Road trip - What's new from Meyer

[Jerre Heyer]

Picked up a rider for a trip to Cleveland today. Chuck came up for NJ for a trip to the Meyer factory yesterday. We headed out for a evening at Jacobs field before a day with the Meyers guys. Met up with Skyking HD and Pcarlson and family for a good evening. Spend a lot of the evening visiting with Lou Osram and Chucks sales rep during the game. I true tradition security threw me out of the ball field for being there too long. After the game Paul and his wife, his friend Nigel a teacher from school and his girlfriend, Mike, Tom and I went to a local place called Panini's for a few cocktails. Had fun connecting to the internet and heading to bed before morning activities.

J

[snowplowjay]

Can't wait to see the pics


Jay

[Tileman]

No reports on the evening news about anyone getting asked to leave the Meyer factory today.

[T-Zab]

Talked to J today, he said there showing these boys the red carpet treatment. Evidently Meyer is making some major changes and improvements to its pro line. Sounds like they have a heck of nice manufacturing plant as well. They did not throw him out of the shop

[jbutch83]

If they wanted to get thrown out, they should have taken Renda with them, and have them show him the new shake mode on the plow.

[Pickering Snow]

Hope Jerre and Chuck had a great time i have been kept in the loop on this Meyer Trip and to be honest i never thought i would say this but it is very poss Meyer is gonna do a 180 on commerical equipment and give DD a run for there money.

I cant stand a monopoly of any kind and i hope Meyer, Buyers, {SAM** gives DD a strong blow back, with quailty snow equipment. I know when Blizzard was owned up north of here i felt i was dealing with real people that listened and hopefully the same thing applys here. I think honestly Meyer waited a long time to get there program together but anyone can rebuild a name it just takes time.

With that said iam proud of Chuck for getting his stake in has a dealer and wish him the best , think it was great they took J, Chuck, Thomas, Mike in and showed them the plant.

[pcarlson]

to be able to hook up with J and crew at the game. I must sqy I was a bit dissapointed last night. The crew got back from the Rock and roll hall of fame sometime after 11 so at Thomas's direction I hopped in the car to head downtown to "meet with peers from the industry." I wasn't long before J informed me that Thomas was "sleeping." Free drinks at the hall of fame = sleeping, i get it. The rest of the crew was headed to bed because they had a 4 AM departure to get mike back to work. I headed home, and the rest is history.

[SkykingHD]

Thank you Jerre for inviting me to the Meyer 2 day event. Good time was had by all. The people at Meyer went out of there way to let the dealers know they are changing how they think and produce products. They talked the we are improving product "talk". When I was at the factory they show us how they implemented the "talk". The new hyd. units have many new and improved changes. I can see less electrical and valve problems. The engineering changes on the mold boards have made the mold board stronger. The electrical for lights is less complex. The new saber lights are brighter but I see no changes in how to keep the plow lights aimed. They will have pleanty of light but you will have to keep the lights aimed.

The product improvement is going to make less down time for the Meyer Snow Plow operator.

A great product manufactured in the United States is a good for all.

All we need now is snow!

Again thank you Jerre for allowing me to tag along.

Dave.

[Chuck Smith]

Well, I got about 30 pics to put up of MANY changes in A LOT of plows. Even a new plow, never seen before that they unveiled for us after breakfast on Thursday. It is aimed at the homeowners association type plower, long drive homeowner, the same that would buy a Snow Bear, or Suburbanite. The great thing is it only weighs 350#, but it is a "real" plow, though small, and rightfully so.

More to come in about a 1/2 hour, going to resize pics and run a quick errand.

Thanks Jerre. The day they invited him he called and TOLD me I was going I am pretty sure the 4 of us (5 including Dave) were the only ones there that were NOT Meyers Distributors. I'd say 99% of those there were. Not Dealers, but Full Line Distributors. Since Andy Outcalt took the reins, Meyer is headed in a new direction, and he should be congratulated, and commended, because he has a rough road ahead, but has a great team, and is off to a great start. Meyer is no longer stagnant, and they are definitely one to watch now. I think his insight and enthusiasm has spread to everyone at Meyer, and they all seem motivated to be #1. It is just going to take time. You'll see what I mean when I start posting pics later tonight.

~Chuck

[Chuck Smith]

Yes, we were asked / told it was time to leave the stadium. At the Meyer plant, they had to keep an eye on Jerre as he lagged behind on each stop, and even vanished for a good hour or so, LOL. They tried to keep him with our group.

