Case Studies in Vehicle Servicing and Agri Machinery.

Quarry Dump Truck Engine Rebuild.

A Local Quarry has a number of Heavy Dump Trucks, with steel Tilt Bins and very high ground clearance. They work pretty hard, and the owner thought he'd get a Rebuilt Engine from an Auckland outfit in, and ask Parts & Services ltd to install it, rebuilding the transmission at the same time.
Parts & Services Ltd agreed to take the job on.
The Rebuilt Engine arrived on time, and the old one was swapped out in our huge Truck Service Bays. The Gearbox was redone swiftly and refitted alongside the Motor.
At this point the Rebuilt Engine refused to start. A lot of communication with the Rebuilder took place, the Engine was ripped out and trucked off to Rotorua, where the Rebuilder had an office. The Truck owner visited the shop there, and found nobody working on it, despite the fact that he'd been told they were doing overtime to get it going.
With constant phone calls to the Auckland Rebuilder CEO, a month later the Engine returned: The wrong pistons had been fitted by the Rebuilder, and it hadn't had enough compression to start from cold.
Parts & Services Ltd refitted the 'New' engine, which ran properly now.

Conclusion:

If Parts & Services had supplied the Rebuilt Engine themselves, the problem would have been sorted out a lot earlier, or not have happened at all.
So when you get a price on a mechanical job or product, don't forget to think about the support you want to have if things go wrong. Is the Head Office miles away, or handy?

Crane Universal Service

A local crowd were doing a construction job that required all their 30 Tonne Cranes, and more. They contacted their Napier Branch and loaned one of their 30 Tonners for the week.
The driver was coming over the Napier Taupo road when the Front Universal Joint on the Drive Shaft blew, taking out the Gearbox, most of the Equipment near it, and the Drive Shaft too. Fortunately the Drive Shaft is buried inside the Rig, or somebody might have been killed...

After the Rig had been towed into Parts & Services Ltd's compound, and the Drive shaft examined, it became obvious that the Shaft's Universals hadn't been greased in a very long time.
The Universals were pretty hard to access, being up under the guts of the Crane, in the dark, but that's hardly an excuse.
The Rig took a fair bit of repairing: the Gearbox Bearings were all shot, The Output Shaft was bent, and the Drive Shaft was a write-off.
The Crane looked just like the local ones, so we were relieved to discover that it was actually from Napier, and not one of the Cranes we usually service...

Parts & Services Ltd makes a diagram of most new Trucks and Rigs that come in, and the Mechanics follow it to make absolutely sure they grease all the Lube Points every time. When it comes to Heavy Transport, you just have to get it right: There isn't any room for cutting corners.
Often a Rig will have special Accessories fitted, like Hydraulic Loaders, Doors or Arms. These often have their own Lube Points which can be near impossible to see or find unless you already know where they are.


Parts & Services Ltd does an inspection of new Rigs when they come in, with the owner, to pick up these kinds of details, and the Lube diagram is prepared then. The Mechanics sign it off when they service the Rig.