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Post by Fox on Feb 19, 2011 10:16:12 GMT -5
I fixed a wrecked Lance Vintage 150. The forks were bent and it had been sitting for several months so the fuel system had to be completely flushed out. The idle jet took 10 minutes to clean it was so clogged up. The new forks had no lower bearing race on them so I had to remove the old race from the old forks. Needless to say it wasn't a fast money job It took me about 7 hours total when all was said and done. I even cleaned it up so it looked new again. The one snag was when I went to pick it up it was dark and I left the keys on top of my van so subsequently they were lost in transit so I had to get her spare set the next morning but that didn't stop me from swapping the forks that night. Took three hours cause I had to coax the old lower bearing race off the old bent forks. That took a while hammering on it from all sides. I charged the girl 6 hours @ $25 hr. = $150 I had another spare set of keys made for the scooter at my expense. There's nobody else in the world that would do the job for less. I didn't even charge her for drive time or gas to pick up the damn thing.
Okay so now onto the anger issue:
I returned the scooter and she handed me the cash and I gave her the two sets of keys and drove off. Two minutes later she calls me and tells me she thinks I "took her for a ride" and over-charged her etc... I tried to explain but she was hysterical so I hung up on her and drove home. By the time I got home I was furious that someone could be so un-grateful. I could have charged her $250 if I wanted to. The damn thing was bent and clogged with a dead battery. I'm still furious that a girl who is ignorant as to how a scooter even works is going to tell me how long it takes to repair one. I left her a voice mail telling her if I wanted to rip her off I would have done it for more than a measly $150. I also told her to lose my number. She can go to another guy and really get ripped off next time.
What a BITCH!
Thanks for letting me vent! I feel a little better.
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Post by 90GTVert on Feb 19, 2011 10:43:18 GMT -5
$150 in labor for a collision repair sounds amazing to me, let alone the other issues. I had a bad time with thinking my bills were too high when I was working on scoots. I had a $330 bill with parts from Honda for one guy that needed a top end rebuild after a bent valve as well as full cleaning of the fuel system from sludge and some other issues. Took quite a bit of time. I was thinking $330 is sooo much money, cause to me it is. It was actually supposed to be a $4__ bill, but I had knocked it back to $330. I finally called 3 Honda dealers around here. Two wouldn't touch an 80 something Honda. One gave me an estimate of $700-800 not including the fuel system or other issues or parts and they said it could go more than that. It would be about $400 for them to tear it down just to look into the engine to give a more accurate estimate. I think this woman should call a Honda or Yamaha dealer and ask them on an estimate for a front fork swap, carburetor cleaning, and battery charge. If she ever crashes a car, she'll have a heart attack when she sees an estimate or bill. lol
I had another customer I told you guys about, but they had a flywheel with stripped threads so a puller wouldn't work. After trying all of my other pullers, then buying 3-4 more pullers, I still had no luck. I though I may be able to get it by heating it, but I was kinda afraid to heat the flywheel around the crank and then go putting pressue on it with a puller. Just not worth the risk. So a few hours of work and a good bit of money in tools later, I called the guy and told him to pick it up at no charge. I explained it all. Showed him all the pullers I tried. Showed him how a flywheel normally comes off easy with a puller. The whole 9. He gave me an insincere thanks and seemed mad that I didn't fix it. Acted like I was BSing him and that I tore it up. Everyone seems to think that you're out to get them. They don't realize that being a very small business I just couldn't risk replacing a crank if something went wrong over what would be a $50 labor job or less when done. I had also swapped rectifiers, charged the battery, tested the battery, checked connections, etc... hoping maybe it wasn't the stator before going through all of this and testing the stator.
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Post by lshigham on Feb 19, 2011 11:46:07 GMT -5
Brent, I would have JB welded (or in fact properly welded) the puller to the flywheel. Both the puller and flywheel are fairly cheap to replace.
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Post by Fox on Feb 19, 2011 12:00:53 GMT -5
Yeah, you just can't please some people. Especially ignorant people.
As for that flywheel, I think maybe you could have drilled and tapped some holes in the face of it and used a steering wheel type puller. Maybe...I tried pulling a GY6 50cc flywheel off like that using only two of the four fan bolt holes and the bolts just ripped out of the flywheel. I don't understand why the flywheels have to be installed the way they are anyway. I think they should just slide over a straight shaft with splines like the drive face. Just have to line up a couple marks and slide it on. Then you wouldn't need a damn puller.
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Post by 90GTVert on Feb 19, 2011 12:39:53 GMT -5
I used a steering wheel puller. Wouldn't budge. All in all I had something like 7 pullers to use and none would budge it. I bent one puller that had thinner arms. I think there might have been more going on than just the stripped threads, but it's hard to say.
Welding the puller to the flywheel I never thought of. Interesting idea. My thing is, it's not worth me damaging something and having to tell a customer... Your flywheel won't come off, it's got a puller welded to it, and I fear that I pushed so hard I may have damaged other things. If it's mine, it's coming off somehow. I don't think the same way for customers though. I feel like I'd earn a much worse negative rep from what could have happened than doing the job right would have ever earned. Not to mention thinking about the financial aspect of it as well. It would turn a cheap job expensive if something went wrong, and I'd feel bad and end up covering the costs incurred. Maybe someday I'll work in a big shop for someone else and I can tear up whatever I want. lol
I'm not sure if it applies here, but I know that in cars the harmonic balancers are press fit because you want vibrations or energy transmitted into the balancer and that cannot be done properly without an interference fit.
