Here are some pictures of parts from what we like to call our "wall of shame." They are just funny/unique/fascinating parts that we've come across during our time in business and don't have the heart to throw away. Feel free to post your own finds! Picture # 1: This is a good differential spider that the four pinion gears in the differential ride on. It is shown only for reference purposes. Picture # 2: This spider was ground down to near nothingness, thoroughly contaminating the differential as well as the axle, brakes and finals. For it to get to this point before failing, the machine must have been producing an incredible amount of metal for many hours/weeks/months until a thud was enough of a signal for the operator to stop the machine. This could have been a simple fix in the beginning but the result was an exponentially more expensive repair because they failed to check the screens. Picture # 3: This picture is basically the same as #2 only instead of stopping after one thud was heard, the operator continued even after experiencing 3 more thuds. We can only imagine the amount of rattling and noises the differential in the machine was making before the wheels couldn’t turn anymore.
I don't know why the pictures didn't load but let's try this again:
Ok here's another one. It’s a D8L transmission pump drive shaft. To be honest, we have no idea how it managed to twist itself over 720 degrees without breaking but here it is.
Keep them comming it makes me laugh !
LoL...that operator must have been pouring the coal to the engine to twist that shaft like that. Nice one.
that pump shaft made me laugh
I love that twisted shaft. Don't you just love those guys that keep beating up on a machine until it breaks....like the guy who runs a sprocket until it's nearly round & makes only a slight bump as it clears the worn pin/bush.....or the guy who runs the TD9 into a stump in 3rd gear,figuring the momentum will finish that stump off where first gear couldn't. I see some stuff on YouTube that sends shivers up the spine...
Ok, here's another one. We got a Cat loader in here a while back and this is what the suction line to the pump looked like. Can you guess why the machine had no pressure and the transmission pump kept failing?
lol how did that happen?
Gee boss When we were pushing that loader through the mud i didnt have a clue that we flattend all of the hoses underneath
Not sure. Probably something like that
Interesting,now I regret not photographing all the break down causes we have had,like the one we had where a driver came to me and told me he had a little problem,went with him to his machine only to see the fan had chewed up the rad and oil cooler bonnet through the cab,"what happened " I asked Ahhh well missed the gate hit the pier ..... the gate ope was 30' wide
The best one i have seen is a cat 992 of lafarge's pushing our d7 when we were ripping frost in the bank. Well i guess the loader oporator got a little impatient with us and the 5ft of frost so the two roket scientists decided to push the cat with the loader It caust 2200 dollars to get a new shank made and i was happy as a clam to rip frost with our 7 for a couple days til we found a replacement dozer oporator. I would have liked to hear what my father said when he talked to our hero.
I seen a final drive on a 225 Hoe totaly destroyed.Operator well the seat warmer said it wouldn't move so he kept rocking it back and forth till something popped.Then some how he drove it about 1/4 mile to the haul truck.And oil pouring out.Had to buy a new complete unit.
Been said here many a time "No cure for stupid"
I have a feeling this D10 final met the same fate. :duh
Ouch The across the pond version is "You can't fix stupid".
wOw ...
Here's another good one. This is the ring gear and planetary gears our of a dozer transmission. How long do you think they drove (or tried to drive) in second speed for it to look like this? Not a single tooth left on the ring gear and only a couple on the planetary gears. Can you guess what this did to the rest of the transmission, torque, and pump that all share the same oil? $$$$$$$$$$
you guys really do have a wall of shame
Well it looks like some of his work. This same seat warmer run a D6H till six rollers and the Idler bearing were gone.Tracks were trying to lock up they were so bad.But he didn't notice a thing.
This is comical to say the least! But one thing I have to wonder, Is it all operator abuse, or where some of the failures due to the master mechanic saying "Aww, its all right, you stupid operators woudlnt know if anything was wrong with that machine!" Or the superindentant screaming "Keep on running it, *&^% the mechanic, we need to get this mountian moved!"
