Dumb engineer!!

skipnrocks · Mar 20, 2019

Nothing of real value here just a rant. I bought a steel wheel off summit for my spare. And the stem is an inch from the bead on an angle pointed out. Even a stubby stem comes out to the outer wheel. Why not move it an inch in pointed into the center of the rim or anything better. Not I got to plug the hole and drill another safe one.

This is up there with not putting an access pannel for a fuel pump in the back of a suburban.

mdo817 · Mar 20, 2019

I have welded the original hole up, drilled a new one.

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Weezul · Mar 21, 2019

SBJeepn said:
Nothing of real value here just a rant. I bought a steel wheel off summit for my spare. And the stem is an inch from the bead on an angle pointed out. Even a stubby stem comes out to the outer wheel. Why not move it an inch in pointed into the center of the rim or anything better. Not I got to plug the hole and drill another safe one.

This is up there with not putting an access pannel for a fuel pump in the back of a suburban.

I've often wondered this about fuel pumps. My wife's CRV has an access panel for the fuel pump. My truck and the Jeep both do not. Just doesn't make any sense.

jeeppoor · Mar 21, 2019

When I was working, we received a new assemble machine in (they are a shot and ship company) and of course they needed parts now. Now when ever we received a new piece of equipment I ALWAYS requested that mach drawings and elec prints either be sent to us ahead of time or with the equipment. With assembly machine this hardly every happens. And of course it didn't happen this time. Will between the production people (manager, Production supervisor, set up guys and engineers) they could not get it running. The project engineer comes up to me in a panic and says ;Everything is perfect. But it just wont run a part" can you come and look at it.
We (the maintenance department) were not notify that the assemble machine was even in the building, let alone in production.
When I asked him about the elec prints I got the deer in the head light look.
Needless to say it was running in 30 minutes. Sensor out of adjustment for hot parts.

skipnrocks · Mar 21, 2019

Weezul said:
I've often wondered this about fuel pumps. My wife's CRV has an access panel for the fuel pump. My truck and the Jeep both do not. Just doesn't make any sense.

I have cut a few floor panels out. Nice when you have carpet you can build a new panel out of some aluminum sheet and then use a foam strip used to seal doors and windows and sheet metal screws, then put the carpet back over and it is good as new.

TBItoy · Mar 21, 2019

In most vehicles it only takes a couple bolts, to drop a fuel tank. Not sure what the big deal is? :flipoff1:

skipnrocks · Mar 21, 2019

TBItoy said:
In most vehicles it only takes a couple bolts, to drop a fuel tank. Not sure what the big deal is?

Its a fact they always go out with 40 gallons of gas in it. Even when its only a 20 gallon tank, not sure how it works, just one of those crazy things like always loosing one sock.

I did an ac compressor on my bro in laws traverse. It took removing most of the front end including the radiator because the lack of an access panel. It wouldn't have taken much at all and would have saved a few hours work and a mess of antifreeze on the floor.

Bebop · Mar 21, 2019

Weezul said:
I've often wondered this about fuel pumps. My wife's CRV has an access panel for the fuel pump. My truck and the Jeep both do not. Just doesn't make any sense.

The access panel is an added expense.
If the company doesn't want to pay for it, it just won't happen.

That's a problem I'm confronted against every day. And I'm on the engineer side of the discussion.

Plenty of good ideas but no money to make them happen.

Last one I personally participated in was adding a skid plate on a limited run of "offroad special edition" vehicles. We didn't get the money to add a cutout to remove the oil filter and access the drain plug. But marketing insisted that the manufacturer name needed to be on it.

We ended up with a skipd plate that you'd have to drop for every oil change, but that had a nice logo embossed in it. :

Or maybe the engineer responsible to design your suburban trunk panel was a moron. That happens too.

RustyC · Mar 21, 2019

After years in the service industry, I have concluded that repairs (not maintenance) is not even factored into the design. The product have to be assembled once in the most efficient way possible, access to components after assembly are not a concern.
I recently had the pleasure of removing a complete cab assembly that has lots of wiring, hydraulic plumbing and mechanical linkage from a Caterpillar wheel loader. Why? just to replace a blown $50 crimped hydraulic hose. That is a hard pill to swallow as a customer.
Cat machines in from the 80's and 90's had large access floor of the cab for this reason. I guess the budget is too tight on all the new stuff. The good news is they have ethernet cables to run the machine communication and touch screens for the operator so there's that..

TBItoy · Mar 21, 2019

I'm on the middle of a similar situation right now.

The main side plates on a machine I've designed will cost 50% more to manufacture if they are segmented and bolted/doweled together to make the machine serviceable/repairable vs 1 piece side plates that would require entire disassembly of the machine to change any bearing ...

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