Bought one of the coolest things i have ever bought today...

[ImcLoud]

OK, well two things...

First if this thread is going to make you mad don't read it, it has been brought to my attention that people don't like when I "brag", I also got a lot of messages saying, F- them guys, lol but the one that said I brag too much stuck, so if I brag too much for you, ignore or block me, simple enough?

If you don't like me please block me, I have a few friends on here that don't mind me so Im going to stick around, but please if you have a problem with me and how I post just ignore me, because when I feel like someone is against me I am very competative and a total prick and it will be an argument, which on a forum is childish and stupid, I know that, but it doesnt seem to matter at the time...


OK onto todays purchase, I have been looking for a while to replace my JCB back hoe and 10 year old skid steer, so starting monday past I went looking, always partial to CAT I started there, but to do my research I went on a few road trips during the week {weather permitting} and checked out a few others, CAT is the best in the business {thats pretty well known} and their new IT front loader system is just what I need...

The IT allows you to lift pallets with out dumping them, very very cool.. CAT let me play in the snow with a machine for over an hour {I think they tricked me into plowing their parking lot, to be honest with you, but I picked the 430F IT, I bought a 305.5e mini excavator both brand spankin new and a 2012 low ground pressure skid steer with very low hours...

the skid steer is used, but looks brand new has 85 hours on it.....

They took my skid steer and my jcb in trade, they were generous and they are picking them up {and the check for the balance of course} when they deliver the new machines, hopefully really soon, I can not wait to play with them....

 

[Adam]

Congrats. My grandma bought me something like that when I was about eight.

Well, Tonka brand...not Cat.

 

[ImcLoud]

LOL, thanks adam, I still have my tonkas from when I was a kid... I pretty excited about them, I never bought a BRAND NEW Machine like that before, its a good feeling and CAT treats you like a customer should be treated, let me play with the machines {even the ones I could never afford}, tookk me to lunch, gave me a gift certificate to dinner {I must have looked hungry}, and just were rite ontop of everything, my salesman new them machines in and out, from what kind of oil to every other aspect of service I could think of!!! Didn't have to go look anything up or the old "ill check on that for you" BS... He dropped everything every time I walked in the door... Pretty cool...

And I am in now way a huge customer, I will probably not buy another machine for 10 years if I don't retire by then, so its pretty much a 1 time sale {3 items, but once}, I know companies that spend millions every couple years, and in that place it isnt hard to do, the smallest back hoe is $100K, you can buy 2 of some other brands for that!!!!

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

The closest ever I got (or will ever) to own CAT is to buy CAT branded work boots

 

[Adam]

Very cool that they treated you so well. It's nice to have a good experience when buying something. What do you use them all for?

 

[English210]

Congrats!! We all need new toys on occasion, just to keep us young, and when we can 'justify' them as 'for work' it's a nice bonus!!! Hard to justify new speakers as a 'work necessity', but I aint giving up!!! The equipment needed to prep the ground for that brand new theater, though.....

 

[ImcLoud]

Very cool that they treated you so well. It's nice to have a good experience when buying something. What do you use them all for?

Use them for digging with out a shovel of course, lol

In the HVAC trade we are constantly digging, removing in ground oil tanks{lately a lot of people need this service since 80% of my residential business is oil to gas conversions}, but more importantly is the commercial piping side, we are constantly digging up broken pipes this year has been terrible for broken pipes since we have been in deep freeze for so long. This spring I have enough work to almost pay for the 3 machines {just the perfect storm of circumstances, cold ground, tons of gas conversions and inground tanks to remove, ect}...

My back hoe is in great shape, but its started to get old, the ac quit last year and cost me $3000 to repair, we have been fixing leaks for years now when they spring up, its in good shape because I take care of it, but its starting to get expensive, and with the work load I have all ready and predict will be much greater very soon I would not be confident the machine would perform for much longer with out costing much more to operate...

Now the other 2 machines, the skid steer and mini X, I honestly could get by with out them, but they will definitely be handy, I have often had yards I could not access with my large machine and when its a small job its hard to justify taing down fences, cutting down trees and shrubs, ect...

Plus the real estate company will make use of them a good amount as it did my old stuff, and I take work from time to time on an hourly basis for non hvac related jobs, I have dug pools, filled in pools, dug small foundations, graded lawns, removed stumps, ect... Its $125 an hour for the machine and an operator so not a ton of profit but if me or my operator are doing nothing, work is work....

