the value of honest dependable mechanic. im still lookingsince my old one passed

[tony marks]

i bought that partner 65 that mr laney
[i think] said he had for sale on one o the post. he was honest an said he didnt know what was wrong ,but it just wasnt rite. when it arrived i couldnt get it cranked [had it cut off i think]
anyway i just took it over to this mechanic id been wanting to try.told him to go up to 75 if it was an easy fix,then put a bar an chain on it an give me a call.
i also told him to evaluate and if it wasnt worth it just let me know.he kept it a wk an said the whole back end needed replacing. throttle choke etc i guessed.said it wasnt worth fixin. a week passed and i
hit some chain link yesterday and took my saw to see if he could straiten out the chain.he did a fair job but while he was doing it i saw my saw in a corner and put it in my trunk an forgot about it.
.didnt give it any thot but this morning the car had a gas smell so i pulled it out and decided to give it a quick look ,before throwin it in the junk.
the backend that was broken ,was a loose mount bolt ,thats all .
i was able to adjust the carb. so it idled properly and really sounded good..
hope i dont have it to lean.im not any sort of a mechanic and i was able to straiten it out in about 20 min of adjusting..hate to think bad of people but now im thinking the mechanic,was just taking my saw.anybody know what bar an chain the partner 65 takes.. its a split sprocket,7 tooth.by the way the reason im postin this is its not the first time for this type thing . had the the nissan mechanic screw up the valves on my truck once and try to buy it for 75,for the body ,he said. got it home an my brotherinlaw was there.
he adjusted it and i got 4 more yrs of service . no offence to u honest mechanics . having a good honest mechanic is somethin i put a value on.
but i do not care for a thief.

 

[Fish]

So you don't like us dishonest mechanics?

 

[xander9727]

Unfortunately honesty isn't common place in any industry anymore. Don't get down though, there are still alot of honest people out there you just have to look for them. I know how you feel about mechanics. I worked as a mechanic for a couple years. I saw alot of things that turned my stomach. For some people money is the most important thing in the world to them. Once you find an honest mechanic you really hold on to them. I had a similar situation with a saw I bought off ebay. The owner of the shop reassured me it was an honest mistake. I watched him really careful for the next year and he didn't do anything shady and actually cut me a deal a few times he didn't have to. I still pay close attention when dealing with him but I would say I fear getting taken by him. Trust has to be earned. Distrust can be won with only suspicion and not proof.

 

[Fish]

To be honest, I think the trust issue is a tad overblown.
People bring their saws to me because I fix them and am the
only one around that can sharpen a chain, if there is a problem
they only need to bring it back. I never worry about whether
the customer thinks if I am a crook or not, as there is a long
line of customers behind them. I usually undercharge, which likely
explains why I am always broke.

 

[Lobo]

Fish,

It is very obvious from some of the help you have given many posters that you are very honest.

 

[xander9727]

Fish,
A man that is willing to admit and correct a mistake is an honest man. You said that all a customer has to do is bring it back and you'll fix it......that just makes me wish you were located down the street from me. It appears to me that Tony didn't encounter the same type of mechanic. Chances are the guy didn't look at the saw or he was trying to sell a new saw. Either way I wouldn't put you in EITHER of those catagories and all I know about you is from your post.

 

[tony marks]

no fish i dont dislike u dishonest mechanics ,cause i also think u wouldnt fall into that category. even if u do cut up some. what i said was i dont care for thieves ,which is what i suspect this guy of being. the main message of my post is how valuable an asset a good honest mechanic is. my auto mechanic is the best in my book . he does his best job and can almost always fix anything.
he wont take tips but if he would he would get one every time.
now im looking for the good honest chainsaw man here locally. notice i said good and honest. the good pts what im having trouble with. when i find one, ill like him a lot. and ill show my gratitude by telling everbody about him.
if i decide for sure this fella was trying to rook me. i ll tell everybody about him also. oh yea did anybody have any idea what chain and bar i need.
the 18 bar an chain off the 335 poulan pro wouldnt fit

 

[Methoss084]

In this day and age, if you screw over enough people enough times , they go out of their way to give you a bad name. The place I work for is still haunted by the previous owners misdeeds. It takes a ton of effort to win those customers back, especially landscapers. And a disgruntled residential customer usually tells the whole neighborhood how he got screwed.

