How do people get away with this?

[dabar39]

A local trucker brought me his dump truck to repair, I could only shake my head after seeing what he paid someone else to do. He paid $700.00 to do what you see in these pictures. I spent quite a few hours cutting, grinding, and fabricating new parts to make this tailgate usable again. The guy who "fixed" it couldn't believe it fell off going down the highway, said he's been doing this kinda work for 30 some years and never had a problem before. It just amazes me how much work like this is out there on our streets.

[ocweld]

This does not surpeise me I see this all the time . You get some one that say i can fix that dont go to the welding shop and pay that high price I fix it for you and some how it all way ends up at my shop or i have to go to them on the site. The funny thing is I could have fixed it for half the price the frist time . I always hear the same thing i should have called you frist

[monte55]

Maybe that's the first bad job he has ever done....yeah right. Maybe no one has ever complained about his work before or had him make it right so he thinks it's all good. Kind of like going out to eat.....if the service or food is bad
and no one ever says anything, they may have no reason to improve. This guy should take the pics and the bill back to him and if he doesn't refund, then to a lawyer or small claims court. I have been around the system for a while. I got my degree from the "Judge Judy Court of What's Happening Now"
school of law.

[yorkiepap]

When 2 fools meet....

Hey dabar39,
This shows that one fool claims he can do the repair quite adequately and reasonably, and the second fool pays him for that kind of work. The only saving grace is to your benefit....he gets a proper and sound job done at a fair price and you get his constant recommendation. I've seen it all my life in every facet of life, and those kinds of work have enhanced my customer base very profitably. I never take on a job I don't have the equipment or knowledge to do. Bad publicity can hurt your business severely in the long run.....Denny

[dabar39]

I agree with you 100%. I tell people that I'm good at what I do, and I do what I'm good at, but I'll tell you if I can do it or not. I would rather send someone away than do a halfa**ed job that will come back to bite me in the end. Most all of my client base is word of mouth and I have to respect my abilities and/or limitations if I want to continue to grow. But then again it's work like that , that keeps putting food on my table. So after thinking about it ,I guess I should be thanking that guy for doing such a poor job after all.

[JonnyTIG]

I suppose it boils down to two things:

There are talkers and there are doers

There are competent trades people that have a bad day...

There are those who know, and those who pretend.

Coming across scabbed up weld jobs is common. Fixing it so it wont break again is your tallent being useful.

[Anti-GMAW]

I welded this super nice aluminum ladder rack for my dad's pickup when I was in high shcool. The welds were amazing even for an experienced welder and I was 16 and had only been welding for a few months at that point. I didn't have time to finish it before the end of the school year so my dad brought it to a "welder" neer by. My dad who was all proud of me was bragging about the good job I did on it, and even the guy he brought it to was extremely impressed. $300 and 2 days later he got it back. He walked in the house all ticked off so I asked what was wrong. He said "Go take a look at your rack.". I was pissed! Gobs all over, burnthrough, arc maring! It looked like Frankenstiens monster. It was so warped it wouldn't even fit back on the truck, and I had it within 1/32" tolerance! A 16 year old novice (at the time) vs. an "experainced welder" and I was way better. It was in such bad shape that it had to be junked. Just goes to show the worlds full of hacks.

[ocweld]

Hey dabar39 I like to see the finished projected

[yorkiepap]

When it works out....

Hey dabar39,
I also agree that I'd like to see your finished rework. Here are some photos of a project I took on last spring. The owner is a general contractor and does a lot of work in the tri-state region. This is a concrete grader for his big John Deere that he picked up in NC from someone out of business and he got it for a steal. The grader is set up to swivel in 2 directions and rotate for angle. It was all welded together in a fixed position and there were no adjustments available and the main swivel shaft was broken inside. After looking at it, I guesstimated $250 to get it functional again. He agreed that was fair and left it. After starting, I realized there was much more than I anticipated for the price, but I gave him a price and my word. Anyway, it came out quite nicely and he was very pleased. I told him I'd never do that for that price again. He just smiled.... In return, he took a hundred cards of mine and got me so much work, I was busy for a year and made up for the extra time I spent on his unit....worked out nicely....Denny

[yorkiepap]

2nd Group...

A continuation of pics....

[yorkiepap]

3rd Group...

Here's the last. YUP!!...even painted with John Deere green.....

[paulrbrown]

That's one big bucket of flux, I never knew they sold it that big, Nice Work, I come from a background of having to fix others 'Fine' work.....it does sound as if you made out good 'hiring' a customer to be a salesman. Something we can all learn from...Thanks,Paul

[terry welds]

alum. bulk head

a good friend brought this bulk head by. and wanted me to streten it up and weld the cracks up. he was hauling two i-beams that was 2in thick by 12in high by 40ft long. he was in gary IN. when there was a power outage at night. stop lights was not working.but he had to set the bracks for some resine. and the i-beams broke the binders and slamed into the bulk head and sleeper. they took it to a welding shop to get fix. and charge him 550$ for 3hrs of work. when i got it look like it needed to be scrap.i bet my 7 year old could of done a better job.but he wanted it fixet. it took two 1-ton chian hoist and a backhoe and a lot of beating and 8hrs. i only charge him 250$ i know it was not enough. but he is a veitnam vet.and works his a** off at what he does. I DO REPECT OUR VETERANS!!! i still get work from him.

[dabar39]

finished work

I have been trying to post pictures of the completed repair and I keep getting a message saying bandwidth exceeded, If I can figure out to resize the photos, I'll try to post them. To do this repair I cut off all the old crap with my trusty torch and cookie wheel on a grinder. I cut back just far enough to get a good straight cut with plasma cutter across the tailgate. I removed the two pieces of shaft that was there and replaced it with one piece of 1 7/16" shaft and drilled each end about 6" and then through the side for grease fittings to be used with the brass bushings and sleeves I made to go over shaft. In the open space inside the tailgate I made 3 pieces of 3/8" plate to support the shaft. Everything was bushed and drilled for grease and then held in place with set screws. In other words the shaft is easily replaced if necessary in the future. On both ends I used 1/4" plate to cap the ends and the same across the entire top of tailgate, the 1/4" inch plate across the inside of the tailgate was fitted so it lays flush with the existing skin. Now that I have completely confused you all, I will try to post picts again so you can see what I was trying to explain. Dave

[Steve]

While it is easy to say that could have been done better, fact of matter is you can do factory work in the repair and IT WILL NOT HOLD UP to operators who do not now how to operate the equipment, or Foremen who says load'er up and get the dirt moved. And the excavator operator does saying its overloaded, and the driver twists off the drive shaft getting going. There you are. My rep is it looks like factory, it is factory when I get done. My warranty is good till they start it up or hit the brakes whichever comes first. Caterpillar placards state "Continuous loading in excess of 72000 pounds shortens frame life", and the boss has me adding 12 in side boards. Ever see excavator bucket pins installed with 2 D9 dozers? Me? I'm happy for the work and keep on smiling.