[Bill Schwab]

Jeff:

Wacker compactors are simple. They have this eccentirc which is nothing more than a shaft, with a weight off set from the shaft. The shaft is in bearings, turned by pullies on the engine and shaft. At idle, the eccentric does not make a thump, or at least not one big enough to vibrate the plate. Add a few more RPM, and it thumps, simply from being designed out of balance.

The actual repair is not so much the issue. Press on some bearings, replace a shaft, whatever, and it's good to go. Essentially, if you have an $800.00 investment, and those parts run over $3,000.00, which they easily could, you are pushing the envelope, because of the rate of depreciation on equipment. Say you have $4K in that plate, not factoring in time to repair, adjust, and tweek the thing.

You are beyond what the thing is worth. The problem is that plates are specialty items, not like cars for an example. Cars are punched out one a minute from assembly lines. Compactors on the other hand, are mostly hand produced, and labor recovery adds to the absurd cost of parts. I can buy small block V-8 Chevy or Ford crankshafts all day long for $300.00. The eccentric, which has far less metal, machine work, and effort to make, (I'm not sure about pricing) could go for over a grand. In the bigger plates, I think Bomag integrates the eccentric with the actual plate, so, if those have to be bought separately, I'm betting a serious repair cost here. Has anyone ever replaced an eccentric on thier compactor or, do you just throw them away and replace them?