Sometimes I just have to laugh

fixerupper

Well-known Member
We all have one of these situations once in awhile. I have a customer Deere B in the shop with the head off to replace a valve. It had sat for awhile with the carb off, the mice made a nest in the manifold and the mouse pee pitted a valve and seat. The valve eventually burned, or at least that's my theory.

I pulled the head and dropped it off at the machine shop in Spencer when I was on the way to Sioux Falls October 5th. the rest of the valves were fine and the owner didn't want to spend any money on it so the order was to replace one valve. The guy who does heads wasn't there but he called me a few days later and I told him what I wanted done. I told him he had just as well order the new valve. He said he would order the valve and it would be there in the usual two days. A few days passed without a call from him so I stopped by the machine shop when I was in town. The valve had not shown up so they reordered it. I got a call last Monday Oct 16th, 11 days after I dropped it off, the head was done so I picked it up.

Now back to Oct 9th, four days after I dropped the head off at the machine shop I realized I had not ordered a head gasket and lead washers and I wanted it quick so I went to Deere for the gasket thinking I could get it in a couple of days. They said the gasket would be in on Wednesday the 11th with a stock order. I stopped there on Friday the 13th and no gasket. They checked the computer and found out it was coming from the Portland warehouse. I live in Iowa. They said it would be in on Monday the 16th. Yesterday I was driving by the Deere dealership and stopped in to pick up the gasket that was sure to be there by now but it wasn't. They called around and found out it went out on the wrong UPS truck. (sigh) This time I'm calling before I run to the Deere dealership.

To sum it up, what was normally a three day wait for the head to get done turned out to be an 11 day wait because the supplier of the valve forgot to send it to the machine shop. The two day wait for the gasket and washers turned out to be nine days, IF it's at Deere today because the gasket came from a distant warehouse and then ended up on the wrong UPS truck!

I am not whining or knocking anyone down here, this just happens to be one of those times when none of the cards fell right. The owner of the tractor is a little antsy to get it back but that's the way things go sometimes.
 
same going on here customer wants new motor install on 24 year old mower, long story short
really no drop in unit for this because of metal hood, found one close,wiring plugs not even
close, then realize someone else already been their because of wiring patch,wrong period job,
then motor got lost in ship, clutch part came yesterday, but open box and is empty,so no
clutch. meantime customer been chomping since second day here. like you said some people have
way to much time on there hands, and sometimes thigs just do not play out.lucky thou that
overall this does not happen to OFTEN
 
Well that sort of stuff is one of the many reasons I pretty much quit wanting to work on things for others.
I don't miss the headaches but I miss the little extra spending money.
 
Like Bob Newhart said once, "Sometime you don't know whether to laugh or to run screaming into the woods".
 
I just got a call from the dealer. UPS notified them the gasket has been damaged so a new one is ordered!!! No I am not making this up! (Sigh)
 
That stuff happens and is frustrating but works out in the end. My experience is that it only happens when the customer is in a hurry for the part. The project that is in no hurry the parts will be in next day.
 
So, the customer tore it apart and left it that way long enough to have a mouse build a nest inside, but is after you by the time ten days is up to fix a seventy year old tractor. Perhaps you have been "too efficient" in the past, or need to offer a warning prior to working on antique tractors "The people who make and ship the parts and do the custom work on your tractor ARE AS OLD AS THE TRACTOR IS. They move slowly, and cannot be microwaved. Quality work cannot be rushed."
 
Oh I'd believe this, I pretty well quit the customer fixing now my machinery fleets bigger as custom rates are crazy. The town pump tractor needed
work. Nobody else would do it last time, so this time they called and begged, Yeah ok half our to change a switch I'll do it. Phoned for a switch
which is not unique to a 50 year old tractor (generic key switch), Guess what nobody has one it will be in, in a day or so.

Yeah I got it, found the last guy running it ran it out of fuel, and it was a 3 hour program getting it going, battery flat and all the other good
stuff after it hadn't run for a year. Nothing else got done here, and it didn't earn enough to do it as you pretty well donate time to the town on
that tractor!. Some of the parts for anything more than 8 years old some times newer to are no better either with no stock or shipping delays. The one
thing that drives me mad is next day air as it's urgent. It sits somewhere for a week before it turns up and I still paid air prices on for next day !
Regards Robert.
 
You only have to take on one job like that to learn! Sorry about your misfortune, this is what it will cost, TIME AND MATERIALS.
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Somewhat the same but not a few years ago I
needed a new key switch for my late Dads 44 2N
Ford Ferguson. Saw one on eBay brand new made
in China $5-10. Thought I'd get a better one so
ordered it directly through NewHolland. $35 didn't
sound so bad if it was oem. They curriored it to the
farm,lone behold sealed inside the pretty CNH bag
with the part was another bag containing the exact
same switch off eBay only I paid $25-30 more for it
through NH lol
 
I have been in business a lot of years and it only gets worse.When I take something to a
machine shop I don't even expect a call in less than 3 weeks, lots of times it's closer to
six. I ordered a clutch kit last week for a 7000 Ford tractor. They sent a 13 in pressure
plate and a 12 in. Disc. Claimed it was keyed in the computer wrong. Got the wrong oil pan
gasket twice for a 6610 Ford. About 50% of electrical parts are defective right out of the
box. Got a IPTO clutch drum for a Ford and it had hole drilled in the wrong place. Wrong
sleeve for an 8n Ford. The list goes on and on and all of what I have described has
happened in the last 60 days.The way things have gotten, if someone asks me how long it
will take and they want to know exactly what it will cost, I say, Sir I think you have come
to the wrong place because I don't have an answer to either question.
 

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