Jim Gamble

If only I was more like you. Hey, I almost forgot.....Yesterday I was looking through some of our old emails and found your email addressed to us asking if we can give you some of our Garage Photos for your marketing. You especially wanted those that showed before and after shots of oil removal. Hey if you need any of our photos for Garage Cleaning (that you requested in writing to us by email), let me know. I understand the last time you asked, I would not give you any, explaining that you should not use someones else work in your advertising/marketing, that you should use your own work. But maybe if I am nice to you by helping you with these photos that you wanted so badly, you may " Feel" better and not be so sharp with the words. If you want, I will see if I have any photos that you may like and this time, maybe I might have some without our watermark that I will let you use.

He Tony, Thanks for the Happy Birthday. How is the wife and family? I heard that you are back on the boards. That you increased your sales what 30k. Good for you ! keep it up.

Rob, Here in California, DODGE Trucks equipped with Cummings Diesels, New for 2011, come standard with Jake Brakes and are legal. You cannot order them without the Jake Brake. There is an off switch for residential noise. You have the option to use them or turn them off.

Sounds to me that you are having issues with your trucks and / or your mechanic shop is not well informed about the loop wholes in the laws. To bad. You need to go to CA. GOV to look at the pending exceptions. Yes it is long and boring and will take a few hours to find, but they are there. All of my performance products have been approved or in pending status. These pending status can last up to 10 years from going through the CA courts. By that time, I will be buying a new fleet of dodges. By the way, Jake brakes have NOTHING to do with smog according to CA Smog. Most higher priced ones are approved for smog. By the way, I resent your thought of me buying my way out. I went to two different smog places for our trucks. Reason, had a sale. ALL passed except one. Our 1998 12 valve which is the baby of our fleet. Has only 450 hp. Our injector pump had to be adjusted because at idle, when they floor the motor, Black smoke was seen for longer then 3 seconds. I think it was for 5 seconds. We had to detune the pump from 500 hp to 440-450.Replace the catalytic converter to a more efficient one that was approved for replacement for our model truck and now the black smoke is only visible for just under 2 seconds. May I suggest that you go to a reputable performance shop for Diesel's. Dodge Cummings are the easiest to modify to Ca Smog specs since most are complaint without any or limited smog equipment. Unlike the Fords or the Chevy's/ GMC or Isuzu. Again, I am sorry that you are having all of this trouble with your diesels. You really need to get in touch with someone who knows how to upgrade your equipment without violating any smog laws. If you still feel strongly about how I did pass and why you can not, maybe you should fly up here and I will show you. You could drive with me to an approved Diesel SMOG station, oh pick any station up here in California, for me to smog it again, you pick up all costs, including my time of 2 hours and a nice sit down lunch, Chilli's or TGI Fridays will do. Nothing to expensive. If you agree to this, I will be happy to entertain you by passing again. I think that would be a small price to pay for the knowledge that is eluding you for the moment. Jim Gamble Crystal Cleaning Company LLC Antioch, California 94509-6911 www.GarageCleaning.Net 510-612-0437

Ya your right, i am kidding about the 10 year mark. But I do not think it's to off since it has been so many years since Cali has done anything to Diesel's for smog. Your other concern is the Jake Brakes. You are CORRECT in saying that Jake brakes are not allowed in some areas of a city. Though the more expensive ones take this into consideration to " Muffle" the noise, it is still louder then trucks that do not have them. For example, all 2007 or newer Dodge diesel trucks have Jake Brakes standard on them. They have came alone way from 10 years ago. However, I do have the capabilities to turning the Jake brake system off at the stick shift with a flick of a button.

Ed, you are sooooo right about the smog. However, we did past. We also was concern about the high performance products and only bought performance upgrades that meet strict CA diesel Smog laws. As far as our diesels on our rigs, we was in contact with the State. It is not cut and dry as one may think. There are plenty of " Loop Holes" in the system. One being a Diesel Mobile Unit permanently built on a trailer, not stationary for more then 7 days or X amount of hours in a single location. However, I still called. Confirmed... got name of supervisor/ manager and operator number with the direct telephone line. I want you to know, that anyone who knows me, understands I do my research before I buy or build. Again, Thanks for the information. Allot of users may not know or understand what it is to be a successful business in California. Again, good post !!!

We have passed all of the Smog requirements for our trucks in Jan. 2011. One of the reasons why our parts were so expensive was because they all meet Ca smog reg for the next 10 or so years. I did check with that BEFORE purchasing any part, no matter how good the price was. If you can't use it, it is worthless. We are looking forward to our newest drivable rig. Tonight is the test. I may post some photos..... I will may also have to re-think about posting photo's of the unit since .....

