Back from 3 week break, the JCB telehandler has been down for a week, no forward or reverse, So today I found them the correct wiring diagram etc as they had been looking at the wrong one, then eventually told them the process they needed to take to find the fault, it turns out that the operator, who has been on it for over 6 months forgot to take the park brake off so it would not drive, then called the electrician who managed to hot wire it and get reverse and they got it back to the workshop and pulled all the dash to bits etc etc, looking for a fault that was not there, all that was wrong was the park brake was on and the operator had a brain fade. And the PC200 is bogged in a swamp, but if it rains heavy it should apparently only wet the cab a bit it should not reach the engine, we are on an island where it rains most every day!!
Know the feeling .......... sometimes I just feel like ointhead I'm sure you do too.
Its out now!
I bet that made you feel good to see out. I know I would sure hate to see mine sitting down in a hole like that.
I had a qualified mechanic and the operator out at the machine as a warning light was coming on and the machine was cutting back to idle, The mechanic told me it was the oil light, It was actually a water temp light, neither of them noticed that the temp gauge was up in the red !! The radiator is blocked from its excursion in the swamp, it is heading back to the workshop at idle so it will take them a while, just another day!
Damn Bala that's rough. Don't you have some shovels they can operate for a while? When they break those it's not near as expensive to replace...:cool2
I'm with CM on this one. Maybe they are operating the wrong piece of equipment. And no disrespect intended, but your use of the word "qualified" regarding the mechanic who didn't check the guages might give me second thought... But look on the bright side- The JCB parking brake passed its service test!!
Apart from one or two blokes I would not call any of the people who drive anything here good operators, I say they are just drivers. Qualified means you have a piece of paper, even the dictionary says that, has nothing to do with being any good! Only the switch that cuts out drive was working, the park brake disc pads are worn out the brake itself was not holding at all. Have a great day all, mine will be normal!! cheers
Glad I'mnot the onl one with those days like.... employee on the phone- "hey the skidloader peddals won't come unlocked and it won't go forward or backwards." me- "did you put on the seat bealt and switch off the parking brake?" employee- "ya still nothing." me- "huh, did you latch the seat belt all the way?" employee- "oh, ok it's fixed now thanks" me- "grrrrrrrr :Banghead:Banghead:Banghead"
Dumb & Dumber strike again ............ To me there is a big difference between an operator and a "lever puller". Some lever pullers will never be operators as long as they have a hole in their ***. I take great delight now in repeating what my boss told me when I was hired for my first job after I qualified. "That's a fine looking piece of paper you have, now go out and prove you can do it in the real world". So true.
yetserday, dipper ram seal on the backhoe leaking, it was done not long ago, seal in backwards, today after filter change on JCB telehandler, running poorly, seal missing from fuel separator bowl, sucking air, its relentless, I could run a daily diary on the stuff that goes on but you cant dwell on it to much but they are not bad blokes and do work very hard a lot of the time, they just dont really know what they are doing
The question then would be, are they learning anything from their mistakes? Cause if they aren't.... :cool2
One of my first jobs was working for a tree service company. It was a small company, but the boss did have an employee training program- which was all on video tape (and we had to watch it on our own time). It sounds like your men might benefit from a few hours of continuing education. There are equipment safety programs where they cover a lot of useful information (that everyone groans about when they're watching it because they already KNOW it all). There must be something on video about basic maintainence that you could show your guys that would serve as a primer if not a good refresher.
VERY VERY VERY slowly, sort of, No not really, they are set in there ways and it is very herd to change. As far as watching videos in there own time they would have to stay back and do it on site as they live in grass huts and do not have power, some have battery dvd players! As for training, my safety training was not getting through so i went to a safety briefing every morning, even after I have been here 8 months and have been preaching asafety glasses since day one I walked passed a guy yesterday using a wire wheel on the bench grinder with no glasses. I have had numerous sessions on one topic after 2 injuries from using pipe on breaker bars, I have set up a special modified pipe to be used only on a 1" breaker bar, my last attempt was to type up instructions, sit with one of the senior guys and go through it with him, I presented it in English, he then presented it in local language, the lesson, "The only extension pipe to be used in this workshop is that one and only on the 1" breaker bar", no other bars or pipes, VERY NEXT DAY i noticed the senior person with a group of others with a pipe on a crappy sliding bar. Nothing gets through, every day is groundhog day, If I stay out in the workshop then I can get some sort of order happening, but if i am not here it all reverts back. Lifes good
Usual answer to the question "Why are you doing it that way?" "That's the way we've always done it" .............. they don't see acts as unsafe the way we do. Simple as that. We go overboard (in my personal opinion we are anal, but that's just me) on safety. But you can see how little of what we preach/insist on sinks in when our workers go out the gate in an evening after work and straight away break the same safety rules that they comply with on the property. For example we don't allow anyone to ride in the back of a pickup truck on site, yet these guys will happily thumb a lift outside the gate and jump on the back of the first pickup that stops without a care in the world as to whether it has decent tyres, brakes, or steering (most don't). Life is cheap as far as they are concerned, I've no doubt where Bala is will be exactly the same.
