Carl you made a lot of good points. Some I agree with. Some I don't. I'm gonna try to hit them all.
Greasing bearings is a subjective thing....
Greasing being subjective: this part annoys me. I know things are subjective. Even with a car it's subjective- but you can talk to a few mechanics and eventually you'll realize- if you're scared just doit. Every 3,000 miles and your bases would be covered. With this chipper, trying to figure it how often and with what to grease it was trying to learn a secret Illuminati hand shake. The dealer, service guy, factory, and other dealers all gave different info varying from, grease it one pump daily, grease it every ten hours until it squirts out, or grease it only what the book says. Every 40 hrs. Then I kept getting different answers on what grease to use. The info I'm going with is a follows.
According to the service manager at Morbark HQ in a conversation months ago, the bearing has like a bleeder valve built in. You CANT over grease it. He gave me a list of a bunch of good greases to use. None of them are available online or at local stores. So I used whatever the dude at AutoZone recommended. We are greasing every 20 hrs now.
, with Gehl/Mustang, warranty will pay for ground shipping ...$53 is a premium for shipping and handling on that part, as is the $417 price tag. ...Buying the bearing from an outside vendor would likely have cost around half what the dealer charged you (speculation).
When I originally talked to the dealer about he messed up bearing, I expressed concern about not taking the chipper off the job site for too long. You might remember I asked if we could do the repair, the dealer said it was straight forward, and so arrangements were made for us to get it. There's a chance that I asked for the piece to be express mailed. So I'm not gonna sweat the $53 and I'm not going to go digging through notes or invoices to find out about $53. I'm more bummed about being told this was a straight forward repair when it wasn't.
Regarding the $417 for the bearing. It does seem high- but I looked at the part numbers on the bearing and googled the manufacturer (which isn't morbark) and I couldn't find anyone selling that part AT ALL. So I went with what morbark sent. The price was refunded- so I'm not concerned about the cost any more. I am concerned that it doesn't seem like the same part and what this might mean down the line.
Loaner machines aren't required.
Agreed. A lot of the guys here are most frustrated by this point. What I now know is that though this is standard in many dealerships nationwide, and even locally at other dealerships, it was never part of the original deal I made when I bought the chipper. S I do NOT fault Direct Edge for not transporting the chipper or providing a loaner when the bearing went out. But when I brought up the new probs caused after the repair work, it's another story. That didn't "just happen." This was the fault of Direct Edge and at that point I hoped they would step up and make the repair smooth and pain free. They didn't. I gave up dealing with them.
The work done on the machine is an abomination... The chute should be able to be straightened up, if not, it should be replaced at no cost including the custom paint.
I agree. To me it doesn't seem like a major task, but I'm not paying my guys to f around with that when they should be out pruning trees.
The exposed shaft means either the dimensions on that bearing are different, or the disc has been moved forward by that amount.
Exactly. It sorta looks to me that they had to jimmy rig it to make it work. If it's not a prob, then I'm cool with it.
I don't know why it's acceptable to have leaking fuel tanks on a chipper.
I don't get it. This isn't a dealership issue sortof. I sent him a pic, he had a new cap sent out, new cap didn't help, I mentioned it, and he offered the "don't fill it all the way" solution. That's ridiculous.
It's hard to bitch about the paint being damaged where the chute doesn't line up when the machine looks rough. ...I don't like partially filling tanks to keep them from leaking for obvious reasons.
I'm not super concerned about the paint. I don't mind that the bearing is a slight diff color. I think that's just the color it was off the shelf. I doubt they painted it for me- though they may have. I understand that this is a work machine and not a BMW. That's why I gave up dealing with the fuel cap. If morbark wants leaky machines driving all over the country, then that's just the way it is.
You, Nick, are super awesome and I admire you.
Aw, Carl. That was super nice of you to say. You're the man!
love
nick
