Christmas window art.

Check out the window art!

We hope everyone has a great month and that next month begins with a happy new year! 

Winter power equipment storage tips

So none of us like the thought, but whether we like it or not winter is on us, and chances are you're about done with most of you power equipment for the year. Here are some tips we recommend for making sure your equipment is still functioning when you break it out next Spring.

• Riding lawn mowers - We don't like to see equipment stored with old oil in it. There is a lot of nasty stuff in there like metal particles that can create corrosion when resting against dissimilar metals over time. Start the machine up, let it get warm, drain the old oil out and put new in. Put a battery tender on it. We all mean to start our mower and let it warm up and recharge once a month but never do. If you have a slow leak tire put a block of wood under the axle, sitting with the rim against the tire all winter isn't good for it. Clean all the debris from on top of and under the mower deck, that grass and dirt retain moisture and is corrosive over time, we've seen a lot of badly rusted decks because of this. Either run the fuel out of it, or get good non-ethanol fuel mixed with a fuel stabilizer and fill it completely (remember to run it for a few minutes after to get the good fuel all the way through the system).
• Walk behind lawn mowers - Change oil, clean under deck, run fuel out of it, or fill completely with non-ethanol fuel mixed with fuel stabilizer (remember to run it for a few minutes after filling to get the good fuel all the way through the system).
• Pressure washers - Get all of the water out! You don't want any moisture in there to freeze, it does really bad things. Another option is to get (we recommend potable) antifreeze into it, or we sell a kit that puts it into the pump via an aerosol can. Change the oil. Either run the fuel out of it, or get good non-ethanol fuel mixed with a fuel stabilizer and fill it completely (remember to run it for a few minutes after to get the good fuel all the way through the system).
• Paint Sprayers - What is in the pump now? If you rinsed out the paint with water and left it, now is the time to put mineral spirits into the whole system including the gun and hose. Manufacturers are no longer warrantying damage due to freezing. One of the first components typically damaged is the pressure sensor also called a transducer. On electric powered computerized paint sprayers (most commercial grade electric paint sprayers are now controlled by a small onboard computer) this part is very expensive, and they will require we send them the part to analyze before approving a warranty claim. If your sprayer is gas powered, apply the same info. from "walk behind mowers" above to the motor.

Have a piece of equipment not listed that you'd like to know more about? Send me an email or post it to one of our Facebook pages and I'll see what we can come up with for you! 

-Tim-

Hand tools and gloves/safety gear on the South side of town!

We've brought in some quality hand tools, gloves, hearing protection and more to save folks a trip across town. If there are other items you'd like to see, let us know!

Motor won't stay revved up?

On most commercial motors, for instance this Honda GX motor, there is a friction adjustment nut somewhere on the throttle system. It will typically be either at the fulcrum of the throttle lever itself, or at the fulcrum of the throttle lever on the motor. On this Honda GX (and most other Honda GX motors) it is located at the throttle lever on the motor, it is the nut in the center of this picture located between the muffler, air filter and fuel tank. If your throttle won't stay revved up tighten this nut slightly, if it is too hard to move the lever, loosen it up a touch. A little bit of movement on the nut makes a big difference so don't expect to turn it more than half a rotation maximum.

Have a small engine or equipment challenge you'd like to know more about? Post it here or on our Facebook page (link is here on our blog) and we'll get you an answer!

Employee makes company donation to Riddle High School.

I'd been putting together a plan that would give responsibility to our employee's to participate in deciding what groups or organization recieve money or equipment donations beginning with the next calendar year budget. However, our mechanic Mike Jarvis came to me with a request recently and it was so well thought out that I agreed to start early on this idea!

Yesterday Mike used the company credit card to order bleacher seat cushions for Riddle High School with their logo on one side and our information as a sponsor on the other. These will be sold to those attending the events as a fundraiser for the school. Additionally, our investment will be returned to us over time so that we are able to reinvest in another program later! This is the kind of win-win collaboration I hope to see more of between "for profit" and "not for profit" organizations in the future. Hats off to Mike for the vision and implimentation required to put this opportunity together for us and the community, I'm proud to have him on our team.

-Tim-

Now offering a broader mower lineup!

See the new mower lineup at our Open House tomorrow!

     There are some changes coming, we're adding Ariens and Gravely mowers to our line-up! This broadens our mower line into the more affordable market. We're still offering the Exmark line for those seeking the best money can buy. Additionally, we're going to move our mower parts and repair focus to just these three brands. We've been trying to help keep a broad range of mowers going, but the time has come to offer better service on a few brands, and eliminate the challenge of trying to maintain parts inventory and the service knowledge  tools and training required to service them all. We'd prefer to be great at a few versus mediocre at them all.
     This is all part of our conscious effort to be "subtractive" this year. We feel this will enable us to provide a better experience for our customers and employee's alike. This has no effect on our contractor and industrial equipment repair other than to possibly speed things up through the shop.

Open House Update #7

I have to say, I just keep getting more excited about this event! Updates include;

• We got the fliers out, all of our participating businesses should have received them, if not let me know and I'll get some out to you. 
• Being our first year, we decided the number of participating businesses needed to be held at no more than 30. We regret that we've had to limit some from participating, but please bear with us as we learn more about hosting an event like this, and use the knowledge to create more opportunities to include more local businesses in the future.
• We're preparing for rain should the need arise. Occasionally Yours has graciously offered their large canopy tent, as well as Jay Couron who has a couple of large canopy tents from his days with Crown Canopy.  
• A reminder, the Chamber of Commerce will be hosting our "Ribbon Cutting Ceremony" at 10am. I hope many of you will join us at that time in celebrating the new facilities, and our 10 years in business.
• The intended momentum of the event as a "We" opportunity seems to be working. Our goal remains to inspire the people in the community to lead ourselves out of the economic recession rather than waiting for others to help us out. Its going to take a team effort, and we're finding there are plenty of capable folks ready to participate.