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Post by Thebatman on Feb 19, 2011 14:48:58 GMT -5
I for one dont blame either of you one bit.... Especially that woman with fox... that's some dirty shit there.. I probably would've ended up flippin and cussing someone.. $25 is a straight up blessin on some labor charges....  Places here, tho they are shops charge anywhere from $40-65 an hr for labor...(1 reason i am learning it myself...) :rofl: I did get a shaft over damaged plastic once and the thought of my belt being changed once in the very beginning for me. For repair work, i'd be HAPPY to pay $25 hr...... :thumb: |
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Post by Fox on Feb 19, 2011 17:40:51 GMT -5
Yeah most people who do their research and get a few estimates would know that $25/hr is friggin' cheap. I even hooked this girl up with a local source for the forks. All she had to do was go and get them but I would have been happy to do that too free of charge if she'd asked. I changed her oil and plug and didn't charge extra. From now on I'm gonna make my labor rate clearly known first thing so there's no more episodes like this one. Hell, I should raise it to $30 and charge people for every little extra like plugs and oil and zip ties.  |
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Post by Goosey on Feb 19, 2011 20:18:20 GMT -5
Anybody that's ever had a mechanical repair done would realize that $150 was a fair price. Hell, I paid that much to have the differential cover changed on my truck. I supplied the cover, but I know that 3 of the bolts were stuck...had to snap em off and re thread or what ever you guys call it  Worth it for me not to mess with it, and the shop I use allways get the work done within the same day. Just ignorance on her part. You were right to tell her to lose your number. |
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Post by Fox on Feb 19, 2011 23:53:58 GMT -5
Yeah Goosey! You know what's up. You have the same scooter twice and you do all the maint. on 'em. That front end was no pic-nic with cherries on top.
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Post by rocketdog on Feb 20, 2011 8:11:34 GMT -5
25 Bucks an hour is dirt cheap. If you can get someone to touch a Chinese Scooter, here in TN, it's 75 and up. One of the hardest parts of the job is estimating repair costs. Something always comes up that you don't expect. And isn't it amazing the amount damage that folks can do to a machine, who are ignorant of how they work. Something small will happen to the vehicle and they compound the problem. Such as driving it with no engine oil, for example. I'll tell one on my wife. She runs over something in the road at night. Air begins to leak from the tire. By the time she arrives home, a 20 inch wheel is about all there is contacting the pavement. You don't even want to know what a factory 20 inch wheel costs. Now I wasn't real upset. She was out by herself and she was on a deserted HiWy. I was out of pocket and she didn't know who to call. But that Perelli and wheel were a small fortune. A lot more than a simple garage door. She now has a list of people to call . RD |
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Post by 90GTVert on Feb 20, 2011 9:04:54 GMT -5
I ruined a wheel once driving a few miles. It wasn't a dub though. Still cost about $200. I figured the tow bill was gonna be $100 something and I was gonna wait 45min plus whatever time it took me to find a phone (no cell then). I had to be somewhere so I drove home. Had I not been so concerned with weight in the car, I woulda had a spare and jack.
I actually rode a scooter about 5 miles on a flat rear tire once a few years ago. It busted on the way to a friend's house. I was gonna meet up with him and another scooter riding friend of his for our first little group ride. 5 miles away, a clam shell (yes, a clam shell) gashed my tire and it went down immediately. I had no cell then either, so I said screw it and rode the rest of the way to my friend's place on a twisty road. It's quite an interesting experience with a flat rear tire on a 2 wheeler. It feels an awful lot like driving a car with handlebars. Forget leaning, just steer. Above 30MPH it got a little hairy. Ended up not even damaging the aluminum wheel. I was amazed. Remember, I was weighing in at 285 and the tire was completely flat. You can bend the steel wheels on some scoots by looking at them funny.
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Post by Goosey on Feb 20, 2011 9:13:38 GMT -5
:rofl: And the deciding factor there was getting a quote for $700 to swap out an engine :lol: Thankfully I was born from mechanically inclined genes. :thumb:
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Post by 90GTVert on Feb 20, 2011 9:20:24 GMT -5
Wow. You know the craziest part of those prices? People pay them.
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Post by reveeen on Feb 20, 2011 10:19:25 GMT -5
Local dealers charge $90 an hour + 10% "shop supplies" (on the bill total before tax) to cover zip ties/whatever.
If I had someone "local" willing to do the work for $25-30/hr, and did a good job, I wouldn't bother getting my hands dirty......... scooter repair by remote control!
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Post by Fox on Feb 20, 2011 12:09:36 GMT -5
Yeah, I've lost/turned down work because the repair was going to cost over half the price of a brand new scooter.
25¢ a zip tie has a nice ring to it.... What do you guys think? :rofl:
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Worth it for me not to mess with it, and the shop I use allways get the work done within the same day. Just ignorance on her part. You were right to tell her to lose your number.
