I can't be the only one to do infield repairs and service, so my question is how do you do it and deal with the weather, seems the worst days god has to offer are the days we do infield service and mainance and catch up so to speak, I've got portable space heaters and we have put up tarps to help keep the wind and rain out and park the trucks to block the wind but does someone have any better ideas. I've done oil changes, track work, electrical troubleshooting, parts replacement,you name it we do it and most jobs take less time than to load them up and haul them home and its not worth it just for simple stuff or their dead where they sit and we work on them when we can't do other work, but the weather is wearing on my body as well, is there a trick that I'd never thought of, we've even pulled a enclosed trailer when we take the part off to repair and do it in the trailer but that's rare. We work in the rain, wind, bitter cold, snow, dead of summer scorching hot and everywhere in between, this fall we blew a hose on one of my dozers and it was dead in its tracks so we had to do an infield repair, snowy, rainy windy, I almost froze to death in the mud under the dozer and all the while thinking, theres got to be a better way, we even dug a trench and pulled the dead dozer over it and crawled into the pit and covered the dozer with a tarp and then it strated to rain and filled the hole partly with water while I was under it and before I crawled out it was snowing, there are days I'd love to just quit and that ranked about as high as I've been in a long time. Mother nature tests all machines and in the extremes is where you end up having problems and also getting them back running again and ultimately having to work in those extremes is where we have problems, does everyone else wait until good weather comes, if I did that I'd never get anything done but fix in good weather. I know there are people smarter than me that have better ideas than I've come up with so lets hear them and how you tackle mother nature at her worst. Thanks in advance.
It looks like you are doing it the way I remember it being done.I have even broken down 24" rubber outside in the rain,actually remounting tires goes better when they are wet.I worked for several years for a trucking company with no shop to work in and most of my career as an operator had me doing repairs on the outside in the weather.It gets pretty ornery here in Connecticut in the winter and I worked year round as a rule.I don't know how I did it looking back on it.Ron G
Hi there Randy, I know what you mean about thoughs days! When i was doing my apprenticeshi, on days like that, one of the older guys would turn to you and say "so you want to be a heavy equipment mechanic" Also we dug a pit under a Komatsu D65 once to do the trans drive shaft, by the time the parts arrived we had a pond under the dozer and no other machines on site to drag it forward:Banghead Days like that you just think, to hell with this im of! but then theres day when you solve a complicated problem and your a great guy on site! You just gota take the rough with the smooth! Aiden
and all the time the serv. manager is sittlng in the heat or a/c barking to get done and get to the next job
Ive found that they key is staying dry and well fed/hydrated. I carry 3 of everything on my truck -winter/snow capable raingear -workboots(one pair is steel toe rainboots) -coveralls gloves(snowmobile mitts to latex and everything in between) actually about 10 different pairs -3 complete changes of clothes. I also carry enough food/water for 3 days. Tarps are a given around here,but the best way to stay warm and comfortable is to keep eating throughout the day and put on/take off layers of clothes as required so you dont sweat or get too cold. FWIW, I'd rather be out in the field than cooped up in the shop anyday.
Just comes with the territory, If it works outside, and breaks outside, you gotta work on it outside. With short time projects, busted hose, replace a starter, just gotta growl and get it done as best and quick as you can. I've worked plenty of hours under a tarped machine with a space heater blowing, that little bit of heated air makes a huge difference. As for the longer time projects, ones that will require a full day or two, I wonder if it would be possible to use a portable canopy as a better shelter. Just a thought. http://ezup4less.com/acatalog/10_X_20_EZ_UP_CANOPY_TENTS.html
Ive tried the pop up shelters....they're good for the cookshack when camping,but are just a nuisance when wrenching. They either get blown around or over, and tend to drip all of the water in one place (usually on your head or down the back of your neck) no matter how you set them up. I forgot to mention this little bag of tricks in my arsenal way better than a space heater or herman nelson...and it runs on the diesel you borrow from the custiomer's machine.
Cutting edge ...just curious whats that heater doin in a tennis court ? I thought them folks only play in good weather ...Never seen them play in the snow , Like football ..
