Just another day in paradise

[TNB]

Interesting day today. The excavator that caught fire on me last month still isn’t running. Parts are pretty much obsolete and i haven’t found anything in a scrap year. All I need is an air intake house to the filter housing and a short section of harness to go the solenoid that strokes up the pump. Customer called me in a huff today and wanted me to file a claim on my insurance. Umm no. Then he wanted me to cover the cost of the repair because I was in the operator seat when it caught fire. He asked me to dig a hole with it and make sure it was ready to work his food plot when it caught fire. The muffler has fist sized holes in it and I think maybe it had a mouse nest inside and that’s what started the fire. Typically I don’t test run much equipment because the operator is usually with me. This machine is a 1995 and is mickey moused together. Things got a little heated on the phone. He’s trying to make it sound like it’s a new machine. At this point I’m thinking I’ll just wire in a switch to stroke up the pump and forget about the air hose. So I’m asking honest opinions- should I be on the hook for the repair or is this guy just trying to get money out of me for his piece of junk?

Just remember the 3 b’s...
I didn’t build it
I didn’t buy it
I didn’t break it.

 

[John C.]

Did you let him know there was a witness on the phone call?

 

[Mike L]

I did not. I just dialed his number and hit the speaker button. I wanted a witness in case he started talking like he did the other day.

 

[hosspuller]

Maine is a one party consent state. You can record a conversation you are a party to.
see here for details and other states.
https://recordinglaw.com/united-states-recording-laws/one-party-consent-states/

 

[Mike L]

Interesting. When he was having his bad spell I wondered if he was recording. I told him it would have burned flat had he been running it and his response was “that’s speculation. You don’t know that” I replied “you don’t have a fire extinguisher on this machine” “you don’t know what I do or don’t have. it may not have burned if I was running it” was his response.

 

[Vetech63]

Interesting. When he was having his bad spell I wondered if he was recording. I told him it would have burned flat had he been running it and his response was “that’s speculation. You don’t know that” I replied “you don’t have a fire extinguisher on this machine” “you don’t know what I do or don’t have. it may not have burned if I was running it” was his response.

I hope your kicking him to the curb.

 

[Mike L]

I am. As far as I’m concerned we’re done.

 

[JLarson]

Yeah I'm not a fan of working for individuals. All of our customers are contractors or utilities and some industrial contracts. And if they're cheapos I'll kick them too lol

 

[Mike L]

This morning’s project. Cat 525c skidder. Auto lock on the grapple would cause hoses to pulsate. Found a broken spring in the floofinator valve. (Don’t remember what cat calls it) equalizer valve? It basically makes the grapple tongs open and close equally.

 

[Mike L]

Ran into something today that is worth some conversation. Customer has a deere 644E that just gets used around the yard when needed. I’m told it has gone through many starters in its life span. I put on a deere reman back in April and it’s already toast. The bendix will engage but the starter won’t turn. From what I’m told this is the failure on all of the starters. Ive got system voltage on the big stud and none on the exciter wire unless I turn the key. What is killing these starters? What am I missing? Has anyone else run into this issue?

 

[Truck Shop]

Has anyone ever checked to see if solenoid was sticking {low voltage} and starters motored.

 

[BigWrench55]

Has anything electrical been added? Like a c.b. radio, fan, lighting or anything like that. I ask because one time many years ago my dad paid someone to install a c.b. radio in his service truck. Afterwards we were leaving for North Carolina to do a job. When we left that morning my dad made the comment that he thought the throw out bearing might be failing. We stopped in Tennessee and had lunch and when we got back to the truck the starter failed. We were able to get it pushed started and went to the local starter shop. After installing the new starter we could hear that throw out bearing noise again. I turned off the newly installed c.b. radio to get a better listen and then the noise went away. Turn the radio back on and the noise came back. Turned out that the guy who installed the radio tapped into random wires under the dash. One of those wires was on the starter relay and when you turned on the radio it engage the starter.

 

[Mike L]

Has anyone ever checked to see if solenoid was sticking {low voltage} and starters motored.

The only thing I’ve done is check voltage at the exciter wire which showed zero with my power probe (I know that’s not precise). It would be easy enough to check the solenoid

 

[Mike L]

Has anything electrical been added? Like a c.b. radio, fan, lighting or anything like that. I ask because one time many years ago my dad paid someone to install a c.b. radio in his service truck. Afterwards we were leaving for North Carolina to do a job. When we left that morning my dad made the comment that he thought the throw out bearing might be failing. We stopped in Tennessee and had lunch and when we got back to the truck the starter failed. We were able to get it pushed started and went to the local starter shop. After installing the new starter we could hear that throw out bearing noise again. I turned off the newly installed c.b. radio to get a better listen and then the noise went away. Turn the radio back on and the noise came back. Turned out that the guy who installed the radio tapped into random wires under the dash. One of those wires was on the starter relay and when you turned on the radio it engage the starter.

It may have a cb in it. Most of their stuff does. I’ll have to give that a look.

 

[Truck Shop]

That's why I asked if that starter had motored. Normally if engaged too long the field case discolors. But there usually is a dead give away when a starter stays engaged
the volt/amp meter will peg the negative side. When starting a diesel in cold conditions I watch the volts first then oil pressure.

 

[skyking1]

ahh yes the floofinator valve, or as dear old dad would call it "Ohh that's a good one"

 

[Mike L]

Here’s how my week started. “Hey my head gasket is leaking coolant.” Well here’s why. Me- “ we should probably get the head checked” them- “there’s no time. I need my loader” well guess what. It’s still got a tiny leak where the head bolt was broken. “Oh well, we’ll fix it right next time”

 

[BigWrench55]

If you don't have time to fix it right the first time then how do you find the time to do it again. It makes you want to tell them that the next time the labor will be tenfold.

 

[Mike L]

A year ago I rebuilt a C7 in a skidder. Cylinder walls on 2 cylinders were scored. I did it but was clear that it didn’t have a warranty. Got a call Friday that it was pushing oil out the dipstick tube. Pulled out the engine Tuesday without seeing it run. Tore it down and found- nothing. The only problems I found were some premature wear on the connecting rod bearings from being run low on oil. Maintenance is not as important to them as it should be. Then I find out afterwards that the newbie operator ran it low on oil, parked it on a hill when he checked it and added 6 gallons. (Holds 7) apparently it pushed oil until it found a happy place. Most expensive oil change it ever had. I billed 28 hours for the job.

 

[BigWrench55]

It should be expensive to be dumb.