 

[slipperybidness]

LOL, thanks adam, I still have my tonkas from when I was a kid... I pretty excited about them, I never bought a BRAND NEW Machine like that before, its a good feeling and CAT treats you like a customer should be treated, let me play with the machines {even the ones I could never afford}, tookk me to lunch, gave me a gift certificate to dinner {I must have looked hungry}, and just were rite ontop of everything, my salesman new them machines in and out, from what kind of oil to every other aspect of service I could think of!!! Didn't have to go look anything up or the old "ill check on that for you" BS... He dropped everything every time I walked in the door... Pretty cool...

And I am in now way a huge customer, I will probably not buy another machine for 10 years if I don't retire by then, so its pretty much a 1 time sale {3 items, but once}, I know companies that spend millions every couple years, and in that place it isnt hard to do, the smallest back hoe is $100K, you can buy 2 of some other brands for that!!!!

Yup, technical sales-weasels is certainly refreshing. I hate it when I have to deal with a salesman for pricing, yet he knows absolutely nothing about the technical side of it. I want a technical person that can also do the sale.

 

[ParadigmDawg]

I looked at those when we were at the Stock show and rodeo 3 weeks ago. I was way drunk and I was trying to negotiate the price down on one.

I don't even know what they do but I was bored so I was trying to get a deal, my wife finally made me stop since I was wasting the guys time.

Later we were asked to leave because obviously you are not supposed to thump the show roosters. How was I to know? It WAS my first Rodeo...

BTW, I need a new AC according to my AC guy, how can I get a deal from you? I'm serious.

 

[ImcLoud]

I looked at those when we were at the Stock show and rodeo 3 weeks ago. I was way drunk and I was trying to negotiate the price down on one.

I don't even know what they do but I was bored so I was trying to get a deal, my wife finally made me stop since I was wasting the guys time.

Later we were asked to leave because obviously you are not supposed to thump the show roosters. How was I to know? It WAS my first Rodeo...

BTW, I need a new AC according to my AC guy, how can I get a deal from you? I'm serious.

I can get you my pricing for the materials at your local RE Micheals Co. {search should show where your closest is}, I spent almost $400K there last year, and I could let you know what to buy, but you wouldn't want to pay one of my techs to come and install it lol, plus I hold no texas licenses so theres that too ... Why do you need a new ac, that sounds weird, did it get hit by lightening or a car? how is it all bad, your house is relatively new.... I could see needed a new compressor or a new coil, or control, but not 2 brand new units {inside and out}?

The country fairs and rodeo's are the best places to see equipment, they do make deals at them too...

 

[slipperybidness]

I can get you my pricing for the materials at your local RE Micheals Co. {search should show where your closest is}, I spent almost $400K there last year, and I could let you know what to buy, but you wouldn't want to pay one of my techs to come and install it lol, plus I hold no texas licenses so theres that too ... Why do you need a new ac, that sounds weird, did it get hit by lightening or a car? how is it all bad, your house is relatively new.... I could see needed a new compressor or a new coil, or control, but not 2 brand new units {inside and out}?

The country fairs and rodeo's are the best places to see equipment, they do make deals at them too...

Down here, the AC runs 24/7 about 10 months out of the year. I'm already having to run mine this year.

Seriously, we are headed for overnight LOWS in the 85F range in the near future. On the flip-side, we are just about getting ready for lake-weather and can go out on the lakes well into October.

I agree that his house seems too new to need an AC already. Maybe he just wants/needs an upgrade? But, things do break.

 

[j_garcia]

My dad has an older one like that for his property. I need to borrow it... He was in the heavy equipment industry for many years and when he went to retire from his company, CAT offered him a job. He turned it down. His pride and joy is an old International like this:

 

[ImcLoud]

My dad has an older one like that for his property. I need to borrow it... He was in the heavy equipment industry for many years and when he went to retire from his company, CAT offered him a job. He turned it down.

I have my HEO licences and employ a full time tech that also has his HEO, there is money in operating, at one time I while I was building my business i worked as an operator, I liked it so much I almost just stuck with that instead of putting so much effort into my business, it paid well and was good work, BUT the company I worked for was going through growing pains and I could see trouble in the water, they are still around, but they changed there name and they don't have many of the old faces around...

 

[j_garcia]

Yeah, my dad was an operator, but his main role was as a lead mechanic. So he did both at a couple of small construction firms that both do a LOT of business in our area because they're both very well known locally. He retired and got bored and now drives the big delivery trucks at Lowes to pass the time When he left, he was the shop foreman and went all over North America for the big equipment shows and auctions and that's why CAT was interested in him.