Your guess is as good as mine....I just pulled it off the interweb instead of trudging out to the truck to take a pic.
the most miserable day of my life was spent pulling a charge pump outta the guts of a td25. it was -10 with a wind chill of -30f. i volunteered to do it so the oldtimer wrench wouldn't have to. dropping belly pans and getting coated in oil ain't all that fun when it's that cold.
I use several space heaters, one is a diesel fuel heater salamander style and other is a lp which uses a 20-30 lb cylinder I like that one the best because I can literally stuff it anywhere and its light when you use a long hose and let the tank sit on the ground and you can sit it in any position and its small enough to stuff into cramped areas. As for the tarp we use waterproof tarps and tie them to the machine as best we can and try to block the wind a little. As they say there is comfort in misery and its nice to know I'm not the only one who has those kinds of days.
When I was young the cold didn't bother me so much. Now days I start a fire or fire up a machine and use the warm radiator to get feeling back in my hands. We get plenty of water in this part of the country so we don't dig trenches. Most times we will drive a dozer up on blocking or cut up some wood to drive up on. Most of the work around here is on excavators anyway. Cutting Edge has it figured as much as anyone. Be prepared. If it is any consolation, at least we are still working while many operator's are cooling their heels at home.
For me, the pop-up has been a godsend. I have to do a lot of welding in the field, and in Seattle, it's usually raining. The canopy keeps me and the work dry. I did have to chase it across the job site once. But you can lean it so water sheds off in just a few spots. I had to change out a Rotech bearing in the bosses grapple during a thunderstorm. He was helping me and said "I shouldn't have laughed when you got this thing..." Another thing that helps is the portable shop floor- 2'X4' piece of plywood with a handle cut along one side. I carry two of them and put them down when working under a machine in the mud. Getting wet? Just a matter of attitude. "Ive got to do this and going to get wet". Getting the job started is usually 90% of the effort. I sure helps if it's the last job of the day and you can change into something dry and head home.
Working in the cold has never been a problem for me and I rather be making a cold field call than working in a warm shop. It sounds like Cutting Edge's service truck is stocked like mine was with extra clothing and such but he made no mention of having a microwave to heat up his lunch........ something I added to mine. As to the comment about service managers......... I had a few service managers who NEVER worked the trade but had their job because of "management experience" in some other job...... car lot manager, one owned a cleaning business, etc....... so they never understood the conditions we worked in or what we really did. The most effective way I found to deal with them once they started hounding me about job times is load his ass into my truck for a day. After a few hours of him being cold or wet or baking in the sun they are more than happy to head back into a heated/ ACed office and leave you alone.
I tried that,but found out quickly that the nukeboxes dont like being jostled around too much on logging roads. I do however have a stainless tray mounted beside the turbo under the hood and use a set of stainless containers for stews and soups...works like a charm. As for my foreman,he has 25 or so years in a service truck.....he don't whine about job times one bit.
We carry a lp gas stove and hook up a lp tank and heat food and also water so when we wash our hands its warm, mainly in colder weather, we carry pots and pans made out of stainless steel and we have even used it to heat bearings and things to get them to expand before putting them on, its kinda multipurpose that way. I keep telling my crew things will keep going as long as my generator works and I can plug in a heater. I'd never thought of the plywood thing before, we use it at home but never gave it a thought to take it along. We do a lot of land clearing and when we have a burn pile going we park the equipment close to that and use the heat off the pile to keep us warm, we've also made a burn pile before just to keep warm while working on equipment, I've been known to take hot coals and place on the ground and use a piece of tin and lay that on top of it and that way I have a heated mat to keep me warm, works great and just add more as it cools off, you need to be careful that it doesn't get out of hand but if you cover it with a sheet of tin bigger than coal bed it works great, works excellent to heat my tools as well, I've even used the stove to heat them up, place a small piece of tin over the burners and put the burner on low and put the tools on the tin to warm them up or place the tin above a pot of water and keep the heat a little higher, works great if you have some help to carry the tools back and forth to keep warm when not using them. Probably not osha approved but it works and when your cold anything is better than nothing. Sometimes nothing works and you just have to grin and bear it, the wind is the worst in my opinion or the cold steady rain that catches you off guard and your half done and want to finish up before giving up, and it only rains harder before your done.
i would gladly trade the heated shop i work in for some fresh air on a regular basis. the closest i get is a blown truck tire on the side of I-95 or a monthly service on a front end loader at a paper mill.
