Knowing the answer is not nearly as important as knowing where to find the answers
Mar 1, 2010 12:00 PM, By Rick Weber
CONMET'S Roger Maye presented some outrageous examples of wheels on the loose, with videos periodically prompting some chuckles. But the issue really is no laughing matter.
“If you can't stop, steer, or keep the wheels on a vehicle, what could possibly be more serious?” he asked. “If you explode a transmission, the liability that happens after that is not critical. But if you can't keep the wheels on a vehicle, that's serious. Most of the things I've seen can be prevented.”
Maye, presenting “Wheels Flying Down the Highway; Pray Your Technician Didn't Install Them!”, was one of three in the Service Distributor Workshop. The others: “Brake Systems of the Future, Here Today, Are You Ready?”, by Meritor WABCO's Mark Melletat, and “Changes in Steer Axle and Suspension Technology,” by Hendrickson's John Knutson.
“This is what your technician deals with every day,” Maye said. “Since the caveman invented the wheel, this continues to evolve. How does a technician know what to do? I've seen things that make me believe some technicians know the answer better than others.
“But knowing the answer is not nearly as important as knowing where to find the answers. The important thing is knowing how to identify the system and then obtaining the proper service information. If you're working on these new systems, there's not a lot of magic if you've got the basics. But you're not going to intuitively know how to work on these new systems. So you have to learn how to make that service information your best friend.”
He said that at the Technology & Maintenance Council's (TMC) 2009 SuperTech competition, the average score was 948 out of 1500. On wheel ends, out of a possible 100, the average score was 47.24.
“As simple as wheel ends are, guys don't know all the answers,” Maye said. “What is the worst thing that can happen if you do not know the answer? Ask yourself this and then plan accordingly.
“I found out long ago that tools are a relatively significant part of it. Granted, you have to have tools and the skills to go with it. You have to have specialized tools, specialized training, and service information.”
How do technicians learn?
- By asking the old, experienced guy in the shop
“Technicians ask the senior guys, ‘What are the tricks?’ Handed-down experience … you can't put price on it. But the old, experienced guy may not be equipped. As rapidly as our industry is changing, it takes a new skill set to be successful in the modern shop. New technology requires new skills. Young guys know how to use computers. Old guys are still holding them at arm's length, in some cases. You're not going to survive without knowing computers.”
- By making mistakes
“Doctors get to bury their mistakes. Engineers get to live with theirs. The same thing goes for mechanics. You've got to live with mistakes, so let's help them out so they don't make them.”
- By reading service information
“Brian Lewis, the 2007 and 2008 TMC SuperTech grand champion, says it best: ‘If you want to be a good technician, the first thing you have to do is read the book.’ I've never seen a technician want to do a bad job. I've seen some that weren't equipped to do a good job. They just didn't know how.”
He said that at the TMC skills challenge, they run 18 technicians through a battery of tests.
“You learn a lot by watching technicians do the same thing,” he said. “Some come equipped to do it much more efficiently and accurately. The technician who won last year made an 88. He doesn't even do wheel ends, but he knows how to read instructions.
“We as manufacturers have the responsibility to make service literature as user-friendly as possible. Some of our service literature in our industry is not user-friendly. Engineers that write it take it from the beginning, but don't see it like the guy doing it for first time.”
He said the industry is full of new technology and fast- paced change. Spindle nut systems are part of that: castellated, multiple piece or double-jam nut system, Axilok, ProTorq, and unitized.
Lubrication comes as CD 50, 75/90 petroleum and synthetic, 85/140, semi-fluid grease, Grade 2 (hard grease), petroleum-based, and Grade 2 Synthetic. He said they have unique characteristics, and have to be identified and not mixed. An approved lubricants list is specific to each seal manufacturer, and there are proper fill volumes and hub caps.
Next Page: Brake Systems of the Future: Here Today, Are You Ready?
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