At the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame, they were ready to close, most had left. I was outside, and saw as Jerre moved towards the door, security moved closer, in a way, making sure he kept moving towards the door. He was not the only one still in there. We were supposed to leave by 10:45, and this was 11:10 that they were "helping" him to the door.

What a great time, really. Great food, great conversation, and a lot of fun. We also learned A LOT too. Indians game Wed night, breakfast and presentation on Thursday morning, excellent lunch sponsored by Briggs & Stratton and Whelen, tour of the Meyer plant all afternoon, then off to the RnR HOF that they rented for the night, with a nice dinner, and an open bar ALL NIGHT.

Now for the pics.... Here is Clark Griswold... I mean Jerre ready to roll in the van.

The view out our hotel room window of the square below (X2)

~Chuck

[Chuck Smith]

Me outside the plant.

Meyer has wings! They are still in development though.

~Chuck

[SkykingHD]

In my previous post change dealers with distributors. Chuck brought up the Meyer wings. Yes they are real. They are easy to remove. I have pro wings are they are harder to remove. Looks like Meyer is trying to get a big handfull of the market, with what I saw they will do it.

I wish them well and I was impressed with the changes.
Dave

[Chuck Smith]

Three shots of the way they mount. Again, these are still in development.

~Chuck

[Chuck Smith]

Back of the moldboard reinforcement (at this point) for the wings.

This is a BIG improvement. Instead of the little L bracket on the sector where it mounts to the A Frame, they went right across with the piece, and added a taller bushing welded in place for the center pivot. If you look close, you can also see "Meyer" etched or stamped into the nosepiece of the A Frame (upsidedown in the pic).

Meyer is going back to Goodyear RUBBER hoses instead of the plastic they have used for years.

~Chuck

[Chuck Smith]

V-68 V Plow power unit.

New angle block on the E-58H, with the A Valve moved to it from the base, and all new plastic nuts holding the new coils on, that are sealed, AND two wires to each coil to ensure a good ground, AND sealed connectors.

Close up of coils.

~Chuck

[Chuck Smith]

And here is the new plow they unveiled, the Drive Pro.

~Chuck

[Chuck Smith]

Here we have the E-70 used with the 10' Aggressor plow. Pretty sure there is a cover for it that was not on in the pics.

~Chuck

[Chuck Smith]

And finally, the Nite Saber II lights.

~Chuck

More to come. I think I missed some on the camera, and I also have some spreader pics, and Chameleon pics too.

[Chuck Smith]

As far as the "stronger" moldboards, yes, they are moving to "Slot & tab" construction, for precise fit before welding, and more strength overall. It makes sense. It also virtually eliminated misaligned parts. They are robotically welded too. No pics of that. We didn't take any on the tour. They are doing it on the V plows now, and I have to go back and look, as I did take some of the back of the V plow, and maybe the slots and tabs are visible.

They are also using an Amtek motor now on the pumps, made in the USA, as opposed to the old Iskra motor made in a place you can't even pronounce.

They are also using a newly designed top cap on the fluid can, with a double seal, with a brass insert, that deflects water, and helps stop it from laying on top of the seal like the old one. IMO the brass might also stop heavy pits in the chrome from getting to the seal as it has to hit the brass first, and any ice that may form on the lift ram, will hit the brass first as it colapses.

The Goodyear rubber hoses I posted above are new.

The actual pump itself has been redesigned.

They are using a one piece crossover relief valve.

There is a new angle block that I posted above.

The new coils and plugs I posted above.

Most of the parts of the frames and plows are cut on a laser table for precision, and less waste.

The powdercoat process is a nice set up too. I have never seen a Meyer with the bubbles other brands are known for....

We saw and learned a lot on the tour, but no pics.

The testing room was cool. They showed us how they test the trip function at various levels, and the crossover too.

~Chuck

[Chuck Smith]

Originally Posted by pcarlson

;;;;;;;;; Free drinks at the hall of fame = sleeping, i get it. The rest of the crew was headed to bed because they had a 4 AM departure to get mike back to work. I headed home, and the rest is history.

It was decided that it was just too late for them to go out. I also said I would drive, since what little sleep we were going to get would not be enough for any of them to drive, LOL. I was in bed by 11:30, and Mike came up around 12 I think. J was still looking for Thomas at 2am, and they went to bed around 2:30, LOL. So we rolled about 4:30. I drove, they slept. Some jackass in a Peterbuilt woke them up rudely though. Not sure what his problem was. I passed him doing about 70 on a flat. The 5 minutes later, I was passing another truck doing about 75, when he was right on my ass. I mean right there. I hit 80, and he sped up, I hit 85 and just cleared the other truck and he had to be inches away from us. He almost clipped the left rear of the van as he floored it and roared past us. Man was it LOUD. All 3 of them shot up when he did. Jerre says "That's a semi-legal exhaust" before he went back to sleep. Both stacks were smoking black.

