Porta Power Ram Reseal (Rant)

[chip maker]

So, here's the deal, last time I used my porta power BlackHawk the ram started leaking so seeing as how I had some time and needed something to do thought this would be a good project to get into. Got it taken apart and seen what I needed for the repair so here's the good part. I am on a couple different sites, and everyone always say to use local places to purchase parts rather than online and I do try to do that not only to save shipping time but to buy local. I get on the phone and call 3 different local hydraulic repair shops and it was like they didn't even care to deal with a small sale, bring in old parts but we would still have to order out the parts, parts may no longer be available, need to check sizes of what you have etc. So, I tell them I have the tool numbers, but they say won't help. After dealing with these answers from them I get online I find 3 places that have what I need by using the ram part number. Needless to say, I pick one and order the parts with shipping is $40.00 but now I just have to wait for them to get to me. I guess I just don't understand why my local places just didn't want to take the time to find these parts in their stock, but the online places were happy to get the business.

 

[projectnut]

Over the years I've run into similar problems with Blackhawk tools. Most local parts houses don't stock their products, or deal with the company on a regular basis. It makes it difficult for them to buy at prices that would allow them to make a profit. In all likelihood they would be paying the retail price, and the same shipping charge as you did when ordering online. They would then have to jack up the prices to pay their overhead. It would be hard to keep customers coming back when they charge double or more what you could buy the same thing for online.

To that end rather than dealing with suppliers that don't give them a profit margin, and customers that would be upset with the difference in price, they just avoid the situation by refusing to order the parts.

 

[WesPete66]

^^ I feel your grief too, but sorry to say projectnut has it right. It's our current condition, and like it or not it's understandable. When you consider the amount of time a local shop will spend on finding/buying/handling parts for a small sale, they are losing money. The only time that an online seller has invested is in taking a known part off the shelf, shove it in an envelope and label it for shipping (and hey UPS/FedEx even comes to them to pick it up).

 

[great white]

As mentioned, it's about money, plain and simple.

Dealing with little "one off's" means a "brick and mortar" store will actually loose money on the labor/wages of someone looking up a 1.50 part and digging it out of stock. Let's assume your o-ring costs $1.50. If it takes 10 mins to look up the part, pull it from stock, bill you and take your $1.50 and they're paying that employee 15 bucks an hour, that means they expend $2.50 in wages and they just lost $1 on your purchase.

With online suppliers, you do the look up and the demand, so they aren't paying wages for someone to do it. Then, a machine pulls it off a shelf, someone sticks it in an envelope and it goes out in their regular shipping orders. Plus, you pay for the shipping and handling and you payment is also handled by machines.

It's all about money, not service.

It's the way the world works now....small money sales just aren't profitable anymore. Hence, they discourage it.

 

[chip maker]

I see the point as I know time is money. In the future I will still give the local people a shot at things but if it starts going south, I will just go with the internet. But again, Thanks for the outside help but guess I still feel that a small sale is just as good as a big sale if you want to help people. I also think that the places I contacted should have in their ads that they will not due off street sales..

 

[ErichKeane]

As mentioned, it's about money, plain and simple.

Dealing with little "one off's" means a "brick and mortar" store will actually loose money on the labor/wages of someone looking up a 1.50 part and digging it out of stock. Let's assume your o-ring costs $1.50. If it takes 10 mins to look up the part, pull it from stock, bill you and take your $1.50 and they're paying that employee 15 bucks an hour, that means they expend $2.50 in wages and they just lost $1 on your purchase.

With online suppliers, you do the look up and the demand, so they aren't paying wages for someone to do it. Then, a machine pulls it off a shelf, someone sticks it in an envelope and it goes out in their regular shipping orders. Plus, you pay for the shipping and handling and you payment is also handled by machines.

It's all about money, not service.

It's the way the world works now....small money sales just aren't profitable anymore. Hence, they discourage it.

There is the lost opportunity cost though that most B&M small shops don't consider. They MIGHT be losing $1 on that o-ring, but if in doing so they become my 'go to' place for odds/ends/hydraulics/etc, they could very likely benefit in the end. If they are my go-to shop, when I want a higher-price but rare-ish thing, my response is "go there" instead of "just go to the internet".

Next time a friend asks me, "hey, I want an X, do you know where to get one?" my answer is, "oh, no one around here probably has it, so just order on the internet" instead of, "hey, shop Y usually has that sort of stuff, check it out!".

This is exactly why most Ace hardware stores have giant bins of nuts/bolts/etc despite being a large inventory for low profit: they want to be the place you look for 'weird' things, and, IMO, it works in their benefit. I find myself going for that sort of stuff to Ace frequently, and picking up other stuff 'while I'm here'.

 

[chip maker]

Thank you for that input as that is how I looked at this thing myself. Besides that, the business place I purchased the kit from was 29.31 plus shipping so there was a few bucks in it for them I would think. Besides that, I have already offered their information to another person today who was also looking for something they may have.

 

[Janderso]

So, here's the deal, last time I used my porta power BlackHawk the ram started leaking so seeing as how I had some time and needed something to do thought this would be a good project to get into. Got it taken apart and seen what I needed for the repair so here's the good part. I am on a couple different sites, and everyone always say to use local places to purchase parts rather than online and I do try to do that not only to save shipping time but to buy local. I get on the phone and call 3 different local hydraulic repair shops and it was like they didn't even care to deal with a small sale, bring in old parts but we would still have to order out the parts, parts may no longer be available, need to check sizes of what you have etc. So, I tell them I have the tool numbers, but they say won't help. After dealing with these answers from them I get online I find 3 places that have what I need by using the ram part number. Needless to say, I pick one and order the parts with shipping is $40.00 but now I just have to wait for them to get to me. I guess I just don't understand why my local places just didn't want to take the time to find these parts in their stock, but the online places were happy to get the business.

Hey,
You gave them an opportunity to do business they chose not to.

 

[tq60]

We have a local place that had ALMOST everything...except for our porta-power type device.

Everything from Bobcat rams, hoyer lifts and unknown ram looking things, our place has had it.

Even took in rotary sprinklers that leaked at the top, they used a special seal, instead we got a correct size o-ring that fit.

But a porta-power pump we took in had some oddball small seal that they did not have.

The odd stuff that is not commonly serviced is not likely going to be stocked.

Common stuff you bet.

Sent from my SM-G781V using Tapatalk

 

[Provincial]

When you say Port Power, nowadays it could be an import. Original Blackhawk systems were designed long enough ago that technology has passed them by, even though they work just a well as modern versions. Finding the older design seals can be difficult.

A few years ago I could still find leather cup seals easily. More recently, I had to make new pistons for some cylinders because I couldn't find the right leather cups, and had to change over to modern molded seals. This was on an old Austin Western road grader.

Hydraulic jacks, like Porta Powers, involve a certain liability due to lifting/displacing heavy loads. They also operate at a very high maximum pressure. Because of this, the seals are specialty items and there is a liability chain involved. This means that volumes of sales are limited and stocking the seals is expensive and sales are slow. This sort of situation results in a small number of vendors supplying the market. The situation is not ideal, but understandable.