After being in the service for over 35 years it has become apparent to me that it is the customer or truck owner that is unaware of the facts when it comes down to the maintainance of their vehicles when clouded with the technical rethoric that they get from sales persons from forklift companies.
Firstly, most companies try to obtain a contract to service a customers truck at least 4 times a year irrespective of the hours or conditions that the unit/s are used in.
I have always been a great believer in fair play when it comes to checking a truck then looking back into its history then finding it has only done 90 hours since last service yet I am compelled to carry out a full service because a contract says I must do so.
In the case of gas powered trucks, the cost of changing everything is nothing more than taking a customer to the cleaners as here are a few facts that customers should look at!

(1) Air filters can be blown out ( depending on conditions ) a total of 3 times before an actual replacement should be a necessity.
(2) spark plugs should only be replaced after 500 hours or failure has occured.
(3) I carried out a viscosity check on trucks that have run in excess of 1000 hours to find that the oil had maintained its viscosity within running limits to the specifications set down by Perkins for their engines.
(4) Although set out in service manuals, Hydraulic oil should be changed and new filters fitted every 6000 hours Max! yet I have yet to see anyone actually do this operation, we used to do this every 2000 hours with hydrostatic trucks.
(5) Transmissions, full service should be carried out at least every 2000 hours yet I aint been with one company in the UK that adheres to this and the onus is on the customer to get this sorted because it is not included in any service contract currently in the UK.

In the UK we dont repair problems as well as we create them for if we fixed things properly and maintained them well, we would have no job!

sound Familiar?
I was in a meeting a few years back where it was stated that as engineers we had to think to be long term greedy and not short term. that is to say! screw the customer as far as it allows!
I will say that there are possibly a few companies out there that are not **** their customers but all in all a person has to look at is, How often is that company there!are the defects resolved and sorted or does the same defect arise month after month ?
Does the engineer arrive, take a break, have lunch, then tea break then look at the unit and state, he needs parts?

I have been a dilligent and qualified engineer for many years and have seen many things that would make a genuine engineers hair stand on end with some things that are done to secure an invoice at the end of it.
I am sure that this post will either evoke a responce of remove it! or get one that says yup! been there done it!
This post has been done without malice or any form of defamation to anyone however! if you feel you fit the bill where contents in here fit your outfit then Woohoo! go for it!