1000.00 day!

Percy · August 19, 2018, 10:17:59 PM

On Wednesday, when I went to start up my mill, it made a horrid sound while cranking over but started. Same thing every blade change...so I order a starter as I don't wanna be caught with my pants down when it dies....Afternoon of the same day, one of my hydraulic power units quits(I have a 2003 LT70). Luckily, I have a spare motor and solonoids. I kept cutting with wussy hydraulics, I just hooked a hose up with brass fittings to each filler opening of both tanks to keep dead one from over flowing....Friday I determine it is in fact the motor and not the solonoid that has died...grrr...change motor, then, while battery is disconnected, I change the starter. Turn on the key, test hydraulics...all good..., Start the engine and the same screetching noise.......Turns out to be the alternator....no wait, upon further investigation, its just the cooling fan of the alternator partialy broken around the shaft. Only screetches at low rpm when starting....Between the pump, the starter that didn't need replacing, the 10 dollar fan for the alternator, it was 1000.00 Canadian....well I have a spare starter now...heh ;D

kiamori · August 19, 2018, 10:25:59 PM

Misleading title :D, thought you were making $1k a day cutting wood and I was thinking I'm in the wrong business...

Bad days happen, go get sleep and hope tomorrow is better.

Southside · August 19, 2018, 10:35:16 PM

Percy,

Try shredding a tire on a buncher, 44" wide, 72" tall, $2500+ installation....that's a bad day.

Percy · August 19, 2018, 11:18:47 PM

Quote from: Southside logger on August 19, 2018, 10:35:16 PM
Percy,

Try shredding a tire on a buncher, 44" wide, 72" tall, $2500+ installation....that's a bad day.

Ouch....Guess I shouldn't whine..... ;D ;D

Quote from: kiamori on August 19, 2018, 10:25:59 PM
Misleading title :D, thought you were making $1k a day cutting wood and I was thinking I'm in the wrong business...

Bad days happen, go get sleep and hope tomorrow is better.

Misleading was my intent... ;D ;D... On the positive, it is possible to make 1000.00 in a day cutting wood....but I haven't done it every day...ever. Thanks for the positve words..

firefighter ontheside · August 19, 2018, 11:51:45 PM

Let's see....that's about $780 US dollars. Still, not what you want to spend on the mill in a day. Hope all is well tomorrow.

Don P · August 20, 2018, 07:08:28 AM

Boy have I done that. We call it loading up the parts cannon... ready, fire, aim

I replaced the "noisy locker" on the truck a week or so ago, the CV axle let go yesterday... I'm thinking that locker was just fine :

.

petefrom bearswamp · August 20, 2018, 08:41:19 AM

Percy I could hardly wait to open this thread, but after seeing the subject I slowed way down.
My worst day was only $600 for a new H bridge.

mike_belben · August 20, 2018, 10:34:47 AM

I got impounded and put out of service by DOT on the way to pick up my stuff at my house foreclosure. Took my truck and trailer, felony charge, court. The incident was a one day $3100 hit, in a 100k loss year. If you dont count 3 diesel engines, 2 transmissions and 2 wife cars all kaput in the same time frame. Thats another 20something.

Its not meant to be easy, just gotta keep marching.

Percy · August 20, 2018, 04:06:57 PM

Quote from: mike_belben on August 20, 2018, 10:34:47 AM
I got impounded and put out of service by DOT on the way to pick up my stuff at my house foreclosure. Took my truck and trailer, felony charge, court. The incident was a one day $3100 hit, in a 100k loss year. If you dont count 3 diesel engines, 2 transmissions and 2 wife cars all kaput in the same time frame. Thats another 20something.

Its not meant to be easy, just gotta keep marching.

Whooahh I'm starting to feel lucky 😳😳 that makes my day seem like treat!! Sorry for your bad luck.

slider · August 20, 2018, 04:33:32 PM

Percy I was going to one up you on my repairs this month but after Mike's post I will just count my blessings and be quiet.

esteadle · August 20, 2018, 06:02:02 PM

Quote from: kiamori on August 19, 2018, 10:25:59 PM
Misleading title :D, thought you were making $1k a day cutting wood and I was thinking I'm in the wrong business...

Bad days happen, go get sleep and hope tomorrow is better.

In May of this year, we took a job in the South Hills area of Pittsburgh, for a guy who had 4 very, very large Norwegian Pine logs laying in his beautiful estate lawn. We were already in a job but this guy offered double our normal rate to get it done ASAP. So we accepted, and hauled out for a day, and by the time we were done racked up a bill for 1600 (which included a charge for 4 wrecked blades, after hitting someone's old clothesline hooks embedded a good 6" under the bark...) He wrote the check and it cleared. Best day sawing of my whole life (so far)!

kiamori · August 20, 2018, 07:48:01 PM

Quote from: esteadle on August 20, 2018, 06:02:02 PM
In May of this year, we took a job in the South Hills area of Pittsburgh, for a guy who had 4 very, very large Norwegian Pine logs laying in his beautiful estate lawn. We were already in a job but this guy offered double our normal rate to get it done ASAP. So we accepted, and hauled out for a day, and by the time we were done racked up a bill for 1600 (which included a charge for 4 wrecked blades, after hitting someone's old clothesline hooks embedded a good 6" under the bark...) He wrote the check and it cleared. Best day sawing of my whole life (so far)!

