One of the front clamp cylinders needed replaced. The slide housing for the front clamp had to be replaced too, where the slide block sits was worn down to almost nothing, there was a ton of play on the clamp and when the little steel left failed I wouldnt be able to break the pipe, that's a pricey piece since it's dead stock. They welded plates so the stress points on the frame wont break anymore, looks like it had been welded and broke twice. I think there were a total of 3 placed needing welded. They put a new track on for me that was purchased in the buyout. The water relief is bad and will fail, but that's on backorder. They had to bypass the guage cause of stripped threads and discontinued parts. The pump wasnt drawing from the tank so they had to do some work on that. There was a fuel leak they fixed. The drive chain was missing the tensioner clamp on the bottom and the rollers were worn flat. There was some warp to the slide rail they fixed. A bunch of other heres and theres (I did pay 45 bucks for them to replace a bulb cause at this point another 45 bucks was negligible. The sub saver shoulder was beveled back and the front was flared. The bill will be around 3k less since they ended up getting the strike alert going. The one on 7x11 isnt made anymore so it would have been a retrofit. Most of the cost was parts. Labor really was surprisingly low for the amount there was. Theres much I probably could have done, like the control hoses were flipped so the back clamp control turned the left auger and it was all backward. But if while moving the hoses a fitting breaks or seal is bad I'd spend 2 days acquiring parts and fixing it. I've never worked on a track, and I dont weld. The sub saver is field replace, but I never replaced one and I really need to get drilling. I have almost 150k sunk into this whole venture already and every day I'm trying to figure out how to fix things is a day less I'm putting money in the kitty for the days I'm trying to fix things. I will say I'm never, ever, ever, ever, not even once gonna buy a friend out again without just having the attorney do all the prep work ahead. This was a clusterfuck and I still dont have my reel trailer in hand. I'm told I can complete up to 750 feet a day. I want some of what they're smoking. My numbers get really comfortable if we are getting 200 feet. I'm the new guy on the contract, so I'm betting I'm not getting the prime dirt work, I see a lot of driveways and intersections in my future. That leads to another problem, not having an owned vac, but I'm out of money, so that's a bridge I'll burn when I get to it. Before some unforeseen expenses I was planning on getting an airvac and airspade, but its shovel time instead
On Sat, May 21, 2022, 6:12 PM Chuck McCown via AF <af@af.afmug.com> wrote: > Still that sounds steep. At least it might have been done right. Those > pumps are pretty easy to fix. They get junk stuck in the valves now and > then, so you need to know how to take out the valves. There are 6 of > them. The pistons don’t actually slide in cylinders, they just intrude > into a volume of space and displace water. So crud can go through them > without harm. Most of the pump issues are leaks around the rods (you can > tighten the packing gland or add packing), valve junk, and freezing and > breaking. The last one pretty much ruins the whole works. > > They do suffer from cracked frames. I have strengthened my frame a bunch > while fixing the cracks. Sad to see my Vermeer is on the auction block at > RB right across the street from me. Full box of almost new rod. I have 4 > other ditch witch drills so I am selling this one. We all like the Vermeer > more than the DW as far as the two controls vs one. > > *From:* Steve Jones > *Sent:* Saturday, May 21, 2022 4:17 PM > *To:* AnimalFarm Microwave Users Group > *Subject:* Re: [AFMUG] Ot: my adventure > > 21 year old drill, old parts, some frame cracks, water pump issues, etc. > Labor wasnt that bad. I figure future repairs will be me, but to get this > thing out the door and making money, I had vermeer do everything. > > On Sat, May 21, 2022, 4:45 PM Chuck McCown via AF <af@af.afmug.com> wrote: > >> What cost the $12K? >> >> I do all the work on my drills, and I became quite an expert on the >> Vermeer we had. I quit using strike finders. They break down all the >> freaking time. >> >> I just have a ground stake that I sometime use. Should use it all the >> time but if you get out around a bunch of drillers, they frequently don’t >> ground either. That drill rod is a pretty good ground. But if you hit >> primary all bets are off. If you hit secondary you will probably not get >> fried. With or without strike finders and ground stakes. >> >> *From:* Steve Jones >> *Sent:* Saturday, May 21, 2022 3:22 PM >> *To:* AnimalFarm Microwave Users Group >> *Subject:* [AFMUG] Ot: my adventure >> >> So for the last three months I've been creating my company, getting all >> that stuff in order, spending a shit ton of money (for me). But the last >> pieces are falling in place on monday. I pick my drill back up from vermeer >> (12,300 dollar repair quote, but they managed to fix my strike alert and >> saved me 3000 bucks). Probably not a good business decision to put that >> much into an old drill when the drill is worth less than the repair, but it >> gets me in a drill. >> I have a contract that's local for around 2 years work, fairly low rate >> per foot compared to what's out there, but its local and all I can eat when >> I want to eat it, so I can keep my fulltime job while I transition. I >> figure spend this year and maybe next building experience with my son, then >> chase the bigger dough. >> The underground industry seems a whole lot like the wisp industry, where >> theres a whole bunch of strangers willing to help strangers succeed with >> good advice. Theres some assholes, but same here. >> Once I get operational and have the toolset refined with some experience >> I'll be heavily pimping to the wisp degenerates turning fisp, I think >> theres a good number that a guy can operate at to be affordable to small >> outfits and still get a little money in the wallet. >> My kid operated a mini ex for the first time, the video games actually >> paid off, he got the feather concept of the controls down, so he may leave >> me to go do that after some experience, dont blame him a bit if he does, >> equipment operators get the best cushions in the seats and the best >> paychecks. >> Just need to hand over the workmans comp certificate when I have the >> drill back in hand and I start making the millions. >> God is good, even if I'm not. >> >> ------------------------------ >> -- >> AF mailing list >> AF@af.afmug.com >> http://af.afmug.com/mailman/listinfo/af_af.afmug.com >> -- >> AF mailing list >> AF@af.afmug.com >> http://af.afmug.com/mailman/listinfo/af_af.afmug.com >> > ------------------------------ > -- > AF mailing list > AF@af.afmug.com > http://af.afmug.com/mailman/listinfo/af_af.afmug.com > -- > AF mailing list > AF@af.afmug.com > http://af.afmug.com/mailman/listinfo/af_af.afmug.com >
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