| Author | Message | ||
     Rick_a |
I had some work done at a local machine shop recently. I had cylinders bored, valves clearanced, and my old broken cylinder head welded up. They quoted me $50 for the cylinder head repair since our shop brings them lots of business, they say. My wife picked the heads up and found the cost went up to $120 for welding and "machining". The machining was nothing more than sculpting it with a grinder! So, after picking it up I put the front motor mount on it and find that the mounting surfaces are not concentric. I stayed calm, brought the head back, and their machinist said he'd throw it on the mill and true it up. Fair enough I thought. Several days later I hear nothing and I give them a call. I get the monkey that welded it and he tells me he needs my front motor mount so he can "see how it fits so I can hit it with the disk and even it out." Now I'm getting irate. This fool tells me how he only attached one bolt to the head when he tacked it...the good side, claiming it should thus be right. When I cool off some I call the machinist and he now also says that he needs my front mount 'cause his monkey was sure it fit right when he welded it. I was so pissed I just picked up the head and took it home. I don't like being d**ked around. Obviously this fool should've bolted the broken casting to the mount when he tacked it together to begin with. Neither of these guys would listen to me. What would you do? | ||
| Djkaplan |
Stay calm and see if they'll do the right thing. That's mature advice, but it never really works for me. One thing for sure - don't give them any more business. | ||
| Tramp |
kick the sh*t outta them. also, why the sam hill did you remove the front mount? leave those things alone... | ||
| Rocketman |
New heads aren't that expensive. Used ones cheaper still! Rocket | ||
| Newfie_buell |
Sometimes you feel like kicking the poopie out of them but you know being nice can sometimes go so much farther. | ||
| Aaomy |
hey rick a "pm" me with what you actually want done and what actually happened to the heads. did they at least weld the head so the holes are in the correct spots. another thing, how much do they deal with buell parts? do they know what that part actually dose for the bike and that it is "critical" in its placement, and strength of the weld. dont worry, if they dont get it taken care of properly " it will be" and no B.S. bill to go along with it either. i cant weld but i can do the cutting. to bad you dont still live in the area! | ||
| Tramp |
headse are cheap to ship.... | ||
| Rick_a |
Well, I have new heads. I wouldn't call them cheap by any means. The old ones are going to be sold, so I want them perfect. I'm going to have the mounting surface properly machined so that there will be no problems. The cylinder head broke there. It removed itself, forcibly. The other thing is that I could have had it done better and for free, but the shop owner assured me that he does these all the time...so I went to the "professional." Later, I come to find out that these guys suck for welding jobs after all my frikkin' buds tell me to go there. The part that really irks me is what kind of a fool would think that simply welding such a critical component in place would be good enough to get it in the acceptable range for surface flatness that is needed. Thats why I haven't, and won't go back. If I walk back in there it'd end up nasty, I'm sure of it. | ||
| Tramp |
just do it. a customer's fear of confrontation is what these jackals thrive on. just politely point out the obvious and request a refund. what is the worst thing that can happen? they remove you from their saturday polo matches? tell them about their screw-up, not me. you'll feel better about yourself. | ||
| Aaomy |
if they couldnt do it right the first time they will probably only screw it up worse the second attempt. some peoples "good intentions" only make the problem worse. but i wouldnt be afraid to ask for a refund. another note, that front mounting surface probably shouldnt be trimed back. it may need to be built back up before cutting. on my stock one there was basically no clearance between the front rocker boxes and the mount from the factory. basically i had to pry my mid rocker cover off. when i made my new front motor mount i left extra clearance. for assembly and tool insertion. like i said if you can find anyone to cut it "right" for you locally just have it welded up and ship her up here. | ||
| Rick_a |
Yeah...I've still got my old rockers...I'll see if they still work! | ||
| Ceejay |
I have been in this problem-dealing with a screwed up cylinder bore, jumped up and down raised holy hell, but basically had to eat it, because it was slight I didn't notice until I got home and had already signed for it, so now it was a he said/she said thing, yours is a bit different they didn't know any better and probalby never will, get it done by someone you trust, show them what it should look like, ask for half at least back-if you can talk to them without going apes--- and never go there again | ||
| Rick_a |
I finally got this sit. straightened out. I talked to this guy again. He says "for the fifth time I need that front motor mount," and I said for the fifth time, "that motor mount is useless, all you had to do was give me a flat surface to mount one on!" So anyway, he now says he needs the mount to see "which side to go off of." I told him that obviously the side that wasn't welded is the straight side! I explained that I could've got it done better for free and that I only went to them 'cause they supposedly do this stuff everyday and are the "experts." He offered to fix it properly finally to which I replied that it had already been done. He was really annoyed at this point and asked why he had to have the bull s**t conversation, then. I wanted to tell him that I wanted to make sure he knew how to do his job, but he offered me a refund, which certainly works for me. The machinist at the joint knows what he is doing and is an ok guy...if I have to get anything done there again I'll make sure this guy doesn't touch it. This particular person has a pretty established reputation for being a hack. |
