Hydraulics – The Yuma Attitude & A Surprise
My son replaced leaking hydraulic seals for me on my little tractor loader a couple years ago. He seemed to do a good job, but after a year they started to leak again. Pretty badly.
As you may have noticed I do a lot of work myself, because a fair number of local shops and pros have disappointed me. You might recall I installed the hitch and power steps on my new truck myself for that reason. Still, my son is pretty good at doing things. Maybe as good at figuring stuff out as I am. I figured there must be something about these installing these hydraulic seals we just didn’t know and couldn’t learn from a few online videos.
At the suggestion of one of my neighbors I decided to give King Hose a try. First off, when I walked in they were nice, sincerely friendly and made me think they WANTED to help. They didn’t give me a bad time or talk down to me because our DIY repair didn’t last. They gave me a good reason that it might not have lasted, and said if I brought in the cylinders early they would open them up the same day and find out what parts they needed to order, or machine work they might need to do. One of the guys there used to work for CSC and I recall there he used to be very helpful. I haven’t been in CSC in several years.**
Well, I didn’t get the hydraulics off and into their store until late on a Friday. They were actually apologetic that they wouldn’t be able to look at them until Monday morning. I suspect if I had told them it was a critical item they would have opened them up right then. Of course, if it was a critical item I’d have gotten the cylinders to them the previous week on Monday morning like I originally planned to. I won’t waste their good will and great attitude on something that took longer because of me.
I usually hesitate to sing anybody’s praises or recommend anybody anymore. It seems like the moment I do they do (or don’t do) something that ruins it for me. Here is the thing though. I have a broken part, its going to cost me money to fix, and they were a breath of fresh air to deal with compared to many I have dealt with recently. I don’t necessarily recommend them, because I don’t know them all that well, but pleasant friendly attitude is worth a mention. I certainly wouldn’t recommend against them.
** The last time I at CSC there some guy I’d never met was very condescending, didn’t listen and eventually after having to repeat myself several times sold me what I needed at a grossly exaggerated price. I was building some injection probes for airguns and needed some number 006 o-rings. Typically they cost about 6-10¢. Even at the big box hardware store you could get a pack of a couple for under a dollar at the time. CSC was a buck each with a dose of Yuma attitude. I won’t say I’ll never go back, but when I made the next batch of probes I ordered 100 o-rings from McMaster for about 12 bucks. McMaster actually has a reputation for being a little on the high price side. I certainly could have purchased o-rings cheaper elsewhere, but McMaster treats me like I am important, and I typically have stuff the next day. If there is an issue they don’t leave me hanging either. They call me or drop me an email right away so I can do whatever I need to do to take care of the job I am working on. I don’t go to CSC anymore unless I need it today and other sources don’t have what I need.