How many people here utilize field repair services? I am looking into starting a company that would service souther NY, northern NJ and western MA and CT specializing in heavy equipment repair. Line boring, hard facing, and any other fabrication based repair would be the focus. I am a mechanical engineer but my heart lies working with my hands and have been a welder and machinist before becoming an engineer. Eventually I like to expand to all forms of on site machining as well as specialized repair services that require engineering design. All advice and/or opinions are greatly appreciated.
Site repair service I have a service truck, and do mechanical repairs and welding/fabrication, and I stay real busy. I get $75 an hour, Cat dealer gets $130 an hour, most of their guys are pretty green. We have a local guy here who does only welding and line boring, he stays very busy also. Seems like he had to spend ALOT of money to tool up his operation, but his work shames that offered by the Cat dealer, and he doesn't mess around with "get you by tooling". I will say when I started out, I was willing to work on anything to get my name out there. This business is very reputation oriented. I still work on some unusual stuff, but with the building slump, being versatile keeps me going. Right now it is a buyers market for service trucks, welders etc. My first service truck was an old GMC pickup with an air compressor in the back, LOL. Now I have an F550, with all the "right stuff". Good luck.
Field Repairs Just to add some thought here. Up here,on major breakdowns, of equipment , they are usually sent back to, town or base of operations. Where they have the equipment and facilities to do the work. Most big outfits have their own, well equiped shops to perform all their needed work. The smaller outfits farm out their repairs, to others. Rarely is a major repair done in field. Unless in a remote jobsite, where it is impossible (transporting cost ) to send to town and back.
Thanks for the input guys. Bolt thrower, like you said reputation is everything as is having the right equipment. This sort of philosophy is something that I really would like to go for. Quality work with quality tools to earn a quality reputation. From other research I have done it seems like that is what pays off the most. Do you know the guy who does line boring gets an hour for that?
I think his basic rate is around $80/hr, But he has an employee he will bring along on big jobs, and I think his rate doubles for the two of them. Like I said, he doesn't mess around....his Peterbilt service truck has 2 lincoln commander 600 amp diesel airpak welders on it, so both guys can airarc or weld simultaneously. As far as big field jobs go around here, I have done several engine in frames, transmission repair/rebuilds, final drives, etc. All in the field. Real estate here is so expensive, especially commercial zoned, I could never afford to have a shop for just me. I'd have to have a bunch of employees and get really competitive, too many head aches. Keep it small, thats my philosophy.
The heavy equipment repair business would be a real smart move. Mechanics are in dire need now. It seems no one wants to do it. I have 2 mechanics I pay them both master mechanic rate and they work all the hours they want to. Just make sure you pick a good customer base. Don't extend yourself to far with parts. And take on any job you can to get your name out there.
hey man having done a few in frames my self I'm curious why it had to be done in the field? was it on large equipment or a truck?
Well, it didn't have to be done in the field. But look at it this way. I buy a $30,000 service truck to work at the customers site and charge him $75.00 an hour to build his engine. OR. I buy a $600,000 shop, the customer brings his machine to me, and I charge him $75.00 an hour to build his engine. Its really the difference between me making a living, or going bankrupt, do you see? P.S I was in your neighborhood last month, (Boone)
Service Work, It must be great to work in the U.S.A. in the U.K. things are so "not the same" I have been working as a freelance mechanic for about 31 years, most often where the Bulldozer or excavator knacker's up that is the place it gets fixed, obviously if the piece of kit can limp into a workshop, or clamber onto a Lowloader it might be done off site, but this is not the common thing with the work I seem to get offered, I have to use a 4+4 L/Rover to get to most of my jobs so it would be pointless draging around a load of heavy service kit all the time, lots of mechanics fill panel vans like Ford Transits to overload with tools and cannot drive off the hard road to the breakdown, I get myself and my spanners right upto the machine and repair it in the mud. tctractors
Well, I just paid $495.00 for an insured driver to haul my 580 to its destination.....would have been the same had I hauled it to the shop for a repair. I would opt for the service in my area( Maine). A grand goes along way towards repairs and not transport. Of course the larger equipted outfits would be able to haul at cost, and may have mechanics on site... you may find your niche to be working with smaller outfits, or maybe some understaffed larger ones. Time retraints laid to most contractors are on your side......MHO....Ross
Tctractors, I am curious how large of a job you would tackle working out of a land rover with hand tools. I realize you could substitute an excavator or similar machine for an Autocrane, but what about such necessities as an air compressor, air tools, welder, torch etc? I know it can be done, but does the customer really get his moneys worth from a guy changing cutting edges on a D10 with hand tools? Many times even an impact wrench cant take cutting edge bolts out, they have to be burned off. Again, just curious, would love to see some pics of the work you do. I've seen some pics of Cat dealer service trucks in Europe, seen alot of Mercedes vans and Toyota/Nissan trucks. What does (Finning?) use for service trucks? After using an Autocrane all these years I don't think my back would let me go to work without one!
makes perfect sense to me, i was just curious... yeah Boone is just up the road, got lots of friends goin to school over there.
