as ive said before, my dad was a union operator forever, running mostly late model cat equipment!dad worked for some smaller guys who were union, dad often worked alone .but with an oiler / laborer.dad always had a good supply of tools in his ford pick-up truck, so he could address small probs.! like a hose to tighten or what ever! rather then shut down the job and wait for the cat dealer to show up! do you guys do that now!
wow...the only people i would imagine that wouldn't carry tools with them just so they could shut a job down for a day because of a leaky fitting would be union operators :stirthepot
hell, i drive my own service truck, with welder and compressor. can't just run 'em. gotta fix em'
I cant speak for everyone,But I would say on most job site's ,operator's will do small repairs to keep the job going.I do all of my repair work,I can do alot on the job with a service tuck.But if it get's serious like a blown engine or final drive I haul it back to the shop.
The way I see it, most guys quit carrying tools when companys did'nt compesate for the investment and wear on their truck. I carry tools, but only when I get the added benefits. An operator gets paid to operate, the mechanic gets paid to fix. Some companys dont deserve the extra skill and some operators dont deserve to work for good companys.
Most union jobs, an operator can't touch a tool. That's for a mechanic to do, and heaven help the operator that does someone else's job. There was very little I couldn't do to repair or maintain a machine, but with union rules in place, you have to know in advance what you can and can't do. Non-union, no problem, so long as it doesn't turn into a habit.
25 plus years signed with union and I never saw that.
Union operator, and I carry enough tools to fix hoses, and replace most bolts that are falling out. Any thing other than that, its the mechanics job. The past few years I got out of the habit of carrying any tools. Most times on a big demo site, there is a mechanic full time. In that case, I would give them mechanic a hand by twisting wrenches with him, running for parts. Also, if he has everything under control, ill start popping cab filters and cleaning them, or doing the same with machine air filters. I also drain the sediment bowls on the fuel filters. I even had a 320 that we were having fuel issues with. Every morning I would clean the sediment bowl on the filter, and open the drain line on the fuel tank long enough to get rid of the junk on the bottom of the tank. Seemed to solve the problem. Only really had to do this in winter, but it became part of my routine. Mind you this is at 6:30am, Work doesnt start until 7am. But being there early, getting your machine ready for the day is part of the gig.
tools im an operator non-union when i was first hired they found out i used to do p.m. work in a trucking co.,one of the reasons i was hired they set me up with good stuff,but i think somtimes you cant wait for cat-service,when a crushing plant goes downyou cant just send people home,or any peice at that matter.
Earthmoving equipment ...yeah a box of tools would be handy for the odd bits ...the older crane's yeah ..newer cranes' not so much ..your more likely to be in an electrical or software death match than mechanical ...It was said (tooting my own horn) i was the only operater that could not only strip an engine on site but do an In-frame while i was at it ..with the gear i had..And my one badge in my years amongst other's .... when something broke guy's were sent home ..but i alway's had a place with our mechanic's..most showed up with a coffee for me asking what the scoop was ..A fact im very proud of But here's my problem with carring tools ...other than a 4lb hammer ,2-18'thumb wrench's, a 18'pipe wrench ..and an assortment of screw driver's..I have some sockets and wrenches but not near what i used to A= is the parts ..most often it needs a part to get going .. B =standard and metric wrenches ,socket's and so on .. now we're getting into coin C= Electrical ..without schemtic's a simple why do the head lights keep blowing the fuse ?...your lost ..a test light and multimeter are of no use...Ive had our Mechanic out countless times for electrical issue's..Rarely for mechanical. 75T terex sitting for a solid day on a site ..in the end it was a ECM ground and a loose wire in the harness... D= I enjoy having the mechanic's around more than i do other operator's in some case's ...the machine is down ..it aint making money ..and this is no time the jack the dog...its not coffee break its GO time your still getting paid....now hand me a 3/4( i just made 50,000 Enemies )... i hate the attitudes ...that think down time is free money As our fleet progressed id like to think that myself and others that turned a wrench ,beat on a starter ,or shoved a cup of pepper in a rad ..built the company into a formidable force by keeping the fleet up and running even if it was to just get it home .. .. all from just a little handy work ..
tools i found out its good to have a metric set as well as sae 18mm and 19mm quite popular all the way up to 55mm are handy as well as snap-on cordless impact gun
I just could`nt imagine being without my tools ever! Even before I was an owner operator. Local 3 operating engieers since 1982, Local 428 before that.
vote union yes,no more comprimise we must organize
Lets not turn this into another pointless union debate. We know the differences and have to respect them. The idea of giving into fixing problems consistantly gives the contractor more room to push the edges. The level of a "running repair" fix is whats at hand here. Some problems are over the line fixes, some are reasonable and necessary to get through the day. To repeatedly fix the same reoccuring problems means the mechanics never get to it and you wind up operating a piece of junk eventually. But to overstep bounds and eliminate the mechanics role can be counterproductive in some cases...Usually the experienced operator will know when to call it in and how long to let it go before it really makes a mess of things. In milling, we have no such luck, out in the road with lane closures means, whatever it is that needs to be fixed, gets fixed right now!
for myself and other's i worked with in our Particular situation seeing what was going on and that the company was moving in a direction ...we kinda felt compelled to get the gear going...our boss's were hard player's in the field and got the work ...man did they get some work and we the operator's kept it .. so i think its a balance...if a company consistantly buys bargin basement and firesale gear with the intention the guys well get it to run and keep it running without having to spend any money to get a proper repair ..then yes ..why get taken advantage of ..screw'em... For us where we were at, we had 30 guy's who would have to blind not to see that effort was being made to get stuff done but at the time keep up with the work .keep serving the customer's as best we could with what we had ...In the end.. as of today not many of us are riding around in equipment thats more than 5yrs old ....a mechanic is dedicated to us and is a phone call away...if we do need a part for tomorrow ..if its avaliable its there at the end of the shift so the machine will be ready for sure in the morning i think its a judgement call to each his own ..go the eaxtra mile for a guy thats hiring maintainence ,getting parts and upgrading the fleet or continually put up with break down's and aggravation of ill keep equipment for a guy that just bought another 1972 D6B so the other can be for parts ..