I've turned down the offer of a truck enough times that they have now quit asking. I like working in the shop for a number of reasons, I like the set hours. 3:30 and i am outa there. In the field you are expected to finish up with what you started on. The weather would not bother me but it is nice working inside in the hot summers and cold winters. In the shop we get into some really big projects. Not always just patching something to get it running again.
Sometimes, if your answer isn't relevant... it's okay not to post an answer.... just sayin...
Helped the mechanic from the dealership we had rented an excavator from change out a planatary drive on a 90K excavator in on a sunny but -10F day. Cleared the snow away best we could, put the carhardts on and go to town. That would be the most recent "cold weather" deal. Growing up one thing we did to supply income in the winter months was to use our welder to thaw water pipes. For years grandpa did all of the cities pipes as well as most all in the county. At the time it seemed like a big pain and you froze your tail off...but i miss those days. Worse weather is when plowing snow and having things stuck or break in the middle of a blizzard and HAVE to do it then. Spent plenty of nights out doing tug outs with the grader, Oshkosh and truck. Always interesting. Trbo
I agree with ya Lee. I've worked for near all my life outside in some trade, did equipment field service since the 80's. It was interesting work, sometimes you have to be creative in the field to do repairs. But I got tired of being BBQ in the summer and a popsickle in the winter. I kinda like being in my shop. :yup BTW, 1st Cav?
I been trough all the above in my 15 yrs as service mechanic for various outfits, i quit that BS and went ranching,I figgured if i have to live with constant missery i may as well create my own,now at least i can pick the the conditions and the weather to work in or not.Much more gratefying.
Lets face it when it gets cold it takes longer. Before I struck out on my own, I too dragged the boss along with me took him through the worst of it to show him what it was like. When we got done his shinny shoes were full of mud (didn't have boots on) and his pretty suit was on the way to the cleaners or the trash, one or the other.
The one saying that I have that I tell myself constantly is.. If it were easy everyone would do it and they would not need me. LOL Now with that said I have been in North Texas my entire working career. It was in the mid 70s here on Thursday. But is has cooled down to the low 50s during the day now. So I have not had to deal with the extreme colds that some of yall do. I have been in a field truck since the mid 90s. I now own my own repair business and do mostly small in and out jobs. Mostly just a couple hour jobs. Thanks for the good ideas in this thread for when the weather here in N Texas gets extreme. JJ
motrack You have any piture of how you truck is laid out? Would like to see it. Happy new year.
I dont have pics of the truck with compartment doors open. The truck shown was my last truck from my last employer....... 13ft Maintainer body with 10,000LB crane and hyd drive air compressor on a Hino truck. It was a nice unit and I was allowed a lot of input as to how it was speced. It replaced a 1997 Ford L series with a 11ft Maintainer body, 10,000LB crane and hyd compressor. Both were nice trucks to work out of but the L series had more cab room. I removed the passanger seat from both trucks to give me room for the milk crates of tech manuals I carried and allow me room to warm up 5gal oil buckets in the winter........ made for easier pouring. Management always questioned why I removed the seat....... Always told them that superman works alone and so do I.....lol. I was slowly switching to service CDs and retiring paper manuals to free up space. Surly do miss the adventure of heading out in the morning with my service truck and thermos of coffee. Just a few days ago I saw my old Ford L series truck at the corporate office of my X employer in Cambridge Oh. Its setting on the back lot with weeds growing around it but they would not even price it to me.......
I'm still fairly new to the business, but ended up in a service truck because no one else in the shop wanted to be in the truck. I think I get to learn alot more working in the field than in the shop. Plus I get out of doing some of busy work the other new guy has to do. It seems like the day goes faster in the field, too. I found this site a couple days ago and it seems like there is alot good info on here.
might sound wierd but i love goin to something tore up ..When I'm there I got one problem and one man tellin me what happend ...so I just say " whats most important boss " and things get rolling...one man one problem ..
I've been in a truck since 92, the last 14 on my own, the last 7 of those contracted to large dairy farm. The dairy has turned into a lot more management then repairing, I miss just showing up, repairing and leaving, always a good feeling when you got something done and leaving a job. I would guess now that there is at least a 6 month back log of repairs and no end in sight of new problems. Owners show up at RB auctions and buy what ever is least expensive, and have no prior knowledge of working with equipment. The steady checks are nice but i have lost something along the way.