In the fourth year of my business. Started with a service truck and a quanset hut for a shop. Built a shop now and a newer service truck with 3 employees. Still trying to figure out what cash flow is. Dont sell your self to cheap just to get the business. Finally charging now what I should have charged to begin with. Dont be afraid to say no to those projects that your not set up to do. Dont be the one that buys the $2000 tool to do the $1000 dollar job. Quality work at a fair price and you will have all the work you can handle. Make good decsion,s somebody once said something I remember everyday "Many shops were busy until they day they went broke" Its more than just finding the work.
Working from a van Bolt thrower, I love to read your treads and comments as they always have a workman like style that I love, your advice about keeping it simple with low costs/overheads is sound, the jobs I tackle on site consistantly would be engine rebuilds both in frame or total strip outs, the largest motor I have rebuilt was a Cummins 50 litre v16. Common one for me is the Cummins 1710-TA 28 at 28 litre, these motors have a lot of valves to grind etc, on the Cat front the little D6H/R is the popular victim for me, with anything from a torque converter, engine or transmission needing a bit of a sort out, my speciality is Final drives on any size tractors with D8H/Ks as a good earner for me, I also love swapping out slew rings on excavators, I dont use any fancy stuff for this just a few sleepers (rail line timbers) and a couple of bottle jacks, I have posted loads of pictures on 2 other sites, perhaps I out to try a few snaps on this site, I always seem to work alone and utilize other euipment on site to lift the big bits about, finaly no one asks me to swap a cutting edge, they would do that crap themselves. tctractors
Thanks for the reply TCtractors, Sounds like you do some serious field work. I have rebuilt several low sprocket finals on old Cats myself. First one I ever did was a D9H. I assume you must have the Cat dealer service dept. come out and pull the sprockets when disassebling one? Change the bearings without a torch? What do you do for compressed air/power tools? I would be very interested in looking @ the pictures you have posted on other sites, any hints on finding them? As for changing cutting edges, I know what you mean, I would rather leave that kind of work to the younger guys. The reason I ask about power tools is that I would never dream of doing alot of jobs without them. Especially jobs with alot of big bolts, (988 brake job?!). Obviously not all jobs require power tools, but I wouldn't care to torque Cat 3400 main bearing caps in frame without a 3/4 drive gun. After the torque -turn they wind up being 1000 Ft. Lbs. What about pulling a smashed up belly pan off a big dozer, definitely an impact or torch job. Another job I'd never dream of doing out of a van would be an equalizer bar on a big dozer. Thats bad enough with a fully outfitted service truck! Cheers and be safe!
a few of my pix see if this works
Pix heres a few more
Getting it Done. Bolt thrower, I would not use the Cat service for anything other than laptop stuff that I am not realy into in any great depth, I have better sprocket/pin pulling gear than most other large Cos' and I seem to be sharp at getting the job done, and know all the tricks on all the older tractors from the first D8s onward, the e/Beam swap out is something I do about 3 times a year on H/drives, some people remove one track frame to get at it, I just drive the tractor up on timber, then place timber under the blade and press down the blade to get the pins out, then press down the blade some more to whip out the Beam, then pull it out from the back of the tractor, the Beam is heavy but it slides underneath easily, I then use 2 pull lifts to get it up to where it belongs,its about a days work by myself if nothing is wrong with the pin locations, I do have pic's, I need to fathom out the posting thing??. tctractors
Bolt Thrower, Just curious on why you charge what you do for labor. When the Cat dealer is $130 and hour why are you at $75 hr? Just curious on how you go about determining what the market will bear for you to charge. Would be nice to know just right where that line is.
Working free-lance is not really a good idea anymore, Unless you do Small equipment and logging equipment etc. Only safe way to make money is to do Project work. Working on bigger equipment means bigger conciquences if you are wrong!
