Besides that is a really nice A model you own
Thanks. It'd be nicer if it was running though, LOL.
I realize that everybody has their own opinions, and I respect that for sure. But if people were to go by everybody else's opinions, we'd be doomed, lol. I like to see and hear other's opinions and come to my own after some thought. So I did as of yesterday.
Maybe having a head furnace welded and repaired is good to some, but in doing my due diligence and researching the alternatives for a head, I came to this conclusion;
Cat sells REMAN heads. Not new, reman. They're $3,400.00 and they've been repaired, resurfaced, etc. Never know what you're gonna get with that.
Several knock-off's out there that try to mimmick the quality of an OEM, but very few (if not only ONE) I've come across so far after about 8 hours of digging yesterday has a warranty even better that Cat's. (And believe me, I've never had much luck with a Cat warranty personally.)
I've spoken to American Crane & Tractor, they seem have a good product and the only one that Cat will accept for a core as someone else here stated earlier. But they offer 6 months parts only. These are "fully loaded" heads, ready to drop on. Not bad...
My best choice I feel is a brand new head from HHP in Michigan. First of all, the sales rep I was talking to was a good, straight-forward guy to me, and I liked the discussion. They sell this fully loaded head delivered to my doorstep for $2,298.00...on top of that they have a ONE YEAR warranty; the 1st 6 months on parts AND labor, the last 6 months on parts only. I find that pretty hard to beat myself. In asking them if they've ever had much problem with their product, the answer was, "once we had a bad batch of valve keepers that caused some problems, but it was corrected and that was back in 2011." They use Interstate McBee parts on the heads, which makes me feel good too. A.C.& T. used some off brand that I am not familiar with in their head assemblies, so that in and of itself is a concern to me.
It isn't about trying to save or shave a few dollars off anything here by any means either; it's about what I feel deep down is the right thing to do overall. Pinching pennies isn't my motive here.
Having mine fixed not only will take time that I don't want to lose, but will always be in the back of my mind if I did the right thing. They might be great...but who knows. I'd rather take the gamble on a new aftermarket one from HHP knowing they'll at least give me 6 months on parts and labor, than to worry about if the guy that repaired the crack in mine did it right, and not knowing if that head came off another engine and has a gazillion miles on it, etc. is another worry I have, now that I see the last owner is a liar about the last major overhaul being one hole.
So that's my perspective on all this. I don't see any sense in going with all Cat stuff and spending $30,000.00 on an inframe when I can get this all done up myself for about $8,000.00 and know what I have, and my fingerprints are on everything. I've been the Cat route before...and I'm not impressed. It's a name that's easy to spell, that's all I see for an advantage with them. I've had many a heartache along the way with their "professional" ways despite the cost, so no sense in diving back into all the unnecessary arguments with service writers and warranty people over a losing battle. They never admit they're wrong.