Open house update #6

Spent some time this week sanding the light posts, putting in fresh bark mulch around the planters, and a bit of painting on the planter island nearest the shop. Things are starting to look a lot better around the outside of the facilities.
Had some printer problems so flyers are going to be delayed for a couple more days.

Participants in our Open House April 6th

Click on any of these links to learn more about these experts! American Home Lending

Ariens Mowers

Black Pearl Sealcoating

Brooke Communications

Carol Thompson - Realtor

Carson Plumbing

Cascade Electric

Clint Hatfield Trucking

Colorcraft Paint

Essex Silverline West

Great Northern Trailers

Harrison Hardware

Heartwood Resources

Hotsy Pressure Washers

JRW Irrigation

Lighten' up

Longs Building Supply

NeighborWorks Umpqua

PremierWest Bank

Prestige Pest and Wildlife

Quality Fence Co.

Smokin' Friday BBQ

Shelby and  Miguelena

Superior Drywall Company

Umpqua Sand and Gravel/Concrete Services

Umpqua Valley Home Builders Association

Willamette Graystone

Wintergreen Nursery

Update #5

The radio ads should be live today. Two 30 sec. generic event descriptions and 5, 15sec. "update" spots featuring the names of those who will be participating. These 15 sec. ads will roll through one at a time so they all get equal air time. Here is the event flyer!

Update #4

Momentum continues to build! We are now up to more than 25 expert participants that are going to join together to help folks with their home and facilities improvement projects! I'll try to go through today to make sure we have everyone listed here, the most recent additions coming to mind are American Home Lending (Sandy is great!) and Harrison Hardware from the Winston area. I'll put a link up soon to our flier also.
-Tim-

Update #3

Well we're certainly going to have an event! We're up to well over 20 different experts confirmed for our open house. New today;
Long's Building Supply
Superior Drywall
Wintergreen Nursery
Black Pearl Seal Coating
Prestige Pest Control

Ever wonder what it looks like in the recording booth with Rob at Sam FM? Here's a short video of some work we were doing this week. In the recording booth.

Open house update #2

The momentum is building fast! I recorded 3 ads at the radio station today, they should be on air starting perhaps as soon as Monday. Commitments so far include;
Colorcraft Paint & Wallpaper
Umpqua Sand & Gravel
A Banker (details to follow)
Realtor (again, details to follow)
Carson Plumbing
Great Norther Trailers
Certified Home inspector
Umpqua Valley Home Builders
Absolutely Clean Carpet Cleaning
Clint Hatfield with his CAD truck (specialty landscape delivery, he can place the material strategically)
Hotsy - Industrial Pressure Washers and Steam Cleaners
Gravely and Areins mowers and turf equipment

We're working on more, and anticipate that there will be many more coming on board. I'll keep you posted here!

Open House update!

Things are coming together quickly! We're very happy with the response from folks who are going to participate by showcasing their wares. We'll be advertising it on the radio soon, and we're holding off identifying who's confirmed just yet. I'll update here first, so stay tuned :)

April 6th, 2013 - Open house!

We're announcing it here first, you'll get to hear the good and the bad! Our goal is to create an event focused on getting things done. The busy season is just around the corner, and we want to be able to help you make the most of it.

My ambitions are high. I'd like to bring all the people necessary to take your project or challenges to success in one place for the day. From conception to completion, I'd like to have any resource necessary onsite. Whether a realtor, appraiser, Draftsperson/engineer, contractors, materials vendors, banker, equipment operators, and of course for do-it-yourselfers, our equipment and knowledgeable folks to train on how to use it most efficiently. We want to help you go from thinking about it, to admiring the finished product!

Our challenges as of today are; bringing in all of the support vendors, we hope to be able to share the vision with them. Marketing the event, with just 6 weeks to pull this off, it is going to be challenging! Site prep., I'm always striving to make tomorrow a better experience than today, that includes making our surroundings as pleasing as possible. Cleaning and painting are long overdue for some of our planters, parking curbs etc., Hopefully we can make time to get things looking their best for the event.

As promised, some picture's from the ARA Rental Show 2013

At the show, we got to hear some great motivational speakers, and see a lot of new or improved products. Making rental items easier to transport seems to be a strong theme this year. This picture of an auger (used for digging post holes) is a good example of some neat engineering. 

Picture's are slow in coming..

Sorry, we've just been quite busy at the shop which is a great thing :) I'll try to get more up this weekend.

ARA Rental Show and Convention

Simply amazing, I just don't know how else to describe this show. There were over 600 vendors covering every aspect of the rental industry, and several great classes both motivating and business operation centered. I'll post some pictures once I can get my PC fired up.

"When to" calendar

Did you know Feb. is a great time to plant fruit tree's? Check out this great "when to" calendar from OHSU http://ow.ly/hxQ5B

Wow, time flies when your having fun!

Well, its been a while since I've posted to the blog, that is for certain. There have been a great many changes since the move to our new larger facilities. Some of the major changes are;

• Created a new position of store manager and hired Damon Ervin who was previously employed at RSC locally. Damon has proven to really be a great asset to the customers and our business. 
• Completely remodeled both websites, Roseburg Rental and Tim Allen Equipment both of which are much more "mobile friendly"
• Brought in a substantial amount of new rental equipment. We added two ride on Ditch Witch trenchers, two Kubota KX91 excavators, two Genie 1930 Scissor lifts and a Skyjack 2646 scissor lift.  

I'll try to do a better job of putting fresh content out here from now on. Thanks for stopping by!