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courty
05-03-2011, 04:07 PM
Had to catch up a few lawns today due to wet weather yesterday.Second lawn of the day my 9 mth old 196 decide's it wants drop its arse on the ground leaving a dirty big scalp mark on one of my better lawns, WTF? Seems the rear axle(for want of a better word) has cracked away from the height adjustment system.
Looks like I'm going to be without my front line mower for 3-5 working days:eek:
What sort of turn around do you guys expect from your dealers,am I right in thinking this is a little long?. I know I'm a little fish in a big pond but I did buy all my equipment from these guys and have since been buying my blades,trimmer cord,oil etc from them and thought that may count for something.

Anjaryan
05-03-2011, 04:21 PM
My mower did the same 5 weeks ago, and also the gears on the drive system stuffed itself.

3- 5 days is pretty damn good IMO.

My (old) dealer 22 days for them to look at it, 8 to get the part and fix it.

dont know what its like on the 196 but the masport rivets broke off, i fixed that myself by grinding off the old rivets level with the frame bit so i could knock them out easy and putting a couple of small bolts and nuts in their place.

administrator
05-03-2011, 04:43 PM
Courty great service from shops is very rare their market is the domestic market and they get run off their feet just doing those and they make very good money .
Guys that have bought 10 15 thousand dollar machines get let down when it comes to a major problem and can be off the road for 3 weeks maybe longer you will have to hunt down a service shop that will give you the service you need .

courty
05-03-2011, 04:56 PM
Courty great service from shops is very rare their market is the domestic market and they get run off their feet just doing those and they make very good money .
Guys that have bought 10 15 thousand dollar machines get let down when it comes to a major problem and can be off the road for 3 weeks maybe longer you will have to hunt down a service shop that will give you the service you need .

I'd hate to be running a ZTR,I can only imagine the cost of downtime. Unfortunately these guys are really the only game in town as the next closest shop to me is also owned by them.
I'm probably more pissed at the actual breakdown,something like this really shouldn't happen on a commercial product in this time frame,I'm just waiting for them to say it's not covered under warranty.

administrator
05-03-2011, 05:06 PM
Have you got a pic of the damaged area

TOO EASY YARD CARE
05-03-2011, 05:14 PM
Had to catch up a few lawns today due to wet weather yesterday.Second lawn of the day my 9 mth old 196 decide's it wants drop its arse on the ground leaving a dirty big scalp mark on one of my better lawns, WTF? Seems the rear axle(for want of a better word) has cracked away from the height adjustment system.
Looks like I'm going to be without my front line mower for 3-5 working days:eek:
What sort of turn around do you guys expect from your dealers,am I right in thinking this is a little long?. I know I'm a little fish in a big pond but I did buy all my equipment from these guys and have since been buying my blades,trimmer cord,oil etc from them and thought that may count for something.

i guess im luck i get things fixed straight away i call to say im coming in i drop of talk to the boys and its all done longest ill wait for somting major is a day if parts need to come in but they sold the machine to me and they carry spares.. i love the local mower shop give a couple of cartons ever xmass

courty
05-03-2011, 05:18 PM
Have you got a pic of the damaged area

No,didn't think to take one doh.
The rod that runs between the height adjusters at the rear(below the discharge chute) has broken away on the left hand side if that makes sense?

chatza
05-03-2011, 05:27 PM
Had the same thing happen to my masport contractor the height adjuster rivets broke so i re riveted it than a few days later it broke again now i have roofing bolts in it no problems at all. 2 months later i had the rear axle snap where the wheel attaches so watch out for that one it was 1 week to get the part.

PaulG
05-03-2011, 06:46 PM
Out of all the mower shops here there's three I frequent as they all do different products.

I find servicing time depends on what the problem is and what machine too.

I've been working on restoring an old Rover Utility mower recently. When I asked one mower shop about doing the blades and throttle cable for me (to save me the time) it was going to be a three week wait but two weeks ago I had two chainsaw chains sharpened by them and ready to collect the next day.

Another shop, which was the warranty agent for my Sanli hedgetrimmer, took five weeks to source a manifold gasket for it which ended up with me buying a new Kawasaki hedgetrimmer from the third shop in the area that I deal with!