Your right about the new smog laws. As of January, we did past all smog tests and requirements. The 12 valve had to be de tuned to 350 or so HP. The other trucks passed. One of the reason why it was so expensive to up grade is because no " Black smog" can be seen when they floor the throttle after 3 seconds. Out 12 valve needed a double catalytic converter plus de-tune it just a bit. Bummer. All upgrades was bought only after the State approved them on there CA.Gov approved smog options list.This is another reason why we waited so long to upgrade the trucks. As many know our newer trucks cannot fit in some garages. Thats why we keep the 1999 & 98 black Dodges. Not only are they paid for, not only do they have low mileage ( 58,000 & 72,000 miles ) but the can fit in any garage that we clean and now, have more HP and Torque then any new truck on the market.Now that we found away to get our equipment from coast to coast....including Hawaii, we are now looking into building our equipment for this expansion. We will have a minimum contract pricing for us to arrive in another state, but so far, it appears not to be a problem.

Chris C said the same thing last year. The problem is that I am on time limits with garages and it simple is not that easy to do, being that we reclaim every drop that did not evaporate or is soaked into the concrete. The oil/ heavy metals/ dirt for one spot(s) would create added costs and time. Frankly after putting 16 to 20 hours days, all we are thinking about is completing the job and going home. If I remember right, this job took (5) 15-16 hour days with a crew of 14-17. I just cannot remember the numbers exactly. Sorry. But you get the picture. Also, if I was to re cleaned a second time the following day, this stain, even with the 200 degree washer, would appear lighter as well. Oil rises up, you reapply detergent, you wash again. If I showed that this area was "Clean", by re cleaning again, this would not be a fair test. One could argue that the area got cleaned twice, and so therefore, of course, the area will be cleaner. See my point? In this video, I was not there when we re-cleaned the areas. I was on another job-site. When I came back, I was going to retake the video, but the concrete was wet. As you know Tony with some on these BBS ( NOT saying you) , I did not want anyone to say, ya it looks better because the area in question is wet. But you can see from our video's I try to get the cement completely dry before taken such a video or photo. I do not prefer photos where the cement is wet or soaked and then a after photo is taken. As you may know, this would show the cleaning job to appear to be " Cleaner" then what it would look if the cement was completely dry. The garage was open within the hour of us cleaning that section and I was glad, because in our contract, if we do not make the deadline, we pay our client up to 10% of the contract for lost revenue as a result from our delays. I did come back for the walk thru and thought that I may be able to take another video, but the garage was packed. We clean this garage every 3 years or so. It gets really oily. Every time it goes out to bid, we are the highest bid by at least 30 to 38%. The board asks for a detailed bid. Every year they choose us to clean. Since this garage, our sub now has a 780 or 790,000 BTU Boiler installed to prevent this from happening. Again, can't remember on the exact size. For this reason, his rig no longer cleans areas that require cleaning temps above 250 degrees.

Here is the video. I am unable to embed the video as Nigel describes above. so here is the link

<iframe title="YouTube video player" class="youtube-player" type="text/html" width="480" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/SGV4gwtlClc" frameborder="0" allowFullScreen></iframe>

Here is the video of 200 VS 300 degrees using the same GPM / Pressure and same surface cleaners

Hi Tony. Glad to see you. Hope everything is well. Tony, you make some good points. It is hard to say in words what we do. I do now this. I have submitted Videos of my Sub using 4,000 PSI @ 200 degrees 580,000 BTU boiler vs our 4,000 PSI 300+ Degrees at 1.1 million BTU's. Though I believe that the chemical does do a great deal of working to the finish product, I believe after seeing our crew apply the detergent in the same manor, our contractor cleaned the row using 0 degree tips as we did ( Turbos was not used for this experiment), this shows how higher temperatures can possibly penetrate the oil thus lifting and removing the oil and most stains from the concrete. I am not a scientist, but I did ask a Student from Stanford to ask her Physics Professor if 300 degrees would be " More Effective" in removing oil from concrete when applied as we described. I explained that we needed to know this before we decided to build our equipment. I wanted to know if the extra effort and costs would be beneficial in removing oil from concrete. based on his input, we went ahead and built it. We also had 2 Hydraulic Engineers help design the Hydraulics. One from Stanford, the other from England. I forgot the name of his University. The point here is that we did not assume anything. We asked professors and other individuals who had more knowledge then the average professional on how to achieve oil removal.

