Good morning!!!!

[RoyJackson]

One of my favorites was one cold Sunday morning in January, she gets a panic call from a salesman about a skid steer that, as the customer reported, "wouldn't start". She asked for more detail before she sent a mechanic out to make sure he took the right parts with him. The salesman didn't know if it was batteries, starter, fuel, etc. She told him to call back and find out.

He called her back and said the problem with the skid steer was it was under water! The customer had left it running and moved it onto a frozen storage pond to get it out of the road. The heat from the engine softened the ice and skid steer went for a swim. She told him forget it, she would deal with it on Monday. I still get a laugh out of that one.

I'd call that operator error and charge him for any repairs

 

[Dftodd]

@daugen said:

"I don't understand why they can't put the DEF in the diesel fuel and stop all this nonsense. I know the chemistry doesn't work that way, being a sort
of afterburner process but makes you wonder if they can't improve on ol' #2 fuel oil. Now it's ultralow most bad stuff but wonder if you dumped a gallon of DEF
in your diesel tank, how that would run. Don't try this at home...."

A little bit of DEF in a 100 gallon fuel tank with a Volvo TAD571 engine comes to a mere $15k to replace the engine fuel system. If you catch it in time. BTDT

Add a little water to the mix and it grows to $35k. BTDT

I can tell more stories...see a lot of stuff with DEF in the wrong places. My favorite was I was at a steel mill and someone had dumped DEF in the hydraulic reservoir of a Cat wheel loader. I forget the model at the moment, but it was really big The estimate was $100k to clean up the mess in the hydraulic system.


My wife has pretty much been in the rental business since she got out of high school. The stories she can tell. I keep telling her to write a book....but most people would figure it was fiction.

One of my favorites was one cold Sunday morning in January, she gets a panic call from a salesman about a skid steer that, as the customer reported, "wouldn't start". She asked for more detail before she sent a mechanic out to make sure he took the right parts with him. The salesman didn't know if it was batteries, starter, fuel, etc. She told him to call back and find out.

He called her back and said the problem with the skid steer was it was under water! The customer had left it running and moved it onto a frozen storage pond to get it out of the road. The heat from the engine softened the ice and skid steer went for a swim. She told him forget it, she would deal with it on Monday. I still get a laugh out of that one.

My answer to those customers is "Sign here!!!!" And "A salesman or someone in the office will be in touch on whether you want to purchase the equipment or run it through your insurance."

Being a field mechanic and then shop foreman, I've gotten really good at figuring out if someone submerged the equipment and is then trying to hide the fact.

 

[Rich B1]

I'd call that operator error and charge him for any repairs

I seem to remember that customer got charged for a complete skid steer. It was cheaper to replace it that repair it.

She has never been afraid to go after a customer for damage to the equipment.

 

[toppop52]

66 and not going any higher...Roy, the drop hasn't started here...but the rain is over and the wind is still strong.

Thomas, I bet that Caterpillar trip was interesting.

Kyle, good to hear from you...enjoy your lunch date!

Had a nice hike with my wife yesterday, then we took a load to the dump and had lunch in town...relaxing day.

A set screw fell out of the tightening nut on my FEL (grapple control) handle. Anybody know the best way to determine the right replacement size?

Google it.

 

[toppop52]

Harbor freight has SAE set screw assortments

Set Screw Assortment, 150 Piece

Amazing deals on this 150 Piece Set Screw Assortment at Harbor Freight. Quality tools & low prices.

www.harborfreight.com

Here is a metric set from Amazon.

Amazon.com

Just a word on the HF assortment, I bought a huge O-ring assortment from them and I have yet to find one that fits anything and they break with very little effort. Now that has no bearing on how good the set screws might be. Just a word of caution on the O-rings.

 

[toppop52]

Dftodd, what tales you could tell about customers wrecking your expensive equipment in creative ways.

I don't understand why they can't put the DEF in the diesel fuel and stop all this nonsense. I know the chemistry doesn't work that way, being a sort
of afterburner process but makes you wonder if they can't improve on ol' #2 fuel oil. Now it's ultralow most bad stuff but wonder if you dumped a gallon of DEF
in your diesel tank, how that would run. Don't try this at home....

And since it's urea/uric acid, sort of, I know there are some hillbillies trying to pee in their DEF tank.
Something tells me it wouldn't lubricate too well vs petroleum
It's an unfortunate solution to emissions.