If I could make a steady 1600 or even 1000 a day, I would be sold 8). Getting my first mill soon, going to see how it goes in my spare time with the goal of getting out from behind the desk work on my other business before I get to old to start a new business adventure.

Do you run metal detector across the logs to check for stuff like that when doing yard logs?

Magicman · August 20, 2018, 07:58:08 PM

I have made several $1000 days, but I have also had some of those "other" days.

I still recall engine failures. :-\

PAmizerman · August 20, 2018, 08:41:13 PM

I feel ya. Been there done that. Ain't it fun playing with big expensive ~~toys~~ tools though?

Magicman · August 20, 2018, 09:33:39 PM

The good by far outweighs the bad. I wouldn't trade it for any other job.

mike_belben · August 20, 2018, 10:16:35 PM

Nah, it all turned out great. The Lord had a plan for me and he wasnt gonna let mine get in the way of His no matter how much whoopin it took to get through to me.
Its kinda like when the cops say get on the ground. Do yourself a favor and stay on the ground before you get tazed.
:D

Southside · August 20, 2018, 11:21:58 PM

Quote from: mike_belben on August 20, 2018, 10:16:35 PMIts kinda like when the cops say get on the ground. Do yourself a favor and stay on the ground before you get tazed.

Is that foreshadowing another story? :D

Southside · August 20, 2018, 11:22:06 PM

Quote from: mike_belben on August 20, 2018, 10:16:35 PMIts kinda like when the cops say get on the ground. Do yourself a favor and stay on the ground before you get tazed.

Is that foreshadowing another story? :D

Percy · August 21, 2018, 12:01:13 AM

Quote from: Southside logger on August 20, 2018, 11:21:58 PM
Quote from: mike_belben on August 20, 2018, 10:16:35 PMIts kinda like when the cops say get on the ground. Do yourself a favor and stay on the ground before you get tazed.

Is that foreshadowing another story? :D

smiley_deadheader alligator

Crossroads · August 21, 2018, 01:08:23 AM

I feel pretty lucky that my alternator gave up the ghost on the interstate about 2 miles from a Napa with a big parking lot since I was pulling a 36' 5th wheel.....

Glad you got it all figured out

mike_belben · August 21, 2018, 08:22:35 AM

I did actually get smacked by a cop and arrested in 7th grade. Probably what i needed. But no, never been tased. do what the boys tell you and they wont have to put a knee on your face.

I somehow always make it to the place where i can get fixed. My move from mass to tennessee has had a pretty epic carnage tally between my two trucks. ive had to hammer and tig weld an exploded water tank twice, blown 2 headgaskets, bent 2 pushrods, a torque convertor, an entire valvetrain and wiped out guides, a 5spd trans, a splitter on the 13speed, 2 leaf springs, a fire in the dash, an axle came right out the back of the trailer last month.. and atleast 40 tires in 3 yrs.. I blew 10 tires in 17 days this summer. Only tow was the out of service running empty to the eviction.

The truck is named Fool's Errand and it needs to pull about 20 more loads. A fool i am, but a quitter i am not. Lord Willin.

esteadle · August 21, 2018, 01:07:19 PM

Quote from: kiamori on August 20, 2018, 07:48:01 PMIf I could make a steady 1600 or even 1000 a day, I would be sold 8). Getting my first mill soon, going to see how it goes in my spare time with the goal of getting out from behind the desk work on my other business before I get to old to start a new business adventure.

Do you run metal detector across the logs to check for stuff like that when doing yard logs?

I guess the problem is that it's hard to make a steady 1000 a day though. Been doing it for 15 years now, and its the first time that happened. I'm in the same boat as you, but I'm a couple miles down the river... I got my mill long enough ago that I'm feeling old now. But.. it's still an adventure and one that's kept my interest now for quite some number of years. And it gets me out from behind the desk, and keeps my waist from expanding further...
I never run a metal detector on logs, as I don't have one. I think they are pretty expensive for the kind that actually work. I do use my built in detectors (the ones that came installed in my eye sockets) to go over a log looking for bumps and blue-ing of the cut ends of the log, but those clues aren't always detectable. Sometimes I catch it... but not all the time.

terrifictimbersllc · August 21, 2018, 01:59:52 PM

Couple years ago I was backing my rig into the driveway after a 100 mile trip home, when the water pump on my truck gave out. No problem backing in just another ten feet.

Tim · August 24, 2018, 06:09:35 PM

27 years in this business now. There are the days when I make a grand, there are days when I spend the grand... When I have to spend it, I far rather that it be planned.

Lawg Dawg · August 24, 2018, 06:35:30 PM

Percy, I love $1000 days, but an old man told me one time, it ain't about what you make, it's about what you KEEP! He also told me he'd take a fast nickel over a slow dime anyday! But that's a whole nother story :D