My boss, who also happens to be my father in law, is so tight he squeaks when he walks. The following is what cheapness can get ya when running a business. We run a monument company and our main truck for setting headstones is an 81 F350 dually with a flatbed, small crane, and a liftgate. The bed, crane, and liftgate assembly were transplanted onto the truck in '81 back when it was bought as a c&c. Anyway the electric/hydraulic pump that runs the tailgate went bad. 30 years is not a bad run for a pump and a new power up gravity down pump can be had for around $300. Also a new pump would allow me to use solenoid valves so I can let the tailgate down by a corded remote instead of a lever. Anyway the boos gets it in his head that it would be cheaper to have the pump rebuilt and when the company rebuilds it they can add inline solenoid valves and a remote for me. Keep in mind I have personally installed and maintained 3 other electric/hydraulic pumps for the crane, our dump bed on the pickup, and a dump cart I made for hauling dirt in the cemetery so I know a little bit about them. I tell him the pump is prolly 30 years old and I can guarantee you parts are not available to rebuild it. So we take it out to the hydraulic place and I leave my baby in the hands of a bunch of strangers and explain to them what I want.... 1. the pump is not working, it takes far too long for the liftgate to go up and it makes a very high pitched whine telling me the gears in the pump are shot. So the pump needs fixed or replaced. 2. if the pump can be fixed I would like an inline solenoid added and a toggle switch for up and down, I can make my own removable remote. Today I go and pick up the truck. Looks like they cleaned the grease and gunk from the pump and cylinder. There is a toggle switch for the tailgate, but they added a removable corded remote since this is what I asked for (I did?) Then I go and test the tailgate. Same high pitched whine, same slow lift. SO I ask if the pump was rebuilt....No, it is worn out and they can't get parts to rebuild it. But it still lifts so it's ok for me to use. WTF? So I take it home and tell the boss that the pump was not rebuilt hence still not reliable and ask what the bill was......$316. They charged us $316 to put a bunch of new technology on an old and by their admission worn out pump. $130 for the inline solenoid. But since we still need a new pump that valve will not be needed since I can get a pump with a solenoid valve built in. They charged us $10 for a $.99 toggle switch that can be found in any hardware store. $90 for what amounted to about 2 hours of labor. $50 for a remote box I coulda built for $15. So now on monday I have to take the truck back and have them remove all the crap they put on it so I can go buy a pump and fix the truck what I like to call the right way. Bad things happen when people that do not run the equipment make decisions about it, and are cheap to boot.
I know exactly how you feel, I get that at work alot to, just let me build it the way it will work best deals. Sucks man
