rebuild vs swap decisions

[Waterloo]

I will second what Rawze said, Mr Hagg has rebuilding an ISX down to a science. The truck is brought in the shop, hood removed, then front structure removed. Then the tear down starts, it is really something to watch. Every component's nuts and bolts are put in individual zip loc bags, labeled and placed on a very tall bakers shelf. That is your motor, no intermingling of parts. And yes, all parts are cleaned.

The assembly, all of the parts needed to do a proper in frame are in a plastic container that comes from the parts room. He has the 871, 2250 and 2350 parts sets. All of the gaskets, the little o rings, everything is in there and used.

The slick lube for the bearings, it is there, I have seen the guys rolling in the bearings, they use it liberally. The pre lube of the motor, I borrowed the pump, it works. And the most important part, the setting of the liners. That is done too, no skipping that step.

Mr Hagg get's in there too, both front covers are removed, front gear train, front main seal, etc. Most shops only remove the top cover to remove the cam(s) unless you specify replacing the front main seal.

The best thing, is that they have done so many of these rebuilds, successfully, that they are quick. Not fast and sloppy, but efficiently quick to disassemble and reassemble. No corners are cut, and when other little things pop up, he is quick to address them, like a component that is soon too fail that needs to be addressed. When he says something is bad, it is, he is not the kind of guy to play games with a man's livelihood and he does not want to see you back with issues or broke down on the side of the road. I have heard these conversations and seen the parts. If he says it's bad, it is bad. He has no time for games, shop is way to busy for that nonsense.

When you pull up to the shop, it is nothing to see a half a dozen or more crates sitting in one of the bays or in the lot, those are in frame kits and heads, and they are stacked like cord wood on some days. I believe he is the number one or two ISX in frame shop in the country, and #1 in Georgia. That is one busy little shop.

Mr Hagg has a helluva a system down, he and Rawze worked together in the beginning to do these motors properly, both men have years of knowledge and experience, and they went about ensuring that when an ISX is rebuilt, it is rebuilt to a higher standard than even Cummins adheres too. These two men put their heads together to find a better way, and boy has Mr Hagg run with it and has it down to a science. I would trust no other shop to do an in frame on my motor.

There is a back story here too... Rawze, when he fired up Rawze.com, started hearing the horror stories of shops skipping crucial steps when rebuilding these ISX motors. I was one of those victims. He set out to find a local shop in his area that would work with him and rebuild these ISX motors to a higher standard that he could endorse and say this is the shop you need to take your truck too. That is when he met Mr Hagg... Rawze had the customers, he just needed somewhere to send them. Mr Hagg grabbed this bull by the horns and ran with it. And don't get me wrong here, Mr Hagg knows how to rebuild an ISX, Rawze's involvement was to ensure the steps were being followed so that these motors would not require a second in frame a year or two down the road. This was a good marriage in my book, both men are passionate about doing the job properly, or don't do it at all. I am damn proud to have met both men. They are both responsible for keeping many a man up and running and in business that would have failed due to mechanical issues. I am one of those guys.