RSM-Gazza
05-03-2011, 08:25 PM
I purchased my entire equipment of one dealer who assured me contractors get priority service when buying of them. Plus a discounted contractor price is given.

They have been true to ther words on every occassion and they are approaching a 4 wk service back log.

Last Tuesday I was on a mega mansion and I burnt/smoked up the ride on mower deck belt when I was about 1 hr into the job at about 1.30pm. I thought -crap!!!- as I also had another gold commercial ride on job to start at 6.00pm that day as it was being done over two evenings due to rain preventing the work being done the previous Sunday.

I loaded the ride on back on trailer drove to the mower shop being 10minutes away. On the spot the owner directed his team to clear the hoist to put my mower on, there and then and re belt it.
Re belting, yes is only a quick job, but thats their attitude towards mobilising a contractor back to work.
Same deal with a masport not staying at full throttle. All while I waited with the shop very very busy at other times during this growing season. They will even lend equipment say a blower if needed.
Great service and so much appreciated, needless to say I purchase almost everything I can of them. Plus I give a slab of the cold stuff and a business thankyou card at xmas.
Plus just about every spare part is carried.

ian
05-03-2011, 10:07 PM
if there a honda dealer they should have been able to fix it in about 20 min by putting a new axle on or you should be able to fix it yourself in the same time with a new axle stuff warranty about $30 for a new axle and your straight back into it

courty
05-03-2011, 10:32 PM
if there a honda dealer they should have been able to fix it in about 20 min by putting a new axle on or you should be able to fix it yourself in the same time with a new axle stuff warranty about $30 for a new axle and your straight back into it

Yep Honda dealer. This is the other part that pissed me off, a quick look,print off the job card and on to the next punter. No service at all really.

administrator
05-03-2011, 10:52 PM
when you see them in a break down diagram they are not hard to fix

courty
05-03-2011, 10:55 PM
when you see them in a break down diagram they are not hard to fix

Thats it,part no1 in the second diagram,rod has snapped off the left hand bracket.

administrator
05-03-2011, 11:02 PM
Peace of cake to fix buy a new rear axle part number 42650-vb4-980 if he says a couple of days to fix just buy the part and put it on your selve it wont be covered by warranty.Or i should say hell say youve dropped it banged it blah blah balah

courty
05-03-2011, 11:09 PM
Peace of cake to fix buy a new rear axle part number 42650-vb4-980 if he says a couple of days to fix just buy the part and put it on your selve it wont be covered by warranty.Or i should say hell say youve dropped it banged it blah blah balah

Exactly,this is what I'm expecting,will head over tomorrow and pick it up and get the part me thinks.

administrator
05-03-2011, 11:16 PM
Also you may need to replace 2 more bushes thats no 4 on pic 2 part number 42757-vb4-000 they may have worn down to nothing causing slop in the rear axle that may have caused it to break .Just a thought

ian
05-03-2011, 11:22 PM
a bit of fiddling around but pretty easy to fit i remember years ago honda reinforced the rear axles because the weld wasn't strong enough so i waited until the new batch with the reinforced axle came out then brought one mowed my 1st nature strip pushed the mower onto the front lawn and the axle broke :) this was repaired under warranty but it was the beginning of the end for me with this dealer when not even two weeks later i noticed 3 of the nuts holding the axle had dropped out and he charged me for replacement ones

PaulG
05-03-2011, 11:56 PM
Might pay to check this on my 196 too as it's been mowing a little bum-down lately and cutting just a little unevenly. Bushes perhaps...

courty
05-03-2011, 11:58 PM
a bit of fiddling around but pretty easy to fit i remember years ago honda reinforced the rear axles because the weld wasn't strong enough so i waited until the new batch with the reinforced axle came out then brought one mowed my 1st nature strip pushed the mower onto the front lawn and the axle broke :) this was repaired under warranty but it was the beginning of the end for me with this dealer when not even two weeks later i noticed 3 of the nuts holding the axle had dropped out and he charged me for replacement ones

There didn't look to be a lot for the weld to take to in my opinion,seemed pretty flimsy actually.
Looks like I'll have to do my own repairs and buy everything off Dean from now on.