Yair . . . are you in PNG Bala? Cheers.
Yes but only for a few more months, heading back to FNQ. On a brighter note, the swamp driving PC200 had 2 short term problems from its adventure, overheating, but thats from blocked radiator and oil cooler so thats easy, the other is error code CA428, basically problem in fuel water sensor wiring, thought this may be an epic, was up to stage 2 on the list of checks, found the engine controller, thought that its in a crap spot, then noticed a 2 pin plug that did not look right, pushed it in and errror fixed, all to easy! sometimes
Yair . . . I did a couple of years based out of Kiapit pushing a road towards Madang. Turn off was just on the Lae side of the Leron. The boys could be a worry But I wouldn't have missed it for quids. My brother was headstockman on Leron Downs when Placer owned the place. Cheers.
Ahhh PNG The K factor. Dispela im kiwi himthink dempelas wantoks bilong you. You telim just liklik pipe. Bigpela em pipe nogot, Im bugarup. Well something like that, worked for ok tedi mining back in the late 80s doing same as you ! Somethings you just never forget.
For those reading this thread who have never been to PNG you may find these photos of interest ......
Yair . . . good one Nige . . . note the tilly's got some helper coils to cope with all the weight of the orli. LOL. Cheers.
Must be a Toyota with a 20R in it. Those things just won't die. Nige, Bala, and the others who have to deal with the kind of "help" pictured here, I feel your pain. At least here, if someone screws up much, you can fire him and get better help. There, what you have is what you get, and it won't get any better.
Never forget once. Boss tells the boys load all that rubbish and wood on the ute, take it down to the dump and set fire to it. Off go the bros; alot later they walk back to camp, boss asks why you walking wheres the ute ? Yes you can guess. Boss forgot to tell them to unload the ute before setting fire to the rubbish ! Flip side of the coin; We had a native boy there a white man had taught to weld his name was francis. Saw him doing some welds on big heavy plate with our miller 400 diesel welder. downhand with low hydrogen rods in the handpiece. But in his other hand was another rod; and he had the amps cranked up and was dipping the other rod in the weld puddle; just like gas welding; and welding with 2 rods. ! ! He welded a broken boom on a pc300 back together once. We set everything up, but he did the welding. !
Got a message while I was on break recently, D68 has water in the transmission, I ask: how is this so, it was changed recently, answer: it sucked it in the seals, when they went through water I ask: how? Unless the breathers are blocked it will not suck in the seals, and the breathers are new Answer: the water was 2 to 3 meters deep,
Nothing suprises me over there. I saw a D355A going through a river, water was over top of brake pedals, bro had his feet on the dash. Still don,t know why the fan never went through the radiator. Heard another guy hopped out of a 992c to race to hop into meal truck. In his haste never dropped bucket or put on brakes. machine sat there idling away until gravity just got it rolling. away it went down the hill. And as luck would have it behold another 992 parked at the bottom of the hill. T boned it fair in the centre. Fckd both. Not sure if both were written off or 1 made out of 2. That bro got sacked over safety breach could have killed someone. Just as well it was a gold mine !
I haven't been to PNG but those pictures remind of my short stint in Kenya back in the '90's. I road in a few 'yota's and other wore out vehicles, but nothing that bad. Isn't PNG where the head hunters are?
I was in Central Africa for a few years and I never saw anything that bad. Close maybe, but not that bad ...........
I didn't see anything quite that bad either - or rode in it when I was there. Although when your only option is walking, a man gets a little less selective...:cool2 I saw some crazy things living in Central America for a few years, like a 24.5 tire with a metal plate and screws to repair a sidewall tear and an old Snyder cabover truck that had been previously wrecked hauling ass down the PanAmerican HWY. This truck didn't have a windshield, due to the rollover incident it probably had in the States and the top of the cab was hanging over the front tires by a foot or so. The driver was squinting and holding on to the steering wheel with dear life, as he barreled down the road with a 40' sea can in tow... Don't get me started on trying to get a sewer system up and running with pump tanks and local help. Electricity, water (sewage), the total lack of craftsmanship, inferior equipment or the lack there of and understanding that electricity and water don't jive....:Banghead I feel your pain Bala, although I probably had more qualified help.
