Rebuilding my Vortex's

[Jim Martin]

Hell yea there here to stay......lets be honest about it.....the truck is not there bread and butter.....never has been and never will be....If they sell another truck....or parts for an old one ..its just icing on the cake for them.......

 

[George V]

Who's the finance wiz that will be able to get them financed?

I would call Kip Hardesty. He's a TM lender and Vortex is his specialty. Some of you probably know him?

work: 309-750-1270

Cell: 309-256-4553

 

[steve g]

I disagree with Steve. I believe the AT will be going strong in 2013 and beyond. Everybody said AT would not last and Vortex was king. Look now Vortex is gone and AT is doing great.

I just talked to Vladimir and they have a lot of R & D going on now. They have some great things happening with machine design and sound levels.

Dave

dave, what happens when because of meeting emissions standards, they can't tap the exhaust anymore. my 2011 f250 6.7 uses urea injection and regens, the regen is such that the exhaust has cutouts at the end to cool it down before it exits, because when extra fuel is used to clean the exhaust filter it creates a ton of heat. I don't think this sort of system would be very good to run through an exhaust HX. the heat would be unpredictable.

AT is in a unique situation in that they can have employees, staff and equipment just work on something else if machines are not sold. however I would call and ask how many machines they are selling, I doubt they are selling more than a handful of machines a year. yeah as in 3 or 4 a year. one has to wonder if that is the case with such little profit margin how long it will take for them to just drop the whole thing, especially in the face of increasing issues with trucks meeting emissions standards. I guess if one knows all this going in and still opts to do business with AT I suppose that is their decision. They have done the best job supporting the big truck people and would likely stock and or make the major parts such as HX's etc in the event someone needed one down the road. bottom line is a guy that bought an aerotech, one that they alone built, I could see a guy ending up pretty happy with the performance and reliability of the machine.

 

[Mike Draper]

My buddy who owns an AT called me the other day. He said he needed a tune up on his AT. Told me that AT is swamped building new AT's and repairing V's. AT told him they have 11 trucks to get done before the end of the year, after that they could do a tune up on his truck.

They have 11 new trucks to build before the end of the year. This is what they told my buddy.

 

[Dave Rampage]

Steve,

It is a fact that Aerotech is busy building trucks and after talking to Vladimir, they will have no problem meeting the emission standards.

They had many doubters since I bought mine in 05 and I know they will have doubters through the years. I will again be here in 5 years saying I told you so. These trucks are way more reliable and cost less than those toy machines the other manufacturers build.

Dave

 

[steve g]

[quote="Mike Draper":3i3mzjby]My buddy who owns an AT called me the other day. He said he needed a tune up on his AT. Told me that AT is swamped building new AT's and repairing V's. AT told him they have 11 trucks to get done before the end of the year, after that they could do a tune up on his truck.

They have 11 new trucks to build before the end of the year. This is what they told my buddy.[/quote:3i3mzjby]

mike, I would be careful quoting something as gospel especially second hand info. I don't think even prochem will sell 11 machines by the end of the year.

to say AT is going to have no problem meeting emissions is taking a huge leap of faith, dave with obama as president I don't think anyone knows whats on the horizon for emissions standards. it could change in a couple years and surely in the next 5. I know you have invested alot of money with aerotech and I hope all is well with that, but to ignore would could happen is not being honest with yourself. I would be surprised if AT has sold more than 10 machines ALL year.

 

[Dave Rampage]

Steve,

You should do your own research before you make a statement about how many trucks AT made this year because you are way wrong. When I am ready to purchase my next truck, if AT is still making them, I will purchase from them. If they chose not to build them at that time I will research the best machine for me.

My truck is just a piece of equipment that is there to make me money and it does that much more than any other machine I ever owned. With much more reliability too. In 96,000 miles, all I did was throw a set of brake pads on it, change the oil and change the tires.

Dave

 

[Dave Rampage]

I want to add one thing. There are no guarantees any of us or any manufacturer will be doing business in 5 years. The thing I find funny is all the so called analysts on these boards who are wrong all the time.

