Well fella's tomorrow I'll hang up my hat as a mixer fixer and take a mechanic position with a Freightliner Dealership. Flat rate, factory certifications, the works. I'm going to start swimming with the big fishes. My evenings will now be filled with training programs but I'll make sure I find time for "Shop Talk". Wish me luck. :drinkup
Good luck mufflerhope all goes well for you!
Good luck Muffler ...I personally think flat rate repair keeps a good repair from being done right ..I never liked argueing with the white shirts about time ..Hopefully you'll have good white shirt that will help on the flat rate sheets.. A mans gotta get paid..
Sounds like a good gig MB. Be sure to let us know how it's going. Congratulations, Rob
start anew Good luck with your new venture-hope it works well for you. Tom
Right now any job is a good job. Let us know how working from a book time works out. Good Luck!
By training programs, do you mean the hands on ones or the online ones you take on AccessFreightliner.com? If it's the online ones, don't swear it, they're generally short and pretty easy.
Amen John. Good luck MB!:drinkup
Best of luck on the new job
Thanks a lot guys, I get the feeling it will be right up my alley. They seem a little different from a normal dealership. Lots of freakish machinery from the oil and gas fields plus other oddball stuff. I was in there today signing papers and they took a job converting a straight truck into a tractor.
Good luck, muffler. I'm sure you'll do well, you have the experience, skills and sense to handle it.
update How's your new gig working out? Tom
rough friday+rough monday Friday ended with staying late to replace the load hopper on the batch plant. Then moved my toolbox to the dealer, Started there this Morning and ran like a mad man all day! They are slammed with trucks piling up. Of course it is Karma because I got the jobs I've been kicking to other guys at the last shop.like a clutch brake and a carrier bearing
Good luck with the new job man. I am willing to bet you can do good at any job you want to take on! Keep us posted on how it works out. And if you can I am sure others are like me and would like to see any photos you can get of the real weird stuff you get to run into.
Well time for the 2 week update. First off, being corporate I actually signed some forms regarding, how much I say about work in "online social forums". Basically you can't go spouting off about the place on Facebook I guess, but the fine print mentioned pictures so until I get approval I don't want to try it. Now I have good news and bad news, the shop is really nice, tons of specialty tools, really nice co-workers, and the equipment coming in there is both unique and cutting edge. I've seen disc brakes and a hydraulic hybrid garbage truck, plastic oil pans and lots of new Detroit Engines. On many of my jobs I run over time, but I can see all the little ways to get faster as I get more familiar. Now the BAD news, in the past I could only use the word "catastrophic" to describe something I've found, not caused. But on my second day, I was changing a carrier bearing, and when I installed the drive shaft, somehow...I left 2 u-joint bolts loose! This is the worst mistake I have made in my career. I laid awake at night trying to comprehend how I did it. The best I can come up with is that it was just my time. Luckily no one was hurt, but I'm replacing 2 x-members and an airtank, plus a huge tow bill. So maybe I'm meant to start at rock bottom and work my way up from there.
Muffler, That has always been one of my biggest fears working on heavy trucks, we almost lost one about 2 years ago, one of my guys put a shaft in at the carrier, when the customer came to pickup the truck he was wanting me to take a look at his driveline. I got under the truck and found the joint at the carrier had one strap under one bolt but not the other. We were very lucky!! My friend works for a dealer they had on come loose and took out the tanks, front diff, and alot of other goodies. I preach it to my guys, I normally go back and actually put a torque wrench on all strap bolts, and cap bolts, we also clean and loctite the bolts. Sorry that happened to you man, I know from your posts you care enough that it probably made you sick. It will get better hang in there!!!!
OUCH! sorry to hear that. i wouldn't lose too much sleep, we all make mistakes. S#!% happens!
Do you have to pay for all that? What is your supervisor's attitude? Is he somebody who knows you don't do that stuff all the time? As a person who just blew a 19 year record w/o a major screw up, I know how you feel. When I worked for the city 20 plus yrs ago, we called that job security. They couldn't fire you till you paid it off.
That sucks getting a re-do but when it causes more damage gives me that sick feeling. We are all human and will do something wrong at some point in time. Hopefully your bosses notice the good work you do and not dwell on this mistake. BTW, I have seen the bolts fully tightened, that is until the u-joins fully seats in the yoke then it is loose. After i torque the bolts and look to make sure it is seated i hit it with a dead blow and retorque. Another thing we do is to put a white paint stick ark on all torqued bolts. That way you can see after the fact that the bolts were torqued. I too hope you keep us updated and post some pics. You can make the pics very general and edit out any customer info and names. Thats what i do.
MB, even though you won't forget it, put it behind you and move onward. Instead of a getting a sick feeling when it comes to mind, it'll just be a valuable reminder. No one can be perfect but at least we try.
Thanks for the support guys!, Good tips Lee and K. So I'm covering half of the labor to make the repairs, which is fine with me. And my Boss told me to get over it and move on. I really like him, and I like that he was a tech, he knows what's up. Every one keeps telling me their stories, "the first time I built a fan hub, it came apart", "the first time I put injectors in a Mercedes...blah blah" it just kills me that my story will be.." the 27th time I put in a drive shaft..." Aside from that everything else is falling into place, other jobs are going well and I'm finding the flow of the shop. Still coming home every night sore and tired, but I learn more about Freightliners and Detroits every day. I'd like to get some pictures up one of these days. We really do get some cool stuff. Probably the most bizarro equipment is on the backs of big red KW's belonging to what I've heard is the biggest fleet in the country. Again, thanks you guys are great! cheers