But I have read many times how properly maintained modern engines run a lot smoother and start a lot easier than
Tier 1's and 2's. And use less fuel. My understanding is the improvement in fuel economy far outweighs the cost of DEF. And we have less nasties going into the atmosphere.
Bill and Buppies and others who run heavy trucks, have you seen a mpg improvement over the years? Of course then we get gouged for fuel because of international manipulation and
that extra 1mpg doesn't mean much when fuel went up a dollar a gallon. I'd think when fuel prices are highest that mpg would get really important to bottom line.
DEF is all about clean air. Just wish technology would advance to make it unecessary but I guess we are just waiting for electric everything to come.

You rarely see black smoke coming out of a big truck anymore, particularly fleet trucks. If you want black smoke go to a tractor pull.

Or the young guys reprogramming their diesel pickups so they can “roll coal”.

My Jeep doesn’t use DEF, that would have been a deal breaker for me. Especially since it’s just a spare vehicle.

 

[toppop52]

67 early, 52 now and tanking fast. We got a little over 1/4” of rain, most of it in two hard showers. Highest gust I’ve seen was 38mph.
Looks like the weather is on the March roller coaster already and it’s still February.

 

[LouNY]

I'm definitely NOT a Tier 4 fan. I do not believe that they are that much cleaner emission wise then Tier 3/ Interim Tier 4 were.
They do not save fuel on or off road. The Tier 2 and Interim 3 off road engines were very clean burning and efficient engines
with the electronic common rail injection these engines didn't smoke ran very clean and strong, the oil and exhaust systems stayed clean.
Then they crammed in an Exhaust Gas Recirculation requirement and performance and economy started down then the Diesel Particulate Filters where mandated and Diesel Exhaust Fluid was needed for the chemical reaction desired by bureaucratic order. These newer engines use more fuel then the previous generation did to produce less power, and efficiency. And then to top it off the required DEF contains Urea commonly used in fertillizers and already in short supply and increasing in cost rapidly.

I prefer mechanically injected engines for there serviceability, but will readily admit the common rail will make more power and be more efficient until crippled by emission equipment and in my mind excessive requirements.

 

[Rich B1]

Since it is SO busy this morning......

A friend of mine is an attorney. He works for an extremely large law firm in a division that specializes in construction litigation. He is a very senior partner in that specific office. When we get together and have an adult beverage or two, we trade stories about the construction industry. Most of what he does is with sub-contractor/general contractor deals where they are not playing well together over payments. I have heard some good ones

One Friday afternoon, Ed started sending me text messages. He started it off by saying the questions he was going to ask me had nothing to do with the equipment I am involved with so there was no conflict of interest.

He started asking me questions about DEF contamination. So I started sending him pictures, details about how long it took for things to go horribly wrong, etc. He replied back "Thanks, i see some interns are going to be very busy this weekend".

Next time I saw Ed, asked him what happened. He was in a meeting about a case they had gotten and had been assigned to a young attorney. No one in the room knew anything about DEF contamination. Ed told them he knew someone who knew something about it and would get them some info.

Seems a rental company had delivered equipment to a large jobsite. Several days later, multiple pieces of equipment had DEF contamination in engines, radiators, hydraulic tanks, etc. The contractor claimed the rental company had delivered the equipment that way, rental company claimed it was sabotage.

With the pictures I sent Ed and research the law firm did, the young attorney put together a PowerPoint presentation. When the 2 sides had their first meeting, the contractor's attorneys presented their information. The young attorney from Ed's law firm presented his PowerPoint, which did included some of my pictures and information, plus other pictures/information they had found. After the presentation, the other side agreed to settle out of court for the full amount requested by the rental company.

The rental company thought Ed's law firm was awesome, the young attorney thought Ed was a genius for finding him some information to get started, and Ed thought it was funny that one of his friends helped them win a case with very little effort.

 

[sodamo]

65°F and .72 inches rain. Looks like another inside day. I do need to make a PO run, have to mail it to mail county property tax.

Got some nice wire shelf storage in the caretaker bedroom. Need to finish up the 2 bathroom shelves with the hardware I bought yesterday. Then I have an idea for an additional unit. Storage, other than the kitchen cabinets is something of a challenge in such a small area. Something that lingers as you work but can’t be executed until near the end.

Prayers for all
Be safe
Have a great day