Is it really a maintenance issue?

Could there be more to the closing of this ride other than that of a maintenance issue? I work as an engineer for a manufacture of large mechanical equipment and I have never seen a "maintenance" problem take weeks to solve. Could it possibly be a safety issue and CP doesn't want to damage its reputation in the industry? They have such a safe record with all of their rides and the hype for this ride was so enormous.

What do you think?

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Blue Gemini Always Wins

Coaster Nuts, you are nuts...

they are fixing the maitenance problem, but they are also fixing the ride so that they wont have to shut it down so often. so they are fixing it so they wont have another maitenance problem. at least that's what i think.

Forcedue,

Mechanical devices will break, we all know that. But you would think CP, being the mega amusement park they are, would have extra parts on hand to fix the problem. I saw a clip a few weeks back on the local news stating CP could not find a manufacture for a faulty valve any where in the world. CP is better than that. They woudl have at least one spare part on hand for a probelm like this.

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Blue Gemini Always Wins

Call me crazy, but it's not like you can pick up a 10,000 hp hydraulic motor cluster at Home Depot, or any of its sub-systems for that matter.

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Jeff - Webmaster - GTTP - Sillynonsense.com
DELETED! What time does the water show start?

What exactly do you/your company produce? Cuz if its not 10,000hp hydraulic drum systems that launch a train carrying several people from 0-120mph in only a couple seconds, I think its hard to really understand the full reality of the situation.

I dont wanna sound like a jerk or anything, but I do think that this is strictly a maintenance thing. No one has tried to reach this height or speed milestone with this type of ride before, just has some kinks to work out, thats all.

You're proabaly right. I'm just speculating. You would think that by now they would have the probelm resolved since they are losing money daily. I don't engineer large hydraulic systems but my comapny produces large mechanical equipment.

What do you mean, I bought a 20,000 hp motor the other day at the local hardware store. My back is killing me after carrying it to my car. What I'm saying is you would think they would have had a part of this magnitude on site as a backup, for a problem like this, since mechanical devices do fail.

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Blue Gemini Always Wins

Actually, I believe it's a Goverment conspiracy to close Top Thrill Dragster, as they believe Cedar Point will soon be able to launch Nukes from the top of Top Thrill Dragster.

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Wanna Get High? Ride Top Thrill Dragster!
RIP Top Thrill Dragster Themeing, who lies here in pieces on June 26, 2003.

Just because you bought a 20,000hp motor doesn't mean it was a humungous hydraulic motor with all kinds of wiring and valves. Cedar Point did not expect the valve to break so that is why they did not have spare parts. Do you carry around an extra enigine for your car incase your engine blows up while your driving down the freeway? I think not.

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Race For The Sky!

Good point. But, like the equipment I engineer and sell, the equipment stays put, like TTD. Hence, there is no need to carry and extra 10,000 hp motor around. Deliver it and STORE it in a warehouse.

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Blue Gemini Always Wins

I like the conspiracy theroy. Sounds like a mdae for hollywood movie.

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Blue Gemini Always Wins
*** This post was edited by Coaster Nuts 7/1/2003 3:37:32 PM ***

I just hope they bought the extra maintanence agreement for the extra $199.95 so they don't have to pay for all these repairs! :-)

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tambo

Now that is funny!

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Blue Gemini Always Wins

If all this maintenence and new seats add up to a lot of cash, who do you think will pay for it, CP or Intamin?

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Race For The Sky!

tambo said:
I just hope they bought the extra maintanence agreement for the extra $199.95 so they don't have to pay for all these repairs! :-)

I think they did, and somebody forgot to mention it wasn't the in home warranty. :)

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Without upstops, airtime would have a whole new meaning!

They say it is down for maintainance. The fact is that the contaminated oil inside the hydraulic fluid has probably severely damaged some parts...or destroyed them. I believe that the extended downtime is due to having the newer parts made, then put into place.

The hydraulic fluid MUST stay absolutely clean...
*** This post was edited by Playa21 7/2/2003 12:24:15 AM ***

The real question here is did they get a parts only warranty or did they get labor warranty included?

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Blue Gemini Always Wins

Coaster Nuts, I see your side to your speculations, but for the most part, I don't believe it is nothing more than a hydraulic problem. If you go to the park, that is what they are telling guests, that Top Thrill Dragster is not open because of mechanical problems. There really isn't any reason to hide any information, so they probably aren't lying.

But the fact is that mechanical difficulties do take this long, especially with the innovations of Top Thrill Dragster, which have never been used before. It uses first of its kind technology and it is very common to run into mistakes. I know you work somewhere that produces large mechanica equipment, but maybe your company is just lucky. With my experience with engineers at Dana Corp. is that most innovative ideas take years to come by, adding to that many mistakes.

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Life has it's ups and downs, might as well make it on a coaster!

A spare part of that magnitude is most likely very costly. That would be like us buying a spare engine for our car just in case it breaks down that bad. That usually doesn't happen so we keep cheaper parts like oil, plugs, air filters. Things that will wear out sooner. I am sure that even if they did have a spare on order it would take weeks to make (probably being made now for "future" need but they need it now) since it is a custom made item, or greatly modified.

CP didn't have a spart cable on hand for millennium force when it broke. They weren't expecting that to be a need for awhile.

I guess what I am saying in the long run is... You aren't going to invest the money or the space for a part that isn't supposed to be repaired or replaced for several years. It is not good business sense. All that overhead and money sitting around perhaps never to be used.

Sure we look at it and say... Look at all the $$ they are losing because the ride is down, but are they really losing money? It is the same Cedar Point it was last year, I still went... most or all of you went or are going.

As for the warranty Coaster Nuts... I think they went for the cheaper warranty plan where they have to figure out how to box TTD up and ship it to the manufacturer for repair since they didn't go with the on-site repair plan. heheho (okay... maybe not so funny, but I tried.)

I think when its all said and done, CP can put out a book called "Using Hydraulic's on 400 ft.,120 mph Roller Coasters For Dummies"