タイトルまたは説明

MECHTRONIK discusses machine auctions Be afraid! Be very afraid! This is the advice given by David Armstrong CEO of Mechtronik Heavy Equipment Pre-purchase inspections. What we are finding are companies dumping stock to auctions after a major repair fault is found. While this is not a surprise to many in the industry, the practice of masking the fault is making it difficult to get value for money unless you buy very low and have a workshop and lots of time and money to fix the problem. For example a customer requested an inspection of an articulated dump truck going to auction. This particular auction house restricts your inspection to the day before and the day of auction and no dismantling or rolling test which doesn’t give room for an SOS result or an at temperature operating test. The truck with ***0+ hours on the clock looked tidy and well maintained and had undergone a full service. The unit started well, and shifted gears smoothly. The brakes reached a breakout RPM of ***0 in 2nd gear and the hydraulics operation maintained speck. A stall test was performed and a very slight RPM rise was noted in 3rd gear, which increased as the transmission was pushed above the green temperature range. An oil sample was taken and to the naked eye looked clean and perfect as this was new oil having just been serviced. I keep a microscope in my kit that I pinched out of my boy’s scientist set that he got for Christmas and used only once. A drop of oil on the slide and the microscope cranked up to max revealed copper flecks. This transmission is failing and could have cost my customer up to $*0, **0 to repair. My advice to buyers is to use due diligence – find out who owned the machine – does the seller have a comprehensive maintenance plan – why is this machine being sold Bid low – expect to find faults – inspect thoroughly - David Armstrong can be contacted on **4 *********5 for heavy equipment advice *****