Well the French Flatty arrived today, but right off anyone could see the container was damaged. After removing the box from the pallet the engine frame had broken loose from the pallet mounts. Three of the main bolt were completely pulled out and all but one security strap had busted loose. Oil on the bottom of the box tell me this thing has been on its side. Damage to the engine: front carb, alternator and bracket, alternator offset bracket, water neck, and maybe the left head.
make someone pay.. You opened it right in front of the driver? I won't even let them drive away until I have talked to the head office of the shipping company when stuff like this happens.. Jason
Please tell me you documented the damage before signing for the container? I deal with freight claim issues all the time, it can be ugly...good luck!
MAN! That thing sure looks shweeet! Think I'd dig real deep into that one before start-up. Sucks about the drop damages.
If that plywood was all the structure used to ship that engine you could have a fight on your hands with the shipping company. Hope it had "this side up" with an arrows all around at least. Personally, I would have removed the carbs, distributor, generator and bracket and packed them separately in a smaller crate tied to the top of the block inside the bigger crate or shipped as Number 2 of 2 pieces. The crate would have been structured with 2x4 in each corner and triangulated on at least two side top to bottom, then skinned in 3/4 plywood screwed to the 2Xs. Crating is the secret to survival in long haul trucking shipments and this one failed the test exposing the shinies to damage and destruction.
Looking at the pics, that's about the same amount of damage an engine might receive if it were bolted in the car and involved in a 50 mph head on colision. Did they use a trebuchet to deliver it?
Total suck. I think I would have been sick when I saw that. Pir8Darryl- how long have you been waiting to use the trebuchet reference? Jay
I did a search, 135 earlier references to trebuchet on the HAMB!?! I sure hope that you get satisfaction over this issue. That motor is/was a beauty! CHAZ
That looks like a very stout container and shipping frame. Open pallet and fork pockets on the bottom, appears to be 3/4 cdx plywood, bolted and strapped, took some effort to pack it up not a rookie job. but a hell of a lot of force to rip it loose. Good luck with that, who carried it?
Thanks for all the comments, I documented everything the best I knew how. The fury will come I'm sure when I have to start dealing with the shipping company (ESTES) an the pinhead adjusters, so for now I'm just abit sick.
FYI, maybe this will help others.............I would always take digital pics when having freight unloaded. Shots of the driver moving the freight to the rear of the truck, shots of the truck and company name.shots of the damaged crate still on the trailor. Shots of all the damage as it is opened with the driver in the picture. Driver documenting damage he sees and signing for it. Many times the damage is done upline, the local drivers were alll pretty good around here. Good luck
as Tman and bigredtodd said , document everything.....those freight companies like to blame everyone else for the damage. they never seam to be responsible for anything
Tman is 100% correct! you would be amazed how some dickhead can mess up a brand new 50k machine that someone has been waiting 6-8 weeks for. these come from germany in a tongue and groove crates so you really have to mishandle one to damage the contents. good luck.
I agree with Tman an 36-3window. documentation including photos of the damage to the outside of the crate and marks on the inside of the plywood where it was shoved against the engine and stand. From seeing the damage to the engine I would say that there is pretty obvious damage to the outside of the box from forks hitting it or another pallet hitting it. At any rate that really sucks and will slow the project down until it is resolved.
The shipping and recievgin dept where I work has seen some real stupidity show up in the back of a truck. Once they recieved a deisel truck engine (what do those things weigh, 2000lbs?) that the shipping company (A-Tech) had actually stacked on top of a couple of flimsy wooden crates. During the drive, the bottom crates collapsed, not only destroying their contents, but the motor was now on a 45 degree angle and not only couldn't be unloaded with a pallet jack, but out of fear for his life, the driver refused to untie because it would've certainly fallen on him.
This is what it looked like when it was running. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R1YmbPlaY8Y&feature=email
I deal with received shipping damage all the time. Best advice for anyone reading this... Make SURE you open any expensive package BEFORE letting the driver go. Then, either refuse shipment or make sure the DRIVER documents it on the Bill of Lading before letting him go. We just had a large package arrive in a wooden/cardboard box that looked PERFECT on the outside, but it contained one broken part that cost $900 to replace. We will ALWAYS open and thoroughly inspect every big/expensive package from now on. PS: Very sorry that damage happened to you. What a sweet little engine!
man after i coooled down id have been on the phone to tear someone a new one , that engine is shweet and to treat it like a boat anchor is just wrong ,
Wow what a sweet flatty...bums me out to see the damage...hope you don't get the screw around!! But thanks to all the other for the advice on "recieving" a large expensive shipment...more stuff to clog my brain...
Ouch!, but fortunately looks like probably just external damage and probably can be fixed up relatively easily. Hope nothing on the block itself is messed up or cracked. Hope the shipper steps up and takes responsibility for messing up such a damn nice motor and pays to have it fixed properly.
I hold my breath everytime we ship a chassis. We put disclamers on anything we ship by truck (for what that's worth). I truly think some of the boneheads in the terminals try to distroy the freight. Customer blames it on the freight company, freight company blames it on the shipper (yea right I shipped that frame with the hole jammed in the side by a forklift) shipper blames the freight company. What we have here is a circle jerk!
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