OOPS, BIG mistake!

[grampachet]

I was talking with a friend who delivers trailers for a company in the NW. There were 300 or so units that have caused the company a heap of trouble. The wheel bearings were not greased..at all. Results have been every where from losing wheels to fires. Many units were on their way to the oil fields in Alberta. Humans make mistakes.

[HOOK]

Especially when we hurry!

[ole dude]

The hurrier I go the behinder I get

[NCFischers]

How do you miss 300 units??? That sounds more like neglect.

[tweber502]

quote:Originally posted by NCFischers

How do you miss 300 units??? That sounds more like neglect.

Agreed. Wondering if they are brand specific or from various manufacturers.

[DQDick]

There is really no excuse for not double checking something that critical, but as we all know the RV business is about do it fast and do it cheap.

[Tom S.]

One of two thoughts: Either a new employee who wasn't properly trained, or deliberate sabotage.

[halfwright]

My question would be:
Do the axles come assembled?

I would be willing to bet they do. So, somewhere there is an axle assembly person looking for a new job.

[grayghost03]

Neglect, yep, but small potatoes in an industrial setting (unless you own one of the trailers) Look at Dodge, finally recalled 1.3 million trucks manufactured over a what 10 year period, due to front end components that they knew was faulty from the start. Other companies have made millions off of work arounds and fixed for the Dodge front end for years. Finally enough failures and there have been a bunch of them, and they have to do a recall. You can insert almost any big industry here and find the results. Some time things slip thru the cracks, someone is responsible and will be held accountable, but most likely it won't be the department heads or higher ups that made the product schedule and delivery schedule that pushed the floor worker to overlook or short cut doing it properly. I can hear it now "Just get them assembled and ready for shipment, I am sure the customer will check the bearing assemblies" and on the receiving end "Don't worry about tearing them down, I'm sure they greased the bearings at the axle fabrication plant" Yep, crap happens, shouldn't, but does and will continue. Always has and always will, unfortunate but true. That's why a dealer inspection is important and critical.

[Art-n-Marge]

Axles are put together by a vendor (for example, Dexter), then shipped to the manufacturer (for example, Keystone) to be assembled in a product line (for example, a Montana). The customer then slams the product (the Montana), who then whines to Keystone for not producting them from their vendors, and then the vendor has to process the failure analysis. I'd be surprised if someone's head does not roll on this one. In the original post no names were mentioned and I only mentioned names for example of so many places where quality checks could go wrong or just plain get mixed. It could have been cause by a sick employee who forgot to call in, then everyone else didn't know about the breakdown in the process.

Either that or there's some whack job wanting to see what a flaming trailer looked like going down the road. The trailer company will take a big hit over this one even though it might be a supply vendors fault. Remember when Ford took the big hit with the Firestone (was if Firestone) tires, then some arbitrary knee jerk reaction, like U-Haul forbidding their stores from renting trailers to anyone owning a Ford Explorer because of it. (I went to a U-Haul store near where I live about a year ago that had this note in their rental agreements, "we do not rent trailers for use with Ford Explorers".) Get over it already... the problem has been solved for a while. The Ford Explorer is quite a capable SUV for this purpose today (I think?!).

[jlb27537]

quote:Originally posted by grayghost03

Look at Dodge, finally recalled 1.3 million trucks manufactured over a what 10 year period, due to front end components that they knew was faulty from the start.

Mr Ghost. Need to make a correction here. The parts being recalled are not defective. The problem is with the ability to align the FE and the left tie rod can be in a rotated position so that when you put the steering in a full lock turn it can snap the shaft in the left TRE.

IF the alignment/installation is done, following Dodge's requirements of having the bottom of both TRE's in the same plane there is no problem.

The recall is to install "stupid proof" parts so that techs that either can't or don't read instructions can't install them improperly.

Jim

[grayghost03]

Sorry I disagree, the parts are weak, and need to be replaced. I have owned and still own a lot of Dodge trucks, but the front end components are weak, as is the design, from frame flex at the steering box, to the ball joints, and tie rod ends, drag links are some of the best in the industry. Just connected with junk, try googling death wobble dodge ram and you will see what I refer to. Currently have 9 Rams and love the truck. But as mentioned earlier, manufacturing has problems, most of the time based on the bottom line, and the need to meet a time table. Dodge and this axle manufacture got caught up in a typical big company mistake. They will handle it. But the dealers that should have done the delivery inspection should have caught the lack of lube and the damage done, prior to delivery to consumer. My dealer checked the bearing on arrival, and decide that the smear that had been applied, was not good, and repacked bearings. Good dealer, will do right by the buyer.