This could go on for ever, In the Torres strait Islands, I have seen a hilux diesel engine run low on oil and spun a big end, was knocking it head off, you could here if for miles,they then drove it like that until it threw the rod, Toyota coaster bus, rear shackle bush was worn out then they drove until the shackle pin totally destroyed the bush housing on the chassis Small truck tailshaft Universal worn but kept driving until it went through the Yoke and the tailshaft fell off Rule is if it will go you drive it!, reactive maintenance is the only kind! Prevent is not a word that is really used! Its all good, how boring would life be if you never got remote experience like this,
The 992 story from D6Merv reminds me of a scraper story. I showed up one morning while the mechanic was firing up scrapers. There was a fleet of TS-24B's onsite, and I counted 12 in the ready line. I mentioned to the foreman it looked like he was going to run 12 that day. He looked at me and said no, there are 13. I told him that was funny, I had only seen 12, and he swore there were 13. From where we had the conversation, they were not all visible, but we could see the repair yard, so I counted backward from the number he and I agreed were onsite. I said how many we could see in the repair area, plus the one dead one that apparently got left in the fill area at the bottom of the hill below the parking area, and that left 12 in line. He looked at me funny and told me they did NOT leave any in the fill last night. I said that was wrong, as there was one down there. I took him and showed him the one left halfhazzardly in the fill, and he again swore they hadn't left any there. We went to investigate, and figured out that it was the lead unit from the line up. The can was down, but when the mechanic started it and the ride system came up, it was not down hard anymore, and it rolled off down the hill on its own. We were very lucky there was no people, cars, or other equipment parked there. Also, the mechanic was very lucky it did not roll off until after he was done climbing up and down the rear tire to check and start the rear engine. We had a meeting with everyone about not parking on hills, and making sure it is securely parked, not just resting on the ground.
Usual handbrake in png is a rock placed under tyre. Never seen anything so ridiculous asa man putting a 6 inch stone behind tyre of a 30t dumptruck. No wait at mcmurdo antartica i saw some of the us navys finest personnell trying to start a air compressor. Being smartarse kiwis we told them to push start it. Lo and behold 3 went round the back to push and the other kept turning the key. We just looked at the sky in disbelief !
Yair . . . When it comes to mechanical things the folks in PNG are "different" and anyone who has spent time there will have their stories. The plantation where I worked had about fifty tractors growing peanuts, mostly Fergi 35's, 65's and a few Fords. I have seen them come in with the tappet covers and starter motors held on with vines . . . they didn't even need fencing wire to do a "fix". Cheers.
The boys here think it is shame if they need to ask how to do something, thats why they stuff so much stuff up, yesterday I wanted my best? guy to fit a neutral(clutch) start switch to a tractor, the original had been taken off, i could tell he did not want to, and as it turns out he did not know how to wire it in and did not want to ask. But the new switch did not come with a nut, so I told him to find one. He came back with the switch and said we dont have one, I say ***, the switch is sealed in one plastic bag and that is sealed in another plastic bag and its not opened!! I found a die to fit the switch and told him if you cant find a nut, make one, they do that often, well low and behold 5 minutes later he had found a nut for the switch, thats when I realised he did not know how to wire it in, if they would get over this reluctance to ask for help they would be so much better off, and the other culture thing, and its goes from managers all the way down it that they will not teach anyone. If you teach someone he may come and take your job!, they try there best NOT to explain anything they know to anyone else.
The one question you never ask ..... "Do you know how to do this?" because you know they know the answer you want to hear is "Yes". So you have to ask the question in another way like "Explain to me how you are going to do this?" Oh the joys .....................
He wired up the neutral start and did ask me to check it before he put it back together, It was wired ign on through the clutch switch so to start you turn the key on and when you push the clutch in it started, I suggested that perhaps we should change it!
It might help ........!!
Todays classic, Radio call from backhoe driver, low hydraulic oil, me, your not far away drive it back it will be fine, 20 minutes later, from driver, he was half way back, Im begging and praying will you please come and look at it, Me: Ok So i get there and its got steam rising out of it, leaking radiator hose, so I said to him I will take you back, on the way i said the Hyd oil is ok, I had looked at the sight glass Driver: no it is in the red of the gauge Me; thinking the sight glass has no red, and it has no hyd gauge, ask him, where is this hydraulic gauge, is it on the dash, driver: yes and the needle is in the red telling me it is low on oil. As i have now had one mechanic and 2 operators get confused about warning symbols and coolant temp gauges in the last 3 weeks it is obvious that the manufacturers are making it all to hard? Need a sat system so I can monitor machines from the office.