I hate RB auction equipment. The owners of my company love it. They buy the cheapest junk and it breaks down at the worst possible time. Then you show up in the truck and they want to know why it isn't fixed an hour later. I've come to the conclusion that there is a reason a piece of equipment is at auction, and it usually isn't because some one wanted to give you a good deal.
they have bought 4 980c's from RB, I think it would take someone full time just to keep them running. The dairy has one full time mechanic and a full time lube/fuel/helper, plus me. You can't throw a rock without hitting a $8hr (operator). 60 pieces of equipment and a 40x40 plastic quonset hut, when I ask why no real shop, they say no money. 2 RB auctions last year to the tune of 180k, but they drive there in a prius so that helps out.
Sure is nice to hear that equipment ends up far away from me, maybe do some consulting work for them and go along and help out with a prebuy and go over the machines before they spend the money at an auction, that way you have made some money off them helping them pick out what you'll end up fixing, that way you can weed out the lemons ahead of time, just tell them to bid on these because those will take three times the purchase price to keep running, go about it as a management thing instead of the repair junk thing later on. You'll make money off it both ways and can guide them somewhat into a direction instead of just letting them pick out the nicest spray paint overhaul they can find. I've been lucky over the years I've bought a lot of machines off auctions and as of yet never got a lemon or many surprises, granted I've looked at a lot of junk but ended up with good stuff but it takes a lot of time to go over machines one at a time and weed out the junk, most auctions used to give out names and numbers of those consigning the machines and I'd call the sellers and get a feel for the reason behind the sale ahead of time and went after the ones that were quitting or retiring or ran smaller operations and had a more hands on approach to their business but the auctions quit doing this and now its buyer beware. I usually pull oil samples and run tests and pressure checks and things like that on machines I'm interested in. As for the 8 dollar an hour operator, those are referred to as drivers around here operators know something, drivers know nothing but that theres a steering wheel and how to turn it. There is no cure for that and never has been and I hope this dairy isn't your only customer or you base your business on it and I hope you make sure their bill is paid up in full all the time. With the price of milk the last few years I'm surprised any bank would let them loose at an auction to bring anything home, even if it were junk.
I have gone to auctions before and tried to give some input, the owner just buys things when he gets bored of sitting. After he buys a couple things then he has a reason to get up and go look at his new "prize's". When something would turn up as junk I would get blamed for being there and not telling him is was junk. I have always handed in a bill on the 15th and paid on the 20th, that's the only reason I'm still there, plus I have a key to the office so I just go get the check and don't have to go thru the whole lets present you with your check so you can say please and thank you. Before here I worked for 7 small dairies, working for true owner operator's was much more enjoyable. 2 went under and collecting money was much more challenging, but these people really appreciated you helping them out and I enjoyed helping out. These big places just hire who ever, the people tear stuff up because they don't care. Owners sit on the phone and ask me if I teach the "drivers" what they have done wrong so it doesn't happen again, and bye the way "is it fixed yet". Maybe its just something ever generation goes thru.
Cold! Cold! here is a pic of a very cold day. Just Me, MY service truck, and cold hard broke iron. View attachment 73043
Unless that big loader has to feed cows this evening , it will just have to wait for a better day lol..
One of the reasons why I'm glad I'm no longer in a service truck, well, only occasionally now. Used to...lived in one.
If it was easy everyone would be doing it!!!
Boy that brings back some memories- - - - - - - my teeth started chattering and I lost feeling in my fingers and toes just thinking about them again.
i love to be in a service truck you get to see the country side the job has great days and its bad but its all better than in a building somewhere
I was thinking the same thing koldsteele!! Just out of interest what temp was it that day?
I thought of this thread and had a little chuckle today. Did a little welding in Renton and brought my trusty canopy because it was raining. I went to setup the canopy and right off the bat, one of the cross pieces broke. I managed to get it over the bucket anyway and turned around to get something and saw the dang thing flipping past me- little windy. Got it set back up and hung some chain on the leeward side. Well, it kept me and the work dry. Fixed it when I got back to the shop. Should be good for another 3 years. I need to remember the chains next time.
Got to keep them balls warm ya know.
