made, everything was tossed out, only the manuals my son had in his truck were left.
So began the argument of "where do we get a new service manual for a 40-60 year old machine that's obsolete" and NOT on PDF anywhere and that company no longer exists but we still fix and service those machines??
So if you think 700 something bucks is bad, try a service manual for a few million dollar crane on for size once, it makes a grand look really cheap really fast.
I'm not sure how many hundreds of thousands of dollars in manuals were tossed out, nobody seems to even be able to come up with a figure, but I do know, they've been buying back new manuals that they can.
There are days you really have to wonder, exactly who is doing the thinking and exactly how much thinking are they really doing.
So began the argument of "where do we get a new service manual for a 40-60 year old machine that's obsolete" and NOT on PDF anywhere and that company no longer exists but we still fix and service those machines??
So if you think 700 something bucks is bad, try a service manual for a few million dollar crane on for size once, it makes a grand look really cheap really fast.
I'm not sure how many hundreds of thousands of dollars in manuals were tossed out, nobody seems to even be able to come up with a figure, but I do know, they've been buying back new manuals that they can.
There are days you really have to wonder, exactly who is doing the thinking and exactly how much thinking are they really doing.
John C.
Senior Member
I’ve done appraisals for million dollar cranes in the past. The operator manuals are bigger than the parts and services manuals put together.
At any rate the writing now is on the screen. Paper books are an extra cost most owners don’t wish to pay for.
At any rate the writing now is on the screen. Paper books are an extra cost most owners don’t wish to pay for.
farmerlund
Senior Member
Now this is worth a discussion, they shrank the container and still the same price.
I dont care what they charge for there products, that stuff is the bees knees.
In order to track down wiring gremlins, its nice to lay all the pages out end to end, so you can trace everything through from point A to point B, with it on the crane screen or a computer screen, you can view one page at a time, then usually either the computer and or crane screen is tied up not allowing you to do multiple things at once while trouble shooting the problem at hand.
With paper you can also photocopy certain pages, to enlarge or reduce them to make seeing things easier, then you only have to take those pages up into the crane and if they get damaged, toss them away when done, after all they are only photocopies. Any copier place can make whatever you want whatever size you want, through the crane computer screen, if you can even get that to light up and work, your pretty limited on what you can send or do, if that's down, your pretty much SOL and dead in the water. Paper is still nice to have, even as a backup system, there are times nothing can replace it.
With paper you can also photocopy certain pages, to enlarge or reduce them to make seeing things easier, then you only have to take those pages up into the crane and if they get damaged, toss them away when done, after all they are only photocopies. Any copier place can make whatever you want whatever size you want, through the crane computer screen, if you can even get that to light up and work, your pretty limited on what you can send or do, if that's down, your pretty much SOL and dead in the water. Paper is still nice to have, even as a backup system, there are times nothing can replace it.
John C.
Senior Member
I don't disagree with you at all. But the factories will not pay a publishing company to print books anymore. You are going to be stuck with a digital copy and have to print it out on your own. You are not wrong at all. The way we do things is changing and at this point there isn't any leverage to force them to keep making paper books and giving them out as part of a sale.
The owner or sales dealership won't be given manuals, haven't for a long time now, but certain manufacturers will upon request, still print out the manuals for a fee, very steep fee, but will still do it, otherwise you have to hire someone, like a copy place to print them off for you [not real sure that's exactly legal] but certain places will do it, that's how you get a paper version, they'll also laminate pages so when your working in the rain, the pages stay usable.
John C.
Senior Member
I used to get that done and time at Kinko. I don't know if they are even still around anymore. We would give them a disk and a list of the pages we wanted and the sizes we wanted them in. Every place had at least one of those large engineering print machines.
excavator
Senior Member
Several years ago United Rentals took over a local rental house and they did the same thing, only they dumped used motor oil on them first so that no one would be tempted to take them out of the dumper. They also took diagnostic tools and hit them with a hammer a few times before throwing them away. A bunch of brain dead people.
excavator
Senior Member
It's legal if you are not doing it for resale, even copy righted manuals. Even so there are some places that won't do it for that reason.
excavator
Senior Member
I like paper and usually have a manual for anything I'm working on. Several times I've had to have the dealer come out and when they see my paper manual they usually put their laptop away.
Truck Shop
Senior Member
You have more money than I do FL.
I’ve probably put another 10k into the unit with what I’ve done. Add $5k for the Deere piece. I do the maintenance.
It’s just another $750 out of pocket after a huge outflow.
colson04
Senior Member
It sucks, I know. I bought a Deere 310A about 7 years ago and within 40 hours of run time, I lost a main hydraulic pump. I sucked it up, bought a 40 year old service manual, and got it fixed. I have manuals for every piece of equipment I own now, and it helps when it comes time to fix or troubleshoot something.
I also have paper service manuals for about everything I own, I figured a couple hours of service calls pays for them and I then own them forever and have access to them whenever I want. I view a manual as just another part to buy that's needed to keep the machine running.
CM1995
Administrator
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Kinko's was bought out by Fedex. Now the Fedex store does copying including the large blue print size in addition to shipping at the same location. I prefer Staples because of the relationship with the print manager and they are cheaper than Fedex by $1 or so a sheet for 24x36.
This idiocy must be endemic to United Rentals because a couple years ago we hired one of their former employees and he tried throwing away stuff out of our toolroom because he had no idea what it was.
Truck Shop
Senior Member
I have my Cat 3406, 3406E, C15 manuals. The company bought the Series 60 which those
are on line in PDF. But I have my Eaton transmission manuals which are old and very hard
to get. Any of my manuals I don't loan because either you won't get them back or if you do
there covered in grease.
are on line in PDF. But I have my Eaton transmission manuals which are old and very hard
to get. Any of my manuals I don't loan because either you won't get them back or if you do
there covered in grease.
John C.
Senior Member
It's your business majors out of college who were taught by professors who have never worked in any industry. If it can't be used tomorrow, then get rid of it. When you see it happening, you might offer a couple of bucks for each book. If you have a place to store them, they might become valuable to someone someday.