As some of you may know I have been in field service up to a few months ago. I moved back into the shop for normal hours. I guess three weeks ago they took back the 06' f550.....can't say I was depressed. Other than the loud clunk at times from the trans? or rearend? The front tire eating and horrible fuel mileage at 54,000 miles it had only been in the shop twice Cause I complained that I was'nt filling out the log book saying it was all "ok" when it was'nt and getting in trouble if something happened.(like an accident involving substandard equipment)

Anyhow, I moved to a new location. The road guy there quit. They came to me and said til our new road guy starts you need to put tools back in truck and run his 04' f550. After calling me lazy(another story) I agreed but explained I would'nt be all smiles.( I like my dinner plans not being screwed up cause their junk brakes down at 4 in the afternoon.)

So the first time out in the lastest turd. You turn the key and start it, hopefully the coolant puddle under the truck is not to noticeable() It rattles and lopes like some top fuel drag car for about 15-20 minutes. If you try and leave before that it falls on its face and lopes even worse, won't pull a greasy string out of a hogs behind. It has the super sized utility bed, don't know how long but it is huge......heavy enough that it does actually ride nice and the turning radius of a..........well, I can't compare it....I've driven a 379 pete with a lowboy with a better turn radius that this thing.

Anyhow, you let it warm up for the alotted time frame and take off down the road. As you drive along it back fires and pops occasionally while tooling down the I-state. In the low speed neighborhoods it's different. Seems like your driving along and then no throttle, so you floorboard it and nothing, then bam...it comes to life and lets out this cloud of thick black smoke like you see at the dyno!! Then throw in on top of that the fact that it does it at other times and when it finally kicks in there is no smoke....makes me think the tranny is on the fritz. So while I'm out I get to have some fun.....whenever it does whatever it is doing I can tell so I watch the mirror and when it finally comes back to life it lets out this cloud of smoke, it don't speed up while doing the smoking part. Once the smoke clears its back to normal.

I talked about it when I got back to the shop, one guy said, "the last guy never complained about it". I told him it's probably cause he new he'd be wasting his breath because they would'nt fix it anyhow. They told me to take care of the 1st truck and when I told them about the problems it was having they blew me off and as more things broke, the blew me off more so I called corporate hq and they got it fixed. Don't tell me to take care of it and when it needs repairs blow me off so you can blame me later?

This time though, 105,800 or so miles on this one, they want it to last til 300,000 or so without spending a dime. I just jump in, warm it up and drive.....ain't wasting my breath this time, that's how they want it, that's how they'll get it. Bad thing is it's been sitting for two weeks or better they could've dropped it at the dealer to get some repairs, service the tranny but that costs money against their bonuses(management and sales). Sometimes the corporate mindset is just baffling. I know as a small biz man I have to spend money to make money, try to be cost effective and weigh the need before I spend. I needed a welder/generator so I could stop the hassle of trying to rent one, and go through all that. I had the money, weighed my options and noted that it would save a lot of travel, headache if I had my own. Now, I have it on my truck.

All I can say is, anything I do at home or on my personal time or in my biz is done exactly how I would want it done in a proffesional manner. You do things that your not proud of as a mechanic, that you would'nt do to your equipment cause that's the only option they give you. Example, out late at night, steel workers puttin up building. Hydraulic leak, fix leak and have brand new 5 gallon pal of hydraulic oil. Break the seal and start to pour in. At the bottom is water? Hows that, it's brand new. Well, it's been on the truck for a month or so and some how the plastic has deteriorated and water got in. I tell the manager I had no other options but to use it. The guys were working right then and needed the machine. It was after 5pm so all the "working" people at the store had left, meaning I couldnt go back and get good oil.

Told him nicely, we needed at least a sealed tank for hydraulic oil. He said ok, then later they blamed me for the cap not being on...I told them it was a new 5 gallon pal in not so nice words then told them I really did'nt care what went into there machine....."if you want me to stand up there and pee in the hydraulic tank, just say so and it's done. I don't care, all my stuff at home works fine and is well maintained". They did'nt like that, but am I wrong?? Oh, they never did get a sealed tank, still have 5 gallon buckets... So it's whatever they want, urine, muddy creek water, I did'nt spend $75K on this machine.....you just say the word and it's done, just remember I'll be blaming you, your the "boss".

Ok, well sorry this is so long, seems I had a rant to get out this am. I don't think it's corporate....I may be wrong, most likely poor management. Ain't nothing can be done though, he's part of the "good ol' boy network". Ain't about doing what's right, it's about taking care of your buddy".

Rant over......thanks all!!

 

I think you're job's more important than the truck you drive at work, and perhaps you may want to work on holding onto that instead.

 

Quality of your work is only as good as the equipment you work with. Dang thing sounds like rolling red tag. On top of that they're trying to nickel and dime, just so they can get a bonus. I try to deal w/ it where I work. 1 friggin can of PB Blaster a month, whether you need it or not. But they can spend a million and a half on a new rig, with all new tools and equipment.

 

I do understand/appreciate the quality of work is limited by the tools, so I'm sorry about your situations. But be thankful for your job as well...

 

I know substandard equipment and cheap management sucks, but be thankful for the job. I also deal with substandard/cheap worn out equipment on a daily basis at work as a paramedic in a very busy EMS system, but at the end of the day I am able to pay my bills so i deal with what i am given to work with.

 

I understand the feeling where I work we have three shops in the area, two of them do nothing but send out broken or going to break equipment, almost literally never fix anything. When we need a machine from their yard and we get it and its broke down, we spend the time to fix it, yet our shop gets blamed for spending money in parts to fix it. well when you have a guy 60, 80, or even 100 feet in the air, wouldnt it be nice to have equipment in proper running order? so I feel for ya bud