Well there are about 5 of us independants in town (bottom feeders as Cat calls us). Most of these guys have been at it longer than me, and thats what they charge. Cat dealers have unreal overhead expenses, with big shops, bean counters, parts inventory, lawyers, etc.................................. So they HAVE to charge $130. Now that things are slowing down, their mechanics are working 4-10's, and the co. just laid 200 people off last week. I am busier than I want to be, and I make a comfortable living. So I say, if it ain't broke don't fix it.
Sounds logical to me. I think that there is plenty of work and money to be made for the independents that are willing to do the work for a fair price.
Hey there jmorse7 was wondering if you made the big jump yet and started up on your own? if so hows it going?
cps, I haven't made the leap yet, thanks for asking. I am using this year to plan it out and get some finances in order. I would like to have something in working by next spring. Will keep people posted.
Thank you to everyone on this thread Well as you can probably see , this is my first post. I wanted to thank everyone here. I have been dreaming about running my own service truck for several years now. Just when I was starting to get ahead and thinking I could get serious about it the whole economy fall kicked in and I started to give up. By shear luck a web search brought me to this thread. And boom, renewed faith. I got my act together, started a serious search for a truck. with in three weeks I found a truck and had my paper work done to be legal. My official start date is Feb 16th. I'm still trying to sort out the truck and my tools , so the time is welcome. The truck is a little older as are the equipment on it, but it all works good and the truck runs like a dream. Its actually been three years since I turned a wrench on any equipment, so I've been quizzing myself in my mind. I guess as long as I can remember where the blinker fluid goes, I'm good right? Once Again Thank you every one, I wouldn't have done it with out you. P.s. jmorse7 Good luck, even just getting started is an amazing feeling.
Bolt Thrower, I take it you have the press and all the correct adapters for the final, bevel gear, final work? I really lost out on one of those, sad story. How many pound crane is it? I used to run one with a 9K, really liked it, winch on the end. Good luck Hesi, hope it all works good for ya.
No I don't have a sprocket puller or cross shaft tooling, haven't needed to use them since I went on my own in '03. I redid finals & cross shafts on a D7G, D6C and a D9H when I still worked for Cat dealer. I don't know if I'd even care to take on a job of that magnatude now, maybe if I could hire a youngster to do all the bullwork, LOL. My boom is an Auto Crane 6006H (6K lb.) Nice crane but I'd trade it for an IMT any day. In my experience, IMT builds the finest field service truck bodies/cranes PERIOD. This is my first and probably last Auto crane.
Mine was a pitman pole cat, I toyed with the idea at the time, to hook up solenoid valves to use a wired remote for it. It was hard to do something alone since controls were on the back of the truck. Had to use a rope to steady the load and keep it from rotating. Fun stuff.
I agree with you on the IMT trucks. I had a F750 with a 14' Dominator bed and the 6025 10,000# crane. The IMT rotary air compressor was nice also. Miss the truck, not the CAT dealer I worked for.:usa
amen!!
field service work just a little info on my situation, Cat dealer charges 98.00hr plus travel plus mileage and as previously stated most of their mechanics are young and green. If you have experience,the proper setup, and are willing to work than by all measures have at it! in this economy you are no safer working for someone else than you are working for yourself. independents around here avg. 75.00hr plus tvl plus mlg. I work out of a T800 KW 24ft tandem body w/14000 autocrane miller big blue and it serves me well.
I do all my own repair and also halve service calls from farmers and contractors.My service truck is one of my most valued piece of equipment.Welder,torch,tools,autocrane,air compreser,etc.I think an in field service repair buisnes would do well in any part of the united states.The big problem will be finding qualified technitions to to do the jobs if you intend on halving employees.Good luck on yore new buisnes.
Here's a few pics of some jobs I have done recently
This will keep bolt thrower happy
and heres some more
I hope you like the piece of wood to stand on.
Working by yourself. I dont think I am to good at posting pictures, but I think ive' got the hang of pulling old bangers into bits?? most usualy when I get a big-ish job to do it starts to rain, most often I am told to make 1 good bit out of 2 or 3 knackered bits, note the 2 D8H torques/dividers and the 2 D6H torques, please don't think I only work on old kit, I get plenty of new stuff to tinker with asa soon as its out of dealer waranty, I dont have one of those " Mechanic's Trucks" but I always seem to do O.K. tctractors
just a quick note, i'm looking to emigrate to the u.s. around the north west, is there much about in terms of work for plant fitters? been working on up to 50ton machinery over here in the uk. excavators,trucks, dozers etc. i'm just trying to get an idea before i start activly looking. cheers .si
Tctractors, those are some cool pictures!