GreenHaven
06-03-2011, 06:34 PM
i usually get all my honda spares fromm a honda motorcycles dealer near me never not had a part i needed always the right part and exellent service. Local echo dealer on the other hand broke the throttle cable on my 6 month old brush cutter and it took them 3 days just to order the part that they should have in stock(friggin monkeys) and im without my brushy for a week or 9 been using my bro's pope and it sucks so forget mower shops even if its under warrenty your better off sourcing the part yourself and installing it saves you money in the long run because time is money

The Local Gardener
06-03-2011, 07:22 PM
Had to catch up a few lawns today due to wet weather yesterday.Second lawn of the day my 9 mth old 196 decide's it wants drop its arse on the ground leaving a dirty big scalp mark on one of my better lawns, WTF? Seems the rear axle(for want of a better word) has cracked away from the height adjustment system.
Looks like I'm going to be without my front line mower for 3-5 working days:eek:
What sort of turn around do you guys expect from your dealers,am I right in thinking this is a little long?. I know I'm a little fish in a big pond but I did buy all my equipment from these guys and have since been buying my blades,trimmer cord,oil etc from them and thought that may count for something.

4 those in melbourne!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!burwood hwy mowers, the creme de la creme of service..thank you soooooooooooooo much andy b for the lead. After trying out half of melbourne's mower shops Burwood Hwy Mowers are the ultimate best.

Tell em Andy B and The Local Gardener sent ya....

Andy B
06-03-2011, 10:05 PM
4 those in melbourne!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!burwood hwy mowers, the creme de la creme of service..thank you soooooooooooooo much andy b for the lead. After trying out half of melbourne's mower shops Burwood Hwy Mowers are the ultimate best.

Tell em Andy B and The Local Gardener sent ya....

Cheers man, like I told you. ;)

On Burwood Hwy, on the left about 100m from Warrigal Road heading east and there's a great produce shop back around the corner on Warrigal Road too.

courty
07-03-2011, 02:43 PM
Back in action again. 45 bucks in parts and 25 minutes to fit.
I'll be sending the old axle to my brother for a better weld job and it will go on the spares shelf.
Thanks for the help guys.

courty
07-03-2011, 05:01 PM
As you can see from the pic,once the axle is inserted in to the bracket there is not a lot for the weld to grab

http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c75/gcourt/IMG_0220.jpg

BCMS
07-03-2011, 05:13 PM
Great to hear some good service reports.
Anyone got any recomendations of places to steer clear of?
Cheers

administrator
07-03-2011, 05:21 PM
I just pulled an axle out of the box and the weld ic on yours looks like rubbish
The weld on this looks miles better
The other thing i noticed theres not a weld on the inside as well and thats just about very other makers axle is missing that important 2nd weld just lazy i guess lol

courty
07-03-2011, 05:23 PM
I just pulled an axle out of the box and the weld ic on yours looks like rubbish
The weld on this looks miles better

yep,mine looked like a seagull shat on it from a great height.
Must have been a friday arvo when it was done.

administrator
07-03-2011, 05:29 PM
Mines a different supplier so maybe that has something to do with it

Andy B
07-03-2011, 05:33 PM
yep,mine looked like a seagull shat on it from a great height.
Must have been a friday arvo when it was done.

Or first day back after holidays. :scared

jas
07-03-2011, 07:20 PM
My tip is learn how to fix problems yourself.

By yourself a welder, I have just got a good old stick welder and it has gotten me out of the **** plenty of times. From broken trailer bits to the repairing the ride on deck.

Learn to change your own ride on belts, once you have done it a couple of times, you can do it blind folded. Especially deck belts, always carry a spare, so if it breaks etc you loose very little time.
I can do my drive belts in less than 40 mins and I have to remove the deck and half the steering and foot pedal assembly of to do it.

Never throw your old mowers away, many a times I have had to come home to repair something and first place I head for is the used spare part department. Again gotten me out of the crapper plenty of times.

If you learn to do alot of the repairs yourself, you will save the time of waiting for your machinery to be fixed from a dealer.

