What clients say about twin hills machine in Muskogee (OK)
After the engine they built immediately failed. I discussed it with them and brought a sample of the oil loaded with metal to show some of my concerns along with excessive blow by I explained the problem and brought it back. They inspected the engine and said nothing was wrong. I thin talked to Boyd about it and that I would tear down the engine and find the problem. I did exactly that and came back with the list of problems and the resulting bearing failure caused by the lack mistakes made in assembly along with pictures and Videos of the issues. Problems mismatched rings one clearly was the wrong size. The cam bearing was struck by a cam lobe upon assuming the engine. It appeared to have been attempted to be fixed by buffing it (can’t prove it but the cam would not fit otherwise) the oil hole became misaligned slightly so to the cam strike and was now set to deep. This or the combination of all of it caused the cam bearing to fail. The engine was never run after they reassembled it the second time however the main bearing bolts were way to tight as a 1/2 IR impact could not remove them. I literally spun the engine around with my assistance holding it dragging his feet trying to break them lose. I think it was put together with a impact the second time. I took a torque wrench and checked the torque on them for the heck of it and found the center main bearing to have 150lbs to move it. ( approximately correct as these are TTY torque to yeld bolts and as such get tightened to a degree after the initial torque. The remainder of the bolts all took at or near 800lbs to move. This was mentioned and I was told that he had a torque wrench that goes that high as if he thought that it would impress me or something. Found that a bit interesting. I grew up doing this and work on and have owned everything from 992 loaders d11 dozer draglines cranes etc etc it’s nothing special to have torque wrenches that exceed 800lbs in this industry. He should know that as he is a field service mechanic in the same area that I was for 50 years. That said several other minor mistakes were found that were made in assembly. I did not ask for compensation and none was offered having seen the problems. I certainly will not be going back. The split the 2 shops and businesses in a way that the blame game can be played and responsible not taken by either party. I certainly hope this helps and that they will read this and understand that doing work like this is unacceptable. Boyd has a good reputation for being a solid mechanic in this area and certainly did not assemble this engine. However his attitude towards fixing problems and his lack of taking responsibility and willingness to correctly fix problems caused by his staff needs serious improvement. As for the staff the machine work it was all within tolerance. However I was told the crankshaft had been turned and it was not along with the block was not correctly cleared after and was full of trash. The assembly however is a joke it was anything but professional. Leading to the above mentioned problems along with several other minor issues. In short sadly the work can be done correctly by them but was not. I am sorry to leave such a review however I have the reputation that earned both by my success and my failures. It’s the way I handle them that earned the reputation that I am proud of. I hope they will take this learn from it and it will help them understand that in this world of communication and reviews that you can not act be or do work this way and not get a reputation for it.
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