I've been doin field repair for three years now and love it. Though I do like some quiet time in the shop alone once and while to. I thought about packing a canopy with me before. Currently I use and old canvas tarp to through over the top of me or down on the ground to crawl in the snow or the russian thistle. Just found this site today. Been at it for 5 hours reading thru the different threads. I lot of field calls I get involve repairs to gett the cows fed or the hay baled. quackattak, you've probably seen some our hay pass thru the dairy you work for.
This was my first winter in the service truck. I picked a hell of a year to start turning wrenches professionally! The first snowstorm of the season i spent 12 hours in the shop getting trucks ready, the next 12 hours plowing, and then the next 10 hours fixing busted plows and welding in the snow. Almost every snow storm this season was 20+ hours straight of wrenchin' and weldin'. In those conditions i figured out that its the little things that make all the difference. A change of clothes, a thermos full of soup, and some strategically placed hand warmers make things much more bearable. We went through 4 mechanics this winter, and 2 of 'em only lasted a week!
We work on the jobsite all the time in all kinds of weather, we are in Ontario, Canada and have just had one brutal winter here. you need to gear up like cutting edge and motrack say you have to be prepaired. but there is times when you have to make a decision cause some jobs in the winter can be done cheaper with the added expense of floating the machine in. I too am getting a little older now and feel the elements more than I used too. I have trouble hiring help because alot of new guys want to sit in the warm truck while I am out there busting my chops in a snowstorm. It is raining out now and if I got to go then I got to go. In the summer I would gladly trade the shopwork in for fieldwork. Remember some guys ( hydro line workers etc ) got to work outside all the time and if the hydro goes down in a blizzard they got to go work outsie in a blizzard
View attachment 74724 [/QUOTE] that looks like a jewell...dont see many of them those little covers can be a life saver, winter or summer. keeps you dry in the winter and keeps your tools from gettin so hot you cant pick em up in the summer
its part of our job we just deal with it
Well my hat is off to u, I do just what u do,only in sebring florida and surrounding counties, when i find a bumper sticker that says " BE NICE TO A MECHANIC" But laying all jokes aside it has takin a toll on me too,hope your arms dont look like mine! I have scars on top of scars. and to top that off is someone gives u crap over crap that was caused by the chain reaction of the problems. Im 49 going on 79 , I got to where someone tells me that their a mechanic / I say sorry for your luck! I will babble some more if somebody will listen! they would probaly say are ya done yet! dont that aggrivate the crap out of ya! good luck! gotta go now that im depressed now, I thought I was the only one out there! NEVER BEEN IN SNOW COULDNT IMAGINE WORKING IN IT! LATER!
Thabull, some of us might be in snow and cold temps but last night on tv I watched the nature program on snakes in the florida everglades and the boa constrictors they are having problems with there, no way on earth would I work or live where there are big snakes, alligators, that many poisonous snakes of different kinds, spiders or a host of other things to contend with like you have to deal with, at least when its cold out anything that slithers or is poisonous is asleep for the winter and I don't need bars on my basement windows to keep the gators out of my basement, I've had relatives that lived down there and they had a lot of problems with gators in the house and swimming pool. Anyhow welcome to the forum, pull up a chair and sit down to shoot the bull, there's always someone listening to a fellow wrench turner. As for working in the snow, what gets me is the wind chill and for some reason, just before it snows when I'm out working in it, it always seems to rain first so everything is wet, damp, and windy then it snows, so I'm already chilled to the bone long before the snow makes it to the scene. One time I was out working and later when I got home I talked to a friend who was in a warm climate and we determined I was working in weather that was 150 degrees colder than where he was vacationing at, it was almost 90 degrees where he was and it was -60 below wind chill where I was outside working trying to get a machine running that had jelled up, one of the coldest days of working outside I ever had.
I think I will steer clear of that place too!
Your job sounds like mine. I have been over the road tec for 23 yrs. It definately has its days ,but the pay is good and at the end of the day Im proud to say I did that job . When it is very cold you have to pace yourself and stay warm. A small heater is a must.For every bad job there is an easy job. We are part of a different breed of tecs.
