Threaded Mode | Linear Mode

mikkhh

Older stuff and lack of quality parts is making repairs way harder and way costlier than they could be.

You mentioned head gasket replacement ? Did it leak internally or externally?

In order to fix that old equipment without the breaking the bank you need to have lots of time available, it helps if you have not only mechanics skills but also machinist skills and equipment. In your case you also need electronics repair skills to fix ecm. Most remans are junk and do not work. Sometimes when you fix the problem correctly new problem can come and wipe down the ecm. Inside ecm is like a small town, circuit board is populated with traces that are like roads and lots of components that are like houses, trees, industrial buildings, even power plants you name it. You may fix one industrial building or power plant (mosfet) and some roads (traces) but even the next day fire may start at some random house. Friend of mine tried fixing newer CM2250 ecm, well he succeeded (took couple of days to find fault and to fix it ), BUT in less than a week the ecm failed again with ceramic capacitor short that burned the circuit board that was completely unrelated to the previous fault. The thing is that repair and troubleshooting skills are worth way more on labour market than just piling them down on endless hours of repairs on old tired and beaten up equipment. If you have the time and skills it makes sense to learn on newer equipment that can be had for reasonable price since it is "too complex".

Most of the times that old tired equipment can be sold off for way more (usually to overseas buyers) than it is actually worth and for the same money you can buy something that is more modern and more efficient and more reliable (if you look over things and keep an eye on the machine).

Little bit offtopic and background story.

I have been looking at used heavy equipment just as hobby and the reality around here is that 10 year old "modern and complex and expensive to maintain" machine can be had sometimes for less than 30 year old okayish condition "reliable and cheap to maintain" old iron that is beyond tired and there is all kinds of troubles finding parts that are needed, since most original parts are either way more expensive than on newer counterparts or just discontinued and aftermarket parts are either junk or not available.
Same story with telehandlers, I paid less for 10 year old machine that has the latest generation commonrail engine than 30 year old completely beaten up old almost no electronics machines cost. I also bought myself nearly 30 year old mini excavator, since the price there was really good compared to what these machines usually cost (they keep their value very well, if I would want to make money running those I would buy brand new ones since the resale value is good). It was running, but machine is completely tired like all of them. Almost every pin and bushing is done, undercarriage bearings are shot. Engine had to be rebuilt, but it does not have rust issues like most of those older machines have. Luckily most needed parts are available, but genuine oem hydraulic filter is not available, I have to buy aftermarket ones.

For example my recent experience with commercial diesel lawn mower shut off solenoid. Original 30 year old part finally failed. Original new part costs like 300bucks, aftermarket is 30. That new part did not last more than two months until the solenoid let out electronics smelling smoke. And this unit was used maximum 2 hours per week.

There is another 30 year old commercial mower that I am fixing (had snapped oil pump shaft and spun rod bearing, needed to freshen up the engine to last many many years to come, buying all new parts would have had astronomical cost so I just replaced only parts that had to be replaced (bearings, gaskets) and kept old pistons, piston rings since they were fine and did not have more than acceptable wear. I forgot to order oil pump shaft when I ordered the bearings and since the machine was old those bearings had to be imported from japan and it took TWO months, I had new oil pump shaft turned from crmo steel). The engine that originally let the whole machine down was now running better than it had been running for a long time (I also ground valves and had valve seats recut) and then the other issues popped out. Pulley splines were worn. New pulleys ARE NOT AVAILABLE from dealer and there is no aftermarket option. Also those splines were not metric or imperial standard so it means in the future new pulleys with splines have to be custom made and it is not cheap. Even regular maintenance items like brake shoes ARE NOT AVAILABLE.