I am happy with the decision I made to buy an Aero Tech and am not afraid to admit my mistakes. I made a huge mistake marrying my soon to be x wife and that investment definitely cost me a lot but I learn from my mistakes and definitely learned a big lesson here. I really can't talk about that because it's not over yet and I'm sure everything I type is being watched.

Have a nice Christmas Steve. I'm looking forward to this Christmas as family has new meaning to me.

Dave

 

[Mike Draper]

[quote="Mike Draper":35kwrsh9][quote="Mike Draper":35kwrsh9]My buddy who owns an AT called me the other day. He said he needed a tune up on his AT. Told me that AT is swamped building new AT's and repairing V's. AT told him they have 11 trucks to get done before the end of the year, after that they could do a tune up on his truck.

They have 11 new trucks to build before the end of the year. This is what they told my buddy.[/quote:35kwrsh9]

mike, I would be careful quoting something as gospel especially second hand info. I don't think even prochem will sell 11 machines by the end of the year.

to say AT is going to have no problem meeting emissions is taking a huge leap of faith, dave with obama as president I don't think anyone knows whats on the horizon for emissions standards. it could change in a couple years and surely in the next 5. I know you have invested alot of money with aerotech and I hope all is well with that, but to ignore would could happen is not being honest with yourself. I would be surprised if AT has sold more than 10 machines ALL year.[/quote:35kwrsh9]


It's not gospel if the end of my sentence says " this is what they told my buddy.

 

[ronbeatty]

Dave, One thing I learned through this is stay away from the new company until they have time to prove themselves.

 

[ronbeatty]

Is it just me, or does it seem odd that we have had no response from Blueline/Sapphire Scientific. :roll: :!: :?:

 

[Jim Martin]

we have Steve G....what else could you want.......

 

[Leslie Judson Jones]

Which company is the original designer of the big truck?

 

[Mikey P]

Is it just me, or does it seem odd that we have had no response from Blueline/Sapphire Scientific. :roll: :!: :?:

Dont you know what they would say Ron?
I'm assuming you didn't start this thread in an attempt to get them to say something that you have not already heard


or am I wrong?

 

[Jimbo]

Which company is the original designer of the big truck?

Let me see...that would be Your Daddy, Les!

 

[Mike Draper]

Hey Jim, The news said you guys got 9' of snow up there. Is that right?

 

[Mikey P]

Who invented the Big Truck?

Good question, the Vats as we know them were a group project lead by Shawn York who brought the XenTherm idea to the table (not saying it was idea) to AT and Vlad pretty much did the rest with some input on aesthetics from York.

Vlad has come a long way. It was obvious from the fresh tank design that he knew nothing about working with water.


The latest rendition of the AT is a sweet machine fo' sure but no f'n way will I ever get a PTO/CDS carpet cleaning machine ever again.

 

[Jimbo]

Easily at Tahoe and the Sierra Peaks...thank goodness I live at 89704...about 5600' elevation...so we got a huge break...about a foot here...then a weekend of rain melted it away...another few inches last night.

Got a new engine for the 4x4 van installed...that should be on the road soon!

 

[steve g]

Who invented the Big Truck?

Good question, the Vats as we know them were a group project lead by Shawn York who brought the XenTherm idea to the table (not saying it was idea) to AT and Vlad pretty much did the rest with some input on aesthetics from York.

Vlad has come a long way. It was obvious from the fresh tank design that he knew nothing about working with water.


The latest rendition of the AT is a sweet machine fo' sure but no f'n way will I ever get a PTO/CDS carpet cleaning machine ever again.

It would be interesting if the XYN shit was even his idea, I suspect that even this idea was a suggestion by someone else involved in designing the machines when pondering how to use the exhaust of the machine but not subject the outside HX to freezing temps. but it is patented so officially it is his idea. if vlad made the bad design fresh tanks because he knew nothing about working with water, wouldn't that mean yorkie knew even less because the design was allowed to fly and he didn't insist it was changed??