Back to the goodies. I found more pics on the camera.

Here is what appears to be a new design for the ST Series. Using the smaller trip springs. It has the old style Sector with the L bracket though.

~Chuck

[Chuck Smith]

These are for you light freaks

They also make a small wiper arm vibrator to keep it clear of ice. There is a video on their site, and more info on their products.

http://www.hamsar.com/

~Chuck

[Chuck Smith]

A couple of the truckside mount for the Drive Pro. They had a few. This one uses two bolts on each side to mount. We also saw a 3 bolts on each side mount. Not sure what that one was for. I would expect to see this plow also offered for Gators, Kubotas, Cub Cadets, etc.

Truck and salter pics tomorrow. Jerre took some, and Thomas took A LOT too.

~Chuck

[Pickering Snow]

Great pics and it looks like you had fun hanging with Clark and company .

On the Peterbuilt you would have needed a cb to figure out what you did but something happened has this is old school Trucker teaching lessons, he is running a turned up pump on that Pete to get that kind of power and noise and most likly missing the disc plate in the Jake brake on that truck to pop that noise level and empty stacks. When on the interstate the 650 is somewhat acepted has a truck and i have been lucky to be blocked meaning hid from Dot when running without a Wieght plate "last Oct" and open frieght.
For the most part though iam sure it was a ole rebel yel teaching lessons , myself and Randy both have had some sour exper south of Tenn getting boxed in meaning they would run one truck in front and behind and on the pass lane and hold us at 60 to teach is southern manners i guess.


The pics are great like i said in my earlyer post Meyer has a tough road ahead they did fall way behind and even semi swallowed by DD and old Blizzard in high production commerial market. Iam very happy you guys got this chance in a life time and the question you know i really have CHUCK is well i just keep watching the top of the site .

[Tileman]

Very nice pictures Chuck. I know when we were in Indy for the truck show back in March Meyers had a number of new toys on display. So glad you guys got to take a tour of the factory and see more. From what has been said here on LTS and when the guys stopped in Erie, seams Meyer is here to stay and looking forward to giving DD a run for the money.

[Jerre Heyer]

Chuck, Thanks for posting. Got home yesterday morning and took Amy to school and Jacob to Day care before a busy day at the shop.

Unfortunately I won't be able to make SIMA next week as some of you know Amy had a run in with Gall stones a weekend ago and we spent Sunday in the ER and she's scheduled for Surgery later in the week this week or early next.

Tom and I had fun just making connections for help for her and to watch Jacob and shuttle everyone so we could go to Meyers last week. Fred she's on some of our meds that won't let her drive ( light weight...............LOL ) Really want to make the SIMA show but travel and time away along with the posiblity of emergency surgery make me need to take care of her and Jacob first.

Chuck's right. When Tom and I spent a day earlier in the year at the factory talking about some after market parts and changes we were shown the factory and alot of changes. They asked us to come back for this meeting and I asked if I could bring Mike ( the pump master ) and a couple of other guys and they said please bring the guys you think would benifit from it.

I had already thought that it would be great for Chuck to see the products as he was setting up as a dealer and after meeting Dave at the GTG with his years of plowing and repair knew he would find alot of interest. Dave just finished a long tour with Chrysler ( congrats on the retirement ) and is going to expand his service and repair from just his guys and subs to offer it to the others in his area. Thanks to Andy and the rest of the Meyer Family for the invite and the opportunitys.

I knew they were working on a lighter plow but didn't get to see it as they wanted to do a introduction roll out.

Tom and I were questioned about wings and they said they were testing some designs. At the R&R hall we sat down with the head engineering guy and had some good chats and there are more changes on the way for the entire line of plows and the way some of the stuff looks and works.

I'm dropping picts off the camera and have to make some changes to my SIMA presentation so that my fill in can do it for me next week and I'll post picts Monday and Tuesday after I empty Tom's camera too.

As far as the trucker went, he was running an empty coal bucket and I think he was on his way to the job site for the AM. Didn't hook up the CB for the return trip or I would have asked him what was up.

Chuck thanks for the chauffer duty on the way home. Glad you could make it . Keep a couple days in Sept open too.

Dave, Glad to have you up and spend some more time with you too.

Fred, I talked to the correct people about the banner and you will probably see it coming soon.

Thanks again to Meyers,

J