I sent my Caterpillar Bulldozer to Melvin Crawler Parts in West Plains Missouri for repairs, described problem to Corey, the shop foreman. Told him it would operate for right at two hours, and then stop pulling. I asked him if he wanted to come out ahead of time to test it to see what the problem was.
He said it sounded like the torque converter. I asked him to make sure, and to test it with gauges. Corey said that they specialized on D6 Cats like mine. He said they would totally test it at the shop to make sure of the problem.
I also asked him to rebuild the right track slack adjuster, fix the radiator cap, fix the muffler, and replace a couple gaurds as well as make sure all the gauges were working properly.
I asked him approximately how much it would be. He said $2,500-$3,500.
Over a month later I was billed for $7,782.92
Corey said they had rebuilt the torque converter, and there some other things that needed rebuilt, like the left final drive and the steering clutches. I was not sure why they 'repaired' those, as we were not having any problems with them.
I did not like the huge overcharge, but as long as the dozer was fixed, I didn't have much choice. They were not going to let me have the Bulldozer back until I paid them. They never gave me any of the old parts.
I paid them, and they brought my Bulldozer back a few days later.
We did not operate it until a couple weeks later, my Dad was clearing a fence row, and told me that it was doing THE EXACT SAME THING WE HAD SENT IT IN TO BE REPAIRED FOR!
The Bulldozer would operate fine for right at two hours, and then stop pulling. It's still NOT FIXED!!! Almost $8,000 later!
I called them, and told them that the Bulldozer was NOT fixed. Shannon, the owner said he would send Corey the foreman out in a few days with some gauges to see what the problem was. He said it might be a minor valve problem.
A few days later Corey shows up and puts a gauge on the transmission, and we run it for about two hours, and the Bulldozer stopped pulling, just like usual. He looked at the gauge and said the transmission ($4,500 - $6,500) needed rebuilt!
I told him that this exact problem was why I sent it in to get fixed in the first place, what were they doing "fixing" things that didn't need fixed!
I waited a couple weeks to see if they were going to do anything about actually fixing the bulldozer. After I had not been contacted, a called to find out what was up.
I talked to owner Shannon, and told him the problem. He asked me if I wanted them to rebuild the transmission. I asked him if he was actually expecting me to pay them to rebuild the transmission after spending that much money and it's still NOT FIXED! He then said: " I don't want to do any more work for you" and hung up.
I called the person I originally bought the Bulldozer from, and he said that the torque converter had been rebuilt not to long ago. He said they most likely ASSUMED that the torque converter was bad by the description of the problem, and then rebuilt it.
The bottom line is that they did NOT fix my Bulldozer, it is doing the same identical thing as before. Their attitude is tough, we have your money, now go away.
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