What's the diff ?

[Supermario]

Originally Posted by BRICKNICK

Just awesome stuff Mario...I as a heavy truck/diesel mechanic really appreciate seeing this stuff since the most intricate parts of heavy equipmt repairs I get to do is put a track back on or repair a bad hydraulic line or hose . Maybe a starter or a coolant leak. But I never really get to tear into our loaders or dozers like this. Great stuff bud, thanks for sharing it with us.

Thanks Nick. Glad you like seeing this stuff. I figured not everyone has the chance or lives in the right area to see things like a 992 loader and figured id share with my extended family
I wish this forum and ipads were around back in 2001. I spent 2 weeks sailing the great lakes on a 700ft laker as I rebuilt a gen set engine. the main propulsion engine was massive and I was in awe for the entire time on board! I just couldn't get over the size and power! It was a 5 cyl Sultzer engine. 5,000 hp and three decks high! Max rpm is 120!
I know I took pictures with an actual camera.... ya know, the type where you actually had to tke the film roll out and send it to get developed. if I find them ill scan and post.

Originally Posted by Lil Giants

No doubt the specialized shop you work at is one that is few & far between. How far away do you have components and whole machines coming from for partial & complete rebuilds?

the exchange component business is huge now and has radically changed how we do business. We can get customer machines back up and running way faster than ever before. This current 992 midlife rebuild is a guaranteed 7 day turnaround. That's replace engine,rad, torque, tranny, diffs, final drives and powertrain hoses and back to work on the 8th day!

the dealership created a specific division to rebuild components called Reman. It is based in Toronto so we can get anything from an engine, tranny or hyd pump overnight, ready to go. due to the major mining demand there is now another Reman facility in Thunder Bay which has a main focus on underground equipment components.

our core business here in Sault Ste Marie is of course, the steel plant and the nearby gold mines 5 hrs away. The furthest place we have sourced equipment from is Peru. The company bought over 25 used machines from a underground iron mine and shipped to us and Sudbury for rebuild. At one point it was a 1 yr wait before delivery after purchasing a new underground scoop. we could rebuild a scoop in less than 3 months. Another way to meet customer demands.

gonna toot my company horn one more time.... we are the worlds largest CAT dealer in a geographical sense. The dealership covers from the Canadian east coast all the way to Manitoba and runs as far north as the territories .

as great as Reman is for our customers, there is a negative side to this type of approach. our new younger mechanics are becoming " robot parts changers" . When I was young we rebuilt everything in house. gave you a chance to open up, see what things looked like and helped understand how things work. nowdays nothing is opened up and repaired, just replace.

I don't want to place every young up coming mechanic under the same stigma but I see a major lack of troubleshooting skills in the next generation. how can you troubleshoot something you don't even know how it looks and works inside?


I apologize for my rant. Joe asked and that got me going!

[Lil Giants]

I suspect it's Edmonton that is the center hub for the west side of Canada b/c it seems everything heavy equipment & parts usually comes from there.

Originally Posted by Supermario

as great as Reman is for our customers, there is a negative side to this type of approach. our new younger mechanics are becoming " robot parts changers" .

I know exactly what you're talking about Mario, I see the exact same thing happening with agricultural machinery & the young 20's & 30's mechanics just don't seem to have a clue what they're doing, they just R&R parts to chase the problem... but to be fair - the equipment is getting more electronically complicated every yr & the training is not there to support it & the diagnostic tools are just as ridiculously expensive that it's impossible to supply every dealership in the country with them... but then again, big dealerships don't seem to have a conscience about raising their shop rate 10% to 15% every yr either while the quality of service drops. 6yrs ago I was paying $65/hr, now it's $130/hr, all the while the mechanics have received next no training & no specialized diagnostic tools.

That's my rant & it's all your fault Mario.

[sparkycuda]

I see the same problem every day. As a Technical Trainer for the Kentucky/Indiana Komatsu dealer, we also struggle with the loss of knowledge caused by using Reman components. We haven't taught a engine/trans/final drive rebuild class in several years because Reman is the quicker way to get machines back in production. Keeping up with the latest technology and troubleshooting procedures is our #1 priority for training, and we use disassembled components where possible to let them see what is inside. Mario, you hit the nail on the head about troubleshooting and understanding systems when you have never seen the inside! We do what we can, but since Reman is handled by Komatsu, we have a hard time even sourcing a component to tear down for training class. It is a different market than when I started in this 45 years ago. Technology has changed so much and so quickly over the last 20 years, we often get newer technology before we have everyone trained on the previous version! At least it is not boring - sometimes extremely frustrating - but not boring.

Ken