September 25, 2011 - 6:19pm
30 Qt Thunderbird - Stuck in 1st
It was so cheap I couldn't help myself. I figured it would break and now it has. It was stuck in 2nd' now it's gone to 1st and staying there. No crazy noises or anything. I took the top and side panels off, but not much to see and don't want to poke around more than that without knowing what to do. Any advice (including to call a repairman) is much appreciated.
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it was the shifting fork. not sure what it's going to end up costing, but labor is about $90/hr! even if the repair ends up doubling what I paid for the mixer, i'll end up with a good working 30qt mixer for under a grand.
An advice: get a schematic of the mixer from the company (maybe on their website, or call them). Get an estimate from several shops based on the schematic. Prices are likely to vary widely. Price per hour does not mean anything by itself: $100/hr for a person who has done THIS exact repair before is a lot cheaper than $20/hr for someone who doesn't know anything about this unit or doesn't have the right tools (bearing presses, hydraulic press, etc.). Get estimates. This is from experience of being burned, many times, and still being burned...
serviceman came out several weeks ago for diagnostic. the part took a while to get here and he came back today to do the actual repair. around here, it was hard enough to find one company that repairs restaurant equipment, i don't think there is another, at least not that does on site service. it was worth two hours of labor to not have to move the freaking thing again. getting it in my van after i bought it involved a transmission jack and a near hernia...;)
I once had to have one repaired.
I brought it to the repair shop for a diagnostic.
They took it almost completely apart.
When they told me it would take $700 to fix it, I refused the repair.
They, in return, refused to put it back together.
I was given a box of parts. :(
Lesson: Always ask if the cost of the diagnostic includes re-assembly.