Also learn your parts and part numbers, comes in handy, When I'm after parts. You can go straight into the mower shop and say this is what I want. And I'll have the OEM number plus aftermarket numbers like Bynorm and GA.

jas

Fred's mowing
07-03-2011, 08:40 PM
4 those in melbourne!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!burwood hwy mowers, the creme de la creme of service..thank you soooooooooooooo much andy b for the lead. After trying out half of melbourne's mower shops Burwood Hwy Mowers are the ultimate best.

Tell em Andy B and The Local Gardener sent ya....
Just srarted with Ashburton mowers after trying most in the s.e subs.
Getting further away from home now, but thats the way it is.
First impressions have been great, hoping it will last.
Fix most stuff myself, but when u got a pile of gear sitting in the shed & u cant keep up with the incoming work it makes it hard.
Last drop off was 1 mower, 2shindy power heads & 2 chainsaws:russ:
Cheers Fred.

courty
07-03-2011, 08:45 PM
Guys can I ask if these are small shops?
Seems in my part of the world the little fellow has been pushed out by the medium/big guy,Just like fuel and groceries it seems.

Andy B
08-03-2011, 11:41 AM
Most around here I'd say apart from the stihl shop on ferntree gully road which is huge and the mower power on springvale road which is small are medium. They all have their differences and preferences, some specialize in ride ons, some workshop and sales, some internet sales and carry different stock according to their specialties. Just off the top of my head I can think of more than 10 shops within the area I work though which I'm sure is not common across the country.

administrator
08-03-2011, 12:15 PM
Guys can I ask if these are small shops?
Seems in my part of the world the little fellow has been pushed out by the medium/big guy,Just like fuel and groceries it seems.

Courty alot have closed especially in the drought period alot of it was mismanagement of their own business .

Ive been around a long time in this industry, i have seen major suppliers of parts just pull the plug shops do the same .
Competition is fierce .
People buy from overseas with the click of a button it has major complications for Australian business and the Australian work force and maybe our children .
The way we shop has changed and the way we do business has to change to keep up with that change .Sometimes that change is so fast we get left behind .

greasemonkey
08-03-2011, 04:57 PM
My shop drops everything for contractors, especially if they have bought the machine from us. That machine is their living, and we'll do everything we can do get them back on the road again. I've had contractors come in with a break down in the middle of peak season while we have a 3 week workshop backlog and within a few hours they are back up and running.

However, if people buy products from other stores that I am not a dealer for...I have no control over how long it takes to get parts. Drive me nuts!

Redeye
08-03-2011, 07:21 PM
welcome back grease monkey, long time no see

Christine Wharton
08-03-2011, 10:39 PM
Our service agents look after John Deere & Shindaiwa products and try to fix our gear ASAP, even tho there is an official 4 week wait. I think we pay a bit extra for the ASAP attention, but it's worth it...
(Our relatively new Shindaiwa power head has been playing up a bit of late and is in for it's second session in as many weeks - v. frustrating when there are other jobs for it to do other than just the edges...)

ian
08-03-2011, 11:11 PM
My shop drops everything for contractors, especially if they have bought the machine from us. That machine is their living, and we'll do everything we can do get them back on the road again. I've had contractors come in with a break down in the middle of peak season while we have a 3 week workshop backlog and within a few hours they are back up and running.

However, if people buy products from other stores that I am not a dealer for...I have no control over how long it takes to get parts. Drive me nuts!

priority service like this is something contractors should not only expect but demand if need be. if joe blow doesn't like the wait for service from the dealer he will say well then when i need something else in 5 years time if i still remember in will go somewhere else the contractor if he is looked after will most likely be in 1/2 dozen times in the next year and buy as much equipment as 20 residential customers

courty
08-03-2011, 11:17 PM
The 3-5 days I was quoted was priority apparently,retail wait is 10-14 days.
If I was that busy I would probably look at more staff.

