JayinNY Jdmarris or others...Diesel Mech. Upstate NY

I have a JD 450B dozer that spun a main bearing in the late 80's and was parked to be fixed later...
20 years later a kind diesel mech. neighbor's son in law offered to fix it for us - pulled the engine, got the engine apart and back together w/ new crankshaft and all (we just paid for parts) and brought the engine back over and has not had a chance to get it put back in the dozer...between keeping his father-in law's old/broken machinery running, his main job as a diesel mech, 2nd job as a mech and property he manages, he hasn't had the time and i'd hate to trouble him to do it...

so, upstate new york guys (albany/schen area), does anyone know a good diesel mech. who moonlights or has a reg. business,
i don't know if we want to take it to kc. canary due to expense and that it is a situation of picking up someone else's half-finished job...since it is an odd job i'd want to give a smaller business or individual the $$$

so, anyone know anyone...if so, le me know name/numberpnumber
thanks!
steve

Try calling Bill Hanehan. He is an independent machinery repairshop with service truck for mobile jobs. Don't know how far he would travel. But he is in Saratoga.

(518) 587-7885

thanks...we are only about 35 min from 'toga...it is good to get some names i wouldn't know otherwise.

what about Bob Cooper in mayfield ? 725-1917 excellant mechanic and local

masseyman...thank you. never heard of bob but i just may give him a call.
where are you located? i am in the town of fla.

I live about 50-60 miles from the Albany area, near Cooperstown, Oneonta, and Cobleskill. I know of two people who do that kind of work in my area - other then me. I don't do any work for anybody anymore other then a few farmers and loggers I've known for over 30 years. I can barely keep up with my own stuff.

From what I've heard, both guys in my area are doing it full-time, and aren't much cheaper then going to a dealer. Usually what you need is a young person who works full-time somewhere during the day, needs money, and "moonlights" at home for that extra money. I did that for many years while working as a Deere mechanic.

If somebody hired me to do a job like you describe - I'd get money up front with the agreement that ALL labor gets paid for along the way, regardless if that engine winds up having to come back out. I don't tend to trust anybody else's work. I've had to tear apart many so-called "rebuilt" engines.

KC Canary used to be our main competition in this part of the Northeast for industrial and forestry equipment. Good place, but having your 450 patched up there is likely to cost more then the machine is worth. Same would of been the case in our dealership. High shop rate and the time clock is always running.

One funny story though. Back maybe 10 years ago, I was at an antique engine show and I had a dozen of my own tractors there. Some old man walked up to me and started asking me tractor questions. He acted as though he was new to tractors and knew little - especially with Deere equipment. I soon found out he was "testing" me, and he was old man, Ken Canary himself. Interesting guy. Luckily, he didn't catch me in too many BS stories.

Steve, I knew a town highway guy in Duanesburg who usta fix equipment, but I heard he dosent do it anymore. How about Barry, does he know anybody? You can try Ruthers machine shop on rt. 20 on the left going into Esperance, kinda kitty corner to the new Hannaford. Its a long green and tan steel building. If I find out any other info I will let you know. J

Thats funny jd, did you know Dick Hoffman, or Paul Hurley from KC?, Paul is a great baler mechanic. Now KC Canary is called Hudson River Tractor. Is the deer dealer you worked for still around? What was its name?

I started out at Gangeri Deere Equipment in New Jersey in the 1960s (Deere and Homelite dealer), then Imperial Tractor Deere on the NJ/NY line in the early 70s (Deere industrial only), then Laneway Deere Inc. in Harpersville and Oneonta, NY from late 70s up to 1991. Laneway was the result of buying up two dealerhips and we had farm, industrial, forestry, and consumer Deere stuff, along with Stihl chainsaws. The owner, Jim Lane died and they no longer exist. He fought Deere to the end, since Deere company thugs kept trying to force him to expand into many separate buildings. We also had the union trying to force its way into our shop. Jim stood up to both and said he'd close up the dealership before giving in. He never did, but did finally died of old-age. He was a self-made millionaire and got his start as chicken farmer. Hard to believe now, that somebody could make money on chickens in NY.
Our old dealership-building now has the ex-Allis Chalmers dealer in there selling mostly small consumer tractors, AGCO, and Sthil chainsaws.

Old-man Canary told me about a new store or shop he was opening, dealing with mostly older stuff. Maybe that's the Hudson River place ??

Thanks for the info...
I live about 6 minutes from Esperence so Cobleskill works too...

I figure patching the dozer would be a good investment because the undercarriage was completely rebuilt shortly before the engine went and it had relatively low hours when the engine went and has been parked dry and clean since then so, once going, i should have a machine that will last me as long as i'm around. in a perfect world, the engine will be a quick easy drop into the machine and i'll be good to go...but the world and old equipment is rarely perfect...

i was hoping to find someone independent or someone who moonlights because i have no problem paying good money to have good work done but i like seeing that money go into the pocket of the guy doing the work especially a young guy or old guy who knows what he is doing and puts the effort into doing quality work.

i just have no relationship with any deere dealers since this is the only piece of "green" equip i own...all else is mf...so i figured the guys on here would have some good directions to go...

interesting story about ken canary...what dealership did you work for?

jay
jdemaris mentioned no one making money on chickens in ny...
what do you know about Jewett's Poulty farm on Rt. 20? How big of a business do they have...i know nothin about chickens but i like their sign "40,000 employees, 15,000 trainees"
i noticed they bale some round bales...don't know about the chicken connection but it always intrigues me when i drive by.