 

[slipperybidness]

My dad has an older one like that for his property. I need to borrow it... He was in the heavy equipment industry for many years and when he went to retire from his company, CAT offered him a job. He turned it down. His pride and joy is an old International like this:

Nice! Yeah, when I was a kid, my uncle gave my dad one similar to this, it wasn't International, but I can't remember the brand. It was just kind of old and needed some work done to it. My uncle didn't feel like paying for the work, so he just gave it to my dad. Of course, my dad did the work himself, so we got it pretty much for free.

My dad also has a Farmall F14 from back in the day. Man, what a workhorse that thing still is.

 

[j_garcia]

Nice! Yeah, when I was a kid, my uncle gave my dad one similar to this, it wasn't International, but I can't remember the brand. It was just kind of old and needed some work done to it. My uncle didn't feel like paying for the work, so he just gave it to my dad. Of course, my dad did the work himself, so we got it pretty much for free.

My dad also has a Farmall F14 from back in the day. Man, what a workhorse that thing still is.

My dad picked his up I believe not working either, and since he's worked on so many, he was able to fix it pretty easily. He pretty much fully restored it with fresh paint and everything and it is a lot of fun. He still uses it at the property, but I think that's more just because he has fun riding around on it This one actually came with the original manual and everything!!

 

[ImcLoud]

Nice! Yeah, when I was a kid, my uncle gave my dad one similar to this, it wasn't International, but I can't remember the brand. It was just kind of old and needed some work done to it. My uncle didn't feel like paying for the work, so he just gave it to my dad. Of course, my dad did the work himself, so we got it pretty much for free.

My dad also has a Farmall F14 from back in the day. Man, what a workhorse that thing still is.

Thats an old IH {international harvester} I believe that is a TD9 dozer, very cool machine...

 

[ParadigmDawg]

The beginning of last summer we had the coil replaced as all the Freon had ran out secondary to a leak in the coil.

The end of the summer, our "outside part"(Condenser?) of the AC starting getting really loud, like metal on metal sound and even worse at start up. Our AC guy came out two times and checked things and even put something on it that he said makes the start up easier, it didn't help. He said he honestly can't find a fixable issue with it and he thinks it will need to be changed out. He has spent 2 or more hours going through it and has never charged me.

When I asked how urgent it was to replace it, he said he would just run it until it gets so loud that the neighbors complain and he said it may last another 5 days or 5 years.

He did give me the option to replace it piece by piece or change the whole thing. He said if we just changed the outside part then we had to continue using the old type Freon(or something like that) and that the warranty would be 1 year vs. 5 year.

Obviously I don't know what I'm talking about but the guy's wife works with my wife and he has owned his business for 25 years and has a high rating. He also teaches the AC classes at the local college here. I feel like I can trust him but I would like to know your thoughts.

Needless to say, I don't want a loud AC regardless of what my neighbors say.

I can get you my pricing for the materials at your local RE Micheals Co. {search should show where your closest is}, I spent almost $400K there last year, and I could let you know what to buy, but you wouldn't want to pay one of my techs to come and install it lol, plus I hold no texas licenses so theres that too ... Why do you need a new ac, that sounds weird, did it get hit by lightening or a car? how is it all bad, your house is relatively new.... I could see needed a new compressor or a new coil, or control, but not 2 brand new units {inside and out}?

The country fairs and rodeo's are the best places to see equipment, they do make deals at them too...

 

[sawzalot]

The beginning of last summer we had the coil replaced as all the Freon had ran out secondary to a leak in the coil.

The end of the summer, our "outside part"(Condenser?) of the AC starting getting really loud, like metal on metal sound and even worse at start up. Our AC guy came out two times and checked things and even put something on it that he said makes the start up easier, it didn't help. He said he honestly can't find a fixable issue with it and he thinks it will need to be changed out. He has spent 2 or more hours going through it and has never charged me.

When I asked how urgent it was to replace it, he said he would just run it until it gets so loud that the neighbors complain and he said it may last another 5 days or 5 years.

He did give me the option to replace it piece by piece or change the whole thing. He said if we just changed the outside part then we had to continue using the old type Freon(or something like that) and that the warranty would be 1 year vs. 5 year.

Obviously I don't know what I'm talking about but the guy's wife works with my wife and he has owned his business for 25 years and has a high rating. He also teaches the AC classes at the local college here. I feel like I can trust him but I would like to know your thoughts.

Needless to say, I don't want a loud AC regardless of what my neighbors say.

I was told the same thing P Dawg, if I changed out my condenser (Loud and not too efficient) I would have to change the A-Coil as well to use the new coolant.

 

[ParadigmDawg]

Was Irv your AC guy?

I was told the same thing P Dawg, if I changed out my condenser (Loud and not too efficient) I would have to change the A-Coil as well to use the new coolant.