[TheForge] costs of ownership question

[Bob Ehrenberger]

Terry,

When my truck was burning oil, I discovered that most shops around here 
don't do rebuilds any more.  They swap out for a factory new or factory 
rebuilt engines.

You should get more than 500 hours from a rebuild, so there is probably a 
bigger problem.  If you can get a new engine it would probably be worth 
replacing. If you can't, you might want to get a new mechanic that will look 
for a deeper problem.

Robert Ehrenberger
Shelbyville, Mo.
eforge at centurytel.net


From: "terry l. ridder" <terrylr at blauedonau.com>
Subject: [TheForge] costs of ownership question
To: theforge e-mail list <theforge at mailman.qth.net>
hello;

what do others use as part of their decision making process when
deciding that the cost of maintenance[1] of a piece of equipment has reach
the point of searching for a replacement piece of equipment that has a
lower maintenance cost[1]?

preventing corrosion by painting, oiling, coating with spray on coatings
like pickup bed liners i do not consider part of the cost of
maintenance. that falls under "normal wear and tear"

having to rebuild an auxilary diesel engine every 500 hrs I consider
excessive. by rebuilding i mean pulling out the cast iron sleeves and
have to install new ones because the sleeves have worn unevenly causing
the cast iron sleeve to become more oval in shape internally. this is
causing a serious lose of compression. machining the cast iron sleeves
is not an option since the amount of machining required results in a
cast iron sleeve bore for which oversized pistons, rings, etc are not
available.