Saved from the scrap

[kevinj]

Kevin,
Just some advice from an old guy....If I were you when your boss asks you how it worked out ..tell him..Not so good, you were right ..I had to throw it away..He will not take kindly to being made to look like a fool...Confucius must have a saying that would say it better..He needs to believe he was right.

Made a deal with the boss when I got it:thumbsup: I told him if I could fix it it would be available if we need an extra welder.

 

[kevinj]

It had a busted crank, rod and piston.

That is a bummer......

 

[Kernopelli]

Kevin,
Just some advice from an old guy....If I were you when your boss asks you how it worked out ..tell him..Not so good, you were right ..I had to throw it away..He will not take kindly to being made to look like a fool...Confucius must have a saying that would say it better..He needs to believe he was right.

This is probably good advice. Not knowing your boss, he may be glad for you but there's a chance he may not like the idea that you got it running.

I worked for a family that had more money than the state of Texas and they sold an old IH gas tractor to one of our coworkers. I overheard the boss and his son laughing about how bad they screwed 'ol Leon on that piece of junk....they went on and on. At one point they were down on the floor because he had told them it took all the savings he had to buy it. It was a real eye opener for me that they were so proud and callus about taking advantage of one of their best and most loyal workers. Well, 'ol Leon came in that next Monday and the bosses son asked with a very sarcastic tone " How's that old tractor coming Leon?" He said, "Pretty good, a few hoses, new plugs, fresh gas and oil and she started right up. I bush hogged about 10 acres with it yesterday!"
The bosses got MAD and accused him of being dishonest and taking advantage of them...they wanted to fire him but didn't because he was such a good employee ( i.e. made them lots of $$$)...that's how angry they got. Leon never missed a beat. He reminded them that they came to him first, set the price and only after he bought it, did they tell him everything that they really thought was wrong with it. He said "you two thought you had really skinned me and it didn't bother you a bit...I thought you had too but I guess that wasn't the case." I still smile about that, they were certain they had bent him over and did it knowing he couldn't afford to even fix the tractor as far as they knew. He ended up getting a decent deal and they wanted to crucify him for it

 

[ModMech]

^^^^ Familiar story for sure.....

My boss had a wrecked unit, all the local shops that *would* touch it estimated at least $15k in repairs with no promises. Only 25% of it's value but a big chunk of cash just the same.

After over a month he couldn't take it any more and asked me to make some contacts and see if we could get and old employee to take a look.

Well "Bob" stops over, looks at the damage, makes about a page of notes then goes to visit the owner. After some negociating, Bob offers to "fix" it for $5k, we buy all the parts and clear the shop for him as a FAVOR to us. We agree and he shows up Saturday to beging the repairs.

Um, Monday morning it's completely repaired and parked outside painted and all. The owner was MAJOR P!SSED!!!!! $5k for only two days work! Not even, I think "Bob" actually had it finnished in about 10 hours.

After all the cr@p jobs Bob did for us over the preceeding years, and considering we were going to have to total the unit w/o his help, everyone got off good.

 

[Soundguy]

sweet deal!

only time I got a deal half as good was when I was given a washer, dryer and fridge, all used and not working.. turned out needing 2 replacement cords and one heating element, oh.. and a jug of 409 and roll of papertowels..

again awesome scrap find!
soundguy

 

[mojoinco]

sweet deal!

only time I got a deal half as good was when I was given a washer, dryer and fridge, all used and not working.. turned out needing 2 replacement cords and one heating element, oh.. and a jug of 409 and roll of papertowels..

again awesome scrap find!
soundguy

Those are always great fun -- makes up for the piles of switches and cords from the ones that didn't work. I bought a 'money back if you can't fix it' $5 portable compressor (nail gun type). He ran it out of oil. A little work with a dowel and some sand paper (or crocus cloth), about 2 hours (opened the rod up a bit and smoothed the crank pin):licking:, and some synthetic oil I had sitting around (mismatched grade left over) and it has been running for a few years now.

 

[Soundguy]

I fixed a lawnmower engine like that before.. piston seized.. i hammered it out with a dowel.. cleaned up everything with ultra fine, and ran her another 10ys before the deck rusted out, and wheels broke..

soudnguy

 

[RPW]

Kohler has an engine for the Bobcat 225. Probably a lot cheaper than repair with ONAN parts.

 

[jayste]

Kohler has an engine for the Bobcat 225. Probably a lot cheaper than repair with ONAN parts.

RPW, what can you tell me about the Kohler engine? Model, HP, any adapting to do?

 

[kevinj]

Well, here is the next step in the salvage business:thumbsup:

Of course it still needs some paint