 

[gatkeper1]

Oregon lists the P65 and S65 as using the same bar as the large Husky's. Its the "D009" mount. They no longer list a bar for the F65

 

[tony marks]

thanks gate keeper ,i knew it was bigger than the stuff i had. im hoping i can get the rite chain with a narrow kerf.
i got a49 cc saw partner thats 49 cc
with the narrow cut and it is faster[or was until i caught that section o chainlink] than the 335[54cc] w wider chain.the 028 is plenty fast with the normal width cutter, so theys plenty i dont know about this yet. 335 is plenty strong and not safety chain, just not as fast . at my age that makes a bigger difference ,than some o u young fellows.
ps fish , no offence bud. u are one of the stock saw mechanics on this forum.
u dont give advice like u use to . but id rather get info from u and stihl tech etc,as the saw gurus here no offence to them. just understand the stock mechanics better.i envy all of u..

 

[stihltech]

honesty

I try to evaluate then give them a call. The customer is the one paying the bill.
Sometimes you just hate to take a guys money an a saw that has no end to the repair. The phrase is "where do I stop".
Sure I have sent some out and the guy tinkered with it and it started. I did not charge anything out the door. Good for them that they got it going. If something else goes bad, they are not out anything, but if I did it I am a bad mechanic. Better to stay away from that.
Hope the saw pans out with no more problems.

 

[treeclimber165]

Good for you, Stihltech! I've NEVER had a piece of equipment in a shop and not been charged, even when they screwed it up worse! I guess that's why I try to fix all my own stuff. If I'm hired to do a job and something gets broken, I cannot take a dime from the customer until it is fixed. Every mechanic I've ever known (including my father) got their money regardless of whether or not anything got fixed. If they spent 2 hours and couldn't figure it out, you paid two hours shop time (plus materials). You pays your money and takes your chances.

 

[Fish]

Working on chainsaws is a tough way to make a living. More and
more I turn away saws with multiple problems, or saws I
cannot get parts for.
I agree that there is a large percentage of mechanics that are
either crooked or otherwise useless. I have worked in several
shops over a varied range of equipment types, even was a
service mgr at one, and have noted that the ratio is 1 to 8.
One good mechanic to 8 bad ones. I am sure that ratio applies
to all of the mechanic fields, which is why I do not fly.
What is even worse is that 1/2 of the remaining good mechanics
are also crooks, so if you find a good one keep with him.
Even shops that do poor work and screw people still seem
to be busy.
I rarely give advice on this forum, as this site is loaded with
a lot of talent, and any question is usually correctly answered
before I even get to read it, so I usually just give Electroluxman
and Poulotto a hard time, also enjoy teasing BWalker and
Stihltech, but they need it. Also enjoy the bouncy avataar.
I have not figured out how to put up one yet, but I am
computer illiterate. I spent several hours one evening trying
to post a pic of a Llama, but gave up, as everyone I tried was
too large, so how Doug does his I do not know.
For all who are curious about the Llama thing, Lambert,
me, and several others were fooling around on parachat one
night, John and I were logging on using other peoples names,
and I was Walt[Nevadasky] that night, and went off into a
tangent involving Llamas and lonely Montana winters and it
was funny at the time. But what cemented the Llama motif
was a day or two later, Walt made a long post{which they all
were} touting the benefits of having Llamas.
We all should do some more Parachatting, I will log on today
if I can find the link, but definitely will tonight.

 

[NevadaWalrus]

Boy, I'll tell you what, SthilTech reslly hit home. I can't count how many times I've written up a piece of equipment as not worth repairing just to have them return or call later complaining they got it running and we were just trying to get them to buy a new unit.

When I discover major cylinder/piston scoring on some machine where the cost of a cylinder/piston kit plus labor is more then 3/4 the cost of a new unit I write it up as not worth the cost to repair. Naturally that doesn't mean it can't be made to run but it can't last for long with that sort of damage. Why spend the cost of fixing the cause, often carb and fuel sytem, to get it to run when it won't hold up.