Yeah, I don't know what the situation was. But it seems like any person with half a mind would know to stop at a certain point, and these gears are well beyond that point. The only explanations I see for these gears getting this far are pure stupidity or sabotage. I can't imagine how the ring gear would not have single tooth left. Seriously, how long did they hold down the throttle just to have the tractor periodically lunge forward a few inches every once in a while? The real tragedy is not only did they ruin second speed, they ruined the rest of the powertrain.
Well on my job the seat warmer aka operator all ways blamed the last to operate machine.Thing was he had his head so far up the bosses behind they believed him.
Kind of what I was thinking.
I was sent out with a snowplow one day and the engine made a strange ticking sound... I took it back to the shop only to have the "mechanic" there tell me that it was just a valve tappet making that noise and to get back out there. So I went back out and the noise got worse. Brought the truck back, he insisted it was just a valve tappet but then alluded to the fact that the truck had lost all it's oil a few days before. I told him I'd park it and take a loader to carry on but he insisted I take the truck back out there. Shortly there after the noise became a loud rattle and the truck lost all oil pressure. I called dude guy on the radio and told him the engine is toast! He was baffled, couldn't understand why! A few weeks later an almost brand new snowplow truck came in where the functions would just randomly do something unexpected. These were electric over hydraulic controls but our same genius "mechanic" decided the problem was the hydraulic fluid so he put in a jug of hydraulic oil conditioner and sent the truck on it's way. A brief time later the driver came on the radio saying the truck box went up all on it's own and the only way he could stop it was to shut down the truck. Turns out the wiring harness had chaffed somewhere and caused the valves to receive sporradic signals thus making the truck seem like it had a mind of it's own...
Just got this one last week! This is the rotating clutch carrier out of a 621E transmission. The planetary shaft actually ground it's way completely out of the carrier. That gear is about 25% shorter than its supposed to be but the bore is about 25% larger. :laugh
Many of my boss's favorite words after my suggestion of this not being the best tool for the job. "Well this is what we have to do the job so make it work." "You can do it your a good operator "
lol "the wall" Amerindependent, you gotta love those seat warmers mate. Their gonna put your kids thru college. You'll have to get a bigger wall. Just curious, any owner/operator fallout there or just by dudes that don't have to sign the cheques but hold their hand out @ the end of the week. Seen guys down here break stuff, run it out of fuel etc so they could go home early or go do their own thing whilst still getting paid for the day. When I went out on my own back in 2000 my old employers advice was "stay a one man band and you'll do O.K. when u become an employer people don't respect your gear, not to mention workers comp, super etc will kill u. Good advice.:drinkup
I don't know all the politics of it but we almost never see these types of failures with owner operator’s. :beatsme
This one isn't a mechanical failure, but a mechanic failure. Here's the story: We sold a dozer transmission to a customer back east. They called us and said they couldn't use it because the housing was cracked. They sent us the following pictures. We were surprised that something that obvious would get past so many people but couldn't argue with the photos so we tucked our tail between our legs and arranged for it to be shipped back to us. ...CONTINUED IN NEXT POST...
continued from previous post We got it back and immediately noticed that it didn't look much like a crack, but more of a scratch. We got out our penetrant and confirmed it wasn't a crack. Then we started wondering how the mark got there and called the customer back: "Sir, this housing isn't cracked. I think you're mechanic scratched it with a razor blade while removing the plastic covering." Needless to say, we were relieved of all blame.
now THAT was funny.
A Homer Simpson moment I think :lmao:cussing DOH
Haha thats funny kind of a strange place for a "crack"
That's exactly what we thought when they told us, but figured "I guess that's how we missed it, who would think to check there?" :lmao And another thing is, usually cracks start at a corner/edge, bolt hole, or something like that- this "crack" basically started and ended in the center of a virtually flat part.
You think that guy still has a job?