PaulG
08-03-2011, 11:32 PM
(Our relatively new Shindaiwa power head has been playing up a bit of late and is in for it's second session in as many weeks)


Been hearing this a bit lately about the latest Shindy engines. Wonder what's going on...

administrator
09-03-2011, 12:29 AM
Once allpower took over the Shindy supply role just about guarantee it would turn to crap and it did

ian
09-03-2011, 07:18 AM
The 3-5 days I was quoted was priority apparently,retail wait is 10-14 days.
If I was that busy I would probably look at more staff.

for an engine problem maybe but an axle this shouldn't take then even 1/2 an hour to do an leave you happy and the mower out of there workshop not to mention they have now forced you to find out how to repair it yourself and missed out on the labor charge today and in the future if it happens again

Anjaryan
09-03-2011, 07:43 AM
priority service like this is something contractors should not only expect but demand if need be. if joe blow doesn't like the wait for service from the dealer he will say well then when i need something else in 5 years time if i still remember in will go somewhere else the contractor if he is looked after will most likely be in 1/2 dozen times in the next year and buy as much equipment as 20 residential customers

Totally agree, the dealer I have just dumbed due to c@#p service got 4.5k out of me in the last 12 months.

I have been looking at a walker too and they would have got that before now, looks like i will be going a toro navigator.

Andy B
09-03-2011, 10:07 AM
For the guys starting out without backup gear etc and even those who aren't, some of the well set up stores have no issues lending you gear while they repair gear you bought from them. Just look after it and they'll keep looking after you!

I try to give my gear a quick clean off if I need to take it in, I just figure they like mechanics and panel beaters etc they look after things a little better if they believe you look after it well. Just a mind set thing but I believe it's usually true.

Cranbourne Lawnmowing
09-03-2011, 06:35 PM
For the guys starting out without backup gear etc and even those who aren't, some of the well set up stores have no issues lending you gear while they repair gear you bought from them. Just look after it and they'll keep looking after you!

I try to give my gear a quick clean off if I need to take it in, I just figure they like mechanics and panel beaters etc they look after things a little better if they believe you look after it well. Just a mind set thing but I believe it's usually true.

Absolutely Andy. My step dad was a mechanic for 25 years and he always said if you can tell they look after their car then they will look after it too.

gcsmow
13-03-2011, 08:33 PM
Same as when I was spray painting, if a car came in and it was neglected our attitude was "Well if they don't give a stuff about it why should we ?" If you could see that the customer actually cared about their car then so would we.

greasemonkey
27-04-2011, 03:56 PM
It doesn't bother me if machines come into the workshop dirty, but everything gets cleaned down before it is worked on and the customer is charged for the cleaning on an hourly workshop rate.

You'd be surprised how many breakdowns could be avoided just by blowing out/washing down machines after use!

Chris B
30-04-2011, 12:31 AM
Our 6 month old 216m2 wheel just rolled off during mowing a couple of days ago.. same prob as courty, the crap weld came off...

to top that off the very next day the drive shaft has come off somehow?!

is it just me or are they literally just falling apart?

Sammow
10-05-2011, 08:56 AM
My HRU216 front axle snapped in the busy season 9 months into its life, Honda dealer was "too busy to fix it" I said have you got the part?
Yep, do you want to have a go at fitting it?
Done
As said earlier it's a bird poo weld letting go which let me down. New part was far better quality!

Chris B
14-05-2011, 04:45 PM
My HRU216 front axle snapped in the busy season 9 months into its life, Honda dealer was "too busy to fix it" I said have you got the part?
Yep, do you want to have a go at fitting it?
Done
As said earlier it's a bird poo weld letting go which let me down. New part was far better quality!

Know how you feel!

We fixed the first wheel by welding it back on.. To top it off the next day the wheel on the other side falls off!! so now they are both welded on properly! the weld looks neat but mustn't penetrate the metals enough??

Bluey
14-05-2011, 05:20 PM
They need to give the robot the sack

ian
14-05-2011, 06:36 PM
They need to give the robot the sack

bluey it's all made in china these days people are still cheaper than robots

Cranbourne Lawnmowing
14-05-2011, 07:49 PM
bluey it's all made in china these days people are still cheaper than robots

The problem these days is that somehow people can get a job programming robots that have no idea what they are doing. Most of them that are doing the programming have never actually used a hand welder. When I left my old job they employed a guy to do all the robot programming and my old leading hand told me a few months later that he had to show this joker how a good weld should look.