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My brand new power trowel died halfway through a 40-yard pour
This was last Tuesday on a driveway job in Henderson. We were about three hours in, the concrete was setting up just right, and then the trowel just quit. No sputter, no smoke, just dead. It was a Marshalltown Pro-Float I'd only had for about six months. My heart sank. I had to send my helper running to the truck for the old hand floats while I called every rental yard in a 15-mile radius. We finished the edges and bulk by hand, sweating like crazy, and a rental showed up just in time to hit the final burn. It was a close one. Has anyone else had a new tool fail that fast? What's your backup plan when the main machine goes down?
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carr.luna5mo ago
Kevinm17 has a point about those ignition switches, I've heard similar grumbles from other guys on forums. But I don't agree that hand finishing just "builds character" when you're fighting the clock on a setting slab.
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rose_perry127mo ago
Feel the pain just reading that, what a nightmare. Only six months old and it just gives up the ghost in the middle of a pour? Sounds like it wanted an early retirement. Guess the backup plan is just pure panic and a whole lot of prayer for the rental truck to show up fast.
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abbyhall7mo ago
Come on, that's just part of the job. New tools can fail, it's not a big deal. You had a helper and a phone, you figured it out. Renting gear is a normal backup plan, not some huge crisis. Honestly, finishing some by hand builds character and keeps your skills sharp. People act like every pour has to be perfect machine work from start to finish.
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