 

[Mikey P]

exactly.



those tanks were so poorly designed I'm surprised no one got taken to court over it.
Baffle walls were tacked welded on and fell off like clock work, HX brackets welded on the outside that caused leaks at every stress point..


the round tanks AT finally came up with solved all that.

 

[Lee Stockwell]

[quote="Lee Stockwell":554vrf44]Who's the finance wiz that will be able to get them financed?

I would call Kip Hardesty. He's a TM lender and Vortex is his specialty. Some of you probably know him?

work: 309-750-1270

Cell: 309-256-4553[/quote:554vrf44]

I doubt "his specialty" has resulted in any sales recently.

 

[ronbeatty]

Ron when the blower manufacture told you to remount the things with no tilt did they also tell you to never run them in a driveway with a slant to it?


That whole expenditure was a mistake imo, getting rid of those after blower HX and going propane should be the answer



I understand that Les has one all packed up and ready to go for you if you cover the shipping and handling charges

Mike, Before we leveled and re cradled the blowers, we ask Blueline if they agreed which they did. Blueline made the upper and lower cradles and shipped them to the repair shop in Ohio. I still have the pack slips,invoices and cancelled checks to Blueline. If they didn't agree, why would they build the cradles and ship them.

 

[Jim Martin]

Figure all we have to go buy on this subject is just what we read.....but I don't think that this blower really cares if it is sitting at an angle or flat on the ground........there are a number of trucks out there that are running the blower at an angle for years and are still going strong............all this thing cares about is if it sitting correct and the belts are not binding on the bearing and seals...................

 

[ronbeatty]

Jim, At this point I would agree, the legs warping was the reason for the blower failure. It took two sets of blowers to figure it out.

 

[Jim Martin]

I am not there looking at it so I can't say right or wrong......but my question is....do you think that instead of cranking down on the bolt until it warped...maybe a shim or 2 would of been the answer.........

 

[ronbeatty]

Jim, The leg is sitting level on a heavy 1/2" steel plate. There is no need to shim under leg, the way it was built you shim the pillow block. If you put a shim under the leg, you would create a "soft foot", then you could warp the leg worse.

 

[Jim Martin]

if you are shimming the pillow block to account for the blower not being level then there is already a problem out of the starting gate.....more so if you have to put that many washers under the bearing....but really all you are doing is kicking the pillow block out of level to account for the blower not sitting right and the belts to sit correctly....

personally I do not think that this is the correct way of doing it.....the pillow block is bolted to the frame and is in line with the PTO shaft.....that should stay as ridged as possible.......it is important to make sure that what ever is driving the belts is sitting as perfect as possible.....this means left and right...corner to corner.....and as level as possible... if it is off then it really don't matter how much you are shimming the bearing down below....there is still going to be to much torque on the blower itself.....

this is the best advise I can give you on this and it comes from years of experience having to mount huge 3 phase motors....compressor generators and blowers...they have got to set perfect if you expect them to run as true as possible and not chew up seals and bearings....if it is shimmed the right way ...then soft footing will never be a problem..because it will be the same as being bolted down to a true flat plate.....

hope this helps.......

 

[Jimbo]

Having worked on some 1200 and 1800 hp motors; 20 megawatt generators with steam turbines...all I can say is "The Milwright is ALWAYS Right!"

Ron, You should spring for Mr Martin to fly up some long weekend and put it right...cause he is right on the money on getting stuff lined up.

I'm surprised that the Folks at Sapphire Scientific would turn their back on a top-drawer customer like you, Ron...you bought one of the very best, most expensive units ever on the market... We all pontificate about finding the best custys for our own businesses...then going out of our way to please them...Lifetime Value of a Customer and so forth...

So that makes me wonder...where does the average customer...buying an average slide in unit fit into Sapphire's customer service puzzle? hmmmm

 

[Jay D]

ONe time deal Jimbo, thats it. vortex should'nt be that way for what you have invested in it, time, image, need and yes dollars too.

 

[ronbeatty]

Jim, I haven't got the blower back yet. The shaft is not set, that is just temporary so I can move the truck around in the building. I will post some picture once it is all set up.