I now try to avoid that confrontation. If the engine still displays enough copmpression that it will run, I write up an estimate to get it running but state no guarantee due to piston/cylinder damage (or whatever the condition is that led me to the conclusion) and advise not to repair. That way its on the customer head when he later finds it wasn't worth repairing and he can't come back and ?????.

 

[tony marks]

i would agree ,mechanic have to protect themselves and not do wk that wont make any money. thats why i told the guy ,all i wanted was an evaluation.
i was willing to pay the price for that.
but the backend is shot and not worth foolin with ,just wasnt true.tightening one screw made everthing tite.
now i to suspect he didnt want to fool with it,but all he had to do was say so.
thats what i do with any request by new customers. but i dont tellum ill look it over and never look at it . thats the impression i got. then later when time has passed and hes caught up he does what i did, only hes probably got a bar an chain to put it in working condition.. nor could i recommend him. jmho
like i said if tightening one screw hadnt fixed the problem i wouldnt have been bothered. still wasnt bothered nor think wrong o the guy until it fixed so easy.
so its still my opinion that whether he was counting on me letting him have the saw or just didnt care to fool with it. he handled it in a poor way.and i wont be goin back. thats just buisiness.

 

[Methoss084]

We mostly work on Gravelys, Simplicity, Efco, Shindiawa, Jonsered. Everything from the old 2 speed model L's to the newest models out there. It's gottin to the point now where the shop rates have out paced the worth of most equipment. If an old beater thats been sittin for 5 or 10 years on a garage shelf or out in the barn(or the middle of a field) comes in and the customer says "Just get it running" we automatically say to that customer " we will do an estimate first". 9 times out of 10 the machine gets scrapped because its just not cost effective when the repair is 1/2 the price of a new unit.

 

[treeclimber165]

You bring up a darn good point, Josh. The low cost of new equipment is severely limiting GOOD mechanics from earning what they are worth. Few people will pay $100+ to fix a $250 saw.

About 14 years ago, I bought a Stihl 038Magnum brand new. With some bar oil, two cycle oil and some files, my bill was just over $700. Today you can go into a Stihl dealer and buy an 044 for almost the same price.
Electronics are the same way. No more TV or VCR repairmen when you can go to WallyWorld and buy a brand new one for $99.

 

[NevadaWalrus]

Out of curiosity guys, average shop rate here in Vegas is in the 60/hr range. Hows that compare in your neck of the woods.

 

[Dieselnut]

Most of the shops here, that are still around ,charge between 50-60 an hr labor rate. I was going to open a shop of my own when I returned home, so I decided to work in someone's elses shop to learn the "in's & outs'. I worked at a small hardware store, where we did sell a large number of saws-before the saw makers started makeing their money on volume sales with the big chain stores. This area does not have a big demand on large pro saws, but I did have about all the pro tree people, in the area come to me. It seemed they liked buying their chain by the loop-and we sold a lot of chain. What I found out was when you gave an estment to repair a saw, the custmer told you to go ahead and repair it. I would spend my money into parts, repair it. But the custmer would see the saw in one of the big stores for almost the same cost. Well needless to say we would eat a saw. Most of the time it would be almost impossible to recoop the cost of the parts-never the labor. Needless to say it is hard to keep the doors open when this happens. I am afraid this looks like the TV repair shop. I guess we have turned into a throw away socity.

The shops that are still open in the area, I constantly hear negative things about them-even the one's that I know are good honest people and try to give everyone a fair shake. It seems like they have to go big to keep their doors open. And when this happens most of the one on one personal service disapears-not only in service, but sales as well

 

[dozerdan]

Labor Rate

I am located in Central Pa. and I only charge 60 per hour for my dozer work,50 for backhoe work.The doctors are now telling me to stay off of my equipment,the constant vibrations and jarring have given me permanent nerve damage in my neck and arms.For the last few years,saw repair for me was only part time but it looks like it is now a full time job.My labor rate for saw repair is only 28.50 per hour and people around here complain about that being to high.
Later
Dan