I have no end of respect for you guys that pull wrenches in the most miserable weather Mother Nature can throw at you. I have seen you guys in the Arctic fix the darndest things at - 40 or worse with the wind howling. Meanwhile office staff think itès way too cold to go outside for a smoke! My hats off to you gentlemen...you deserve every penny you get and then some!
Thanks tripper_174
i've been wrenching for 25+ years from central fl to the windy city, and have been a field mechanic for close to 1/2 of those years. ive welded in florida in 120* heat, had cover plates melt in my hood, and shattered filter plates from sweating on them. coldest day i had was wind chill -60, broken key in an ign switch. that was the day they decided to get it repaired.... it had been broken for weeks it was too cold for the operator to be outside, but it was just fine to call us out. i'm on call 24/7 from dec1st - april 1st, those are usally some nasty conditions to be working in. calls are always after 6 or 7 PM, (after working all day) blowing & drifting snow, sleep, and generally f*cked up driving conditions. i've had a couple service managers that didnt "get it", fortunately they didnt last long. currently i'm training my service manager to take another service truck in a couple months, them we'll have to train a new service manager :drinkup
I traded in my summer job for a winter job this year and recieved the mildest winter I have seen in my life as an added bonus. Didnt have to put on insulated coveralls all winter long.
What was the real temperature though? Windchill is really misleading, as it's not really that cold, it only feels like it is.
If I recall that day it was about -20 temperature and the wind chill was -60, anything below zero with a 40-50 mph wind is cold when your standing outside working with wrenches and most times bare hands working with cold jelled fuel filters. That machine was out in an unprotected field where it died, the bad part on that one was it was about 500 feet from the road and the snow was too deep to drive up to it, I had to walk back and forth to warm up and get more wrenches out of my truck that was parked on the road. My friend called later that night to check on the weather back home and thats when we did the comparison, he was sitting on a sandy beach sweating getting a tan and I was back home trying not to freeze to death during a winter storm.
A couple years ago i was working in some -40 below weather and a oldtimer asked me were my parachute was as i was giving him the deer in the headlight look he explained how nice they work. That day i went and bought a couple from the military surplus store. All you do is throw them over what you are working on fire up the salamander heater and get to work with one less layer of clothing.
pipeline mech dont feel bad i had never heard of that either but its a necessary part of my truck in the winter now
I fully agree, my point was just that it wasn't really -60. If you want real fun, try working in an actual temp of -52 with a windchill that makes it feel like it's -78.
Not thanks alco, I don't like cold weather and why I started this thread in the first place, what to do keep warm and how to endure the elements while having to work out in it, not particularly by choice, but more out of necessity, just what were you fixing at nearly 80 below and why?
Randy, that's kind of my point, it wasn't 80 below, it was only 52 below. You can't factor windchill into the temperature. When it gets that cold, we aren't really fixing anything, just keeping the operation running and trying to stay warm. We can't shut down, so on we trudge.
When it's Real cold the priority is making sure the shovel house heaters are working, tanners gas canisters are full and grease settings on the newer equipment is correct. Also we could spend allot of time starting and warming Detroits up. You won't catch me up a drill mast or up on a shovel boom for long when the wind is blowing. Other things like accumulators play up, air system freezing etc etc. Mind you when it warns up to say -5C the real problems start with moisture in the air.
here what l use in the rainy season
reading this thread reminded me why im such a fair weather little girl. Its 46 degrees outside and raining and don't even want to bother putting pants on to go put new glow plugs in my MB. and its in the garage.
My hat is off to you guys for sure. We were installing Graco lube systems on a bunch of HD465 Komatsu's, in Indonesia, last year... 100 deg everyday. I had swampy jeans going on... couldn't drink the water (it's worse than Mexico's)... it was amazing none of us Yanks passed out. Done the same in wind turbines in India 105 deg, 210 feet up in the air. 5 of us in a little hub, turning wrenches... same issue with the water, except I had to give in (and later gave out). That was miserable... but, I think I'd rather have that than the cold temps you guys are talking about. I live in Detroit, which gets fairly cold, but I try to schedule myself out in the winter.
I thinks that sounds more miserable than freeszing temperatures and wind chills. you can give me -40 over 100 degrees every day.
I work for myself, so I will work on anything anywhere, anytime, and in any weather. In New England we have days over 100 in the summer and -20 days in the winter, we get the best of it.
Hey Lee!