Also, maybe you can run a ad in the country folks paper or ask up at LJ Hands, or post something on there peg board. I also wanted to ask you (as I just thought of it and made the connection) did you ever round bale a farm in Princetown on Scotch Ridge Rd? I remember about 5 years ago the land owner gave my a name Steve, but I dont remember the last name, who baled the hay and was selling it. Oh well Im prolly wrong, but thought Id ask anyway.j

They are no longer raising chickens there anymore. Now I was told they just buy eggs, package them and sell the eggs that way. You may have seen a guy pushing a bicycle along the roads in Duanesburg, he usta work there, last I knew he was at Highcliff farm.

not I...only small squares and have not gone beyond our own borders...
i think for the dozer i have a couple of good ideas from the guys earlier in the post...i think i'm going to call the guy in 'toga first since it was mentioned that he has mobile equip. which would be ideal...
gotta love this board...can't beat it for info...
i'm always amazed at the locals who are on...

interesting...never knew what exactly their business was...saw that one of their older long barns fell down recently...i believe i have seen the guy you describe...

you guys ready for winter?

just finished my wood pile...17 cord in all...put our "new" backblade on the 165 - came up with the brilliant scheme of putting an 8' backblade instead of a 6 1/2 foot...don't know why i never thought of that...and fixed the hitch on the 3 pt. hitch snowblower...
ready for 3 months of misery.

also - you ever send anything to mariaville motorsports? sister's dumb-a bf's son smashed up my 4-wheeler pretty good and i was thinking about dropping it off there to get fixed...

Yes were ready for winter, got the extension cords out this week for tractor block heaters, and tank di icers for the horses and cows. Just have 6 more cows to bring in for the winter. Woods all done too, and for once Im starting on next years supply! lol. Just got the manure spreader out yesterday, oiled and greased ready for winter.
I have never taken anything to Mariaville motor sports, the owners name is Jerry, and I have never heard anything bad about him. Good luck.

JD there is a large poultry farm in Eastern NY. It is called Thomas Poultry Farm. Located in Schuylerville. If you ever been in a Stewarts' you have probably seen their eggs. They supply all the eggs that they sell. They have something like 500,000 layers. They also do a lot of their own delivery and even some home delivery too. Good family operation. And the money in the egg business is pretty good right now. But, I am sure the cost of corn will cut into it some.

Nice to hear somebody is squeaking by, somehow. There used to be chicken farms all over the place here, but the last shut down maybe 20 years ago? Egg production was the first to fail, and some places hung on making money raising and selling started-pullets. There was a huge place near me that raised starters for AGWAY in a huge three-story barn. No hatching and no egg laying. AGWAY shipped then chicks, and they later shipped out started-birds.

If you know Oneonta at all, the big Chrysler dealer is the site of the last big chicken farm in this area. Royal Chrysler. I was there working on a tractor when the Royal people came over and made the farmer an offer he couldn't refuse. Around 1980. He told me all his steel chicken cages were rotted and due for replacement -and it just wasn't worth it to farm any more.

I wonder how the people you mention can afford feed and sell eggs at a profit. Usually that sort of thing won't work in the Northeast because someone can ship stuff in cheaper from better areas of the US, or from overseas. I've been told that the only products that will work here are something that cannot be shipped at a profit. Like fresh "organic milk", Chevon from hand-picked live goats (better known as goat meat, fresh sweet corn, fingerling Peruvian potatoes to local restaurants, etc. With the cost of feed, fuel, taxes, heat, etc. I can't imagine how somebody can still make eggs here at a profit. I believe you, but still find it baffling.

There's a woman near me who raises certified organic beef and supplies many New York City restaurants. All her tractors are big 1970s Farmalls. She pays top dollar for them and has a full time, on site mechanic. I'm not sure what HER secret to success is. Maybe she's a farming genius, or maybe there's more going on there that meets the eye.

Its called a nitch, or nitch market. if you can provide something really good that someone really wants it can be profitable.

Yes, that much I know. But from what I've seen over the years, somebody discovers a local niche, does well for awhile, until that little niche becomes a more of a recognized trend. Mabye even some jerk does a newspaper story about it. Eventually, somebody thouands of miles away gets wind of it, and finds a way to ship, yet sell the product cheaper. I've seen it happen over and over. like I ssid earlier, the only exemptions I've seen are products that cannot be made/produced elsewhere and shipped. Even things like maple syrup aren't safe. In the "old days" you needed black or sugar maples to produce it. Now, there's been a few companies making counterfeit "maple syrup" from beet sugar and under-cutting local makers. L.L. Bean got caught selling it - but it seems they were duped also and didn't know they were doing it.