3 Years ago when I mentioned EPA and the CWA on past posts on ***, Ron, you never came across as a Green Movement sorta of guy in any of those replies....WOW. Glad to see it. I wasn't going to reply to this thread. Frankly I am just getting tired of this and in the future, I will try not to waste my energy. I have to plan our trip to the Orient with the family and our friends. Ron, I have been cleaning Parking Structures years longer then you or Scott. Your own words. In my 21 years experience, we first tried rinsing with the wands. 3 at 8 GPM. Because we clean so deep and the substance is so much, it would take 3 guys over an hour to rinse 1/4 of the floor to our standards. Thats walls, columns, railings, corners, cracks, removal of detergent until no subs are present from pressurized water hitting the area where the oil stain was, etc. ( This is to prevent slippage, Heavy metals, dirt and the attraction of future oil to the residue of the soap). Using a fire hose takes approximately 20 minutes and does a far better rinsing job because the volume of water will emulsify larger, heavier particles then a thin spray would. So lets do the math.... (3) washers @ 8 GPM = 24* GPM X 50 minutes= 1,200 gallons. Fire hose at < 80 psi is approx 70 GPM X 20= 1400 GPM. So by washing with a fire hose, it is actually saving time, not to mention all of that fuel ( Approx $50 with another 10% for wear & tear costs) and air pollution. ( All for what... 200 gallons of water? People with Swimming pools waste more than that in energy costs, maintenance and evaporation / splashing etc. (If wasted water is a big concern, may I suggest that those individuals take a bath to cool down). *If you have smaller GPM Pressure washer, the time will increase to rinse properly to our standards, thus the end result would be about the same if not more. The reason why most frown on this is because they do not have the filtering capabilities of handling so much water all at once. We do. As far as it being illegal to tap into a fire hydrant to supply water, that is what permits are for. We NEVER tap into the fire "sprinkler" system. Enough said about the water issue and I will not respond further on this issue since it will only create drama. 2. We have 4,000 LBS ride on vacuum systems as well, powder by water cooled Kubota 4 cylinder Turbo Diesels. The build costs was the price of some homes. We did plan on sharing / showing our units on these BBS just like we started to with building our 40 GPM Filtration Units. But a " VERY" select few unfortunately created so many problems and drama, that I decided to stop posting on that as well. This is really a shame. So many contractors would of been able to build their own units on a smaller scale for .40 or less on the dollar. Taking all of our research and development costs, using that information, and build themselves a unit without the learning curve. This really hurt the industry in my opinion. If someone instructed me with the knowledge I have today, I would of been retired at the age of 39 instead of being semi retired at 47.

On extreme dirty garages, it will take us an extra day for floor, walls and stairs. Add ceiling / hand washing of pipes add another day. Each day about 12-14 hours. Again, we use over 275 degrees. 210 degrees simple does not clean as well when it comes to oil removal. The hotter the water, the better. In some cases we use up to 325 degrees for those tuff deep oil stains. Again, all with 0 degree nozzles at over 3,500 RPMs. Our Turbo Twisters are modified for us to reach these spec's.

I agree with you Ed, if you are using a standard washer with a self propelled surface cleaner. In our situation, when using a 0 degree, we can clean faster then the normal water propelled surface cleaning units using a 25 degree nozzle. We are now cleaning ( EVERY SQUARE INCH ) of a 350,000 sq ft garage, walls, stairways etc with FULL reclamation and Full rinse down, in 1 long day. All while using a 0 degree tips.

You know, I did think about a used one last year at the RV Show..... a GREAT tax write off according to my CPA. My Wife however, said ..... NO :lgtear:. LOL You should get one Ron. :lghohoho: You can afford it.

Garages always are next to a building that has a Bathroom. Some Garages have bathrooms in them as well. We always make arrangements in our contracts to have access to these facilities. Good thought !

As you may already now Scott, our diesels have been upgraded. I think I wrote a thread on it last year. In case I did not post it here on TGS, this is what we did so far.... Our trucks are upgraded from suspension to 5 inch SS exhaust to the HP to the 50lbs Boost of the Turbos to the Jake brakes to even the new larger braking system. Frame has been " Computer Stressed tested " and re enforced where as needed. All of our trucks are over 450 HP with 673 LBS of torque ( Dyno tested ). One has almost 600 HP. The trucks have double clutches installed as well as the new 6 speed tranys. We spent over 10k per truck for the upgrades. We are however looking at (2) Semi with trailers to haul our current trailers and trucks up and down the coast. Again, ONLY looking. Not sure to buy or to contract out. MAY contract out. This way our crews can fly to the location, thus not get so tired from all of the driving from a city to the next. They will be fresh and ready to go with the 20 hr per day cleanings. Plus our equipment will not have so many miles on them as well. You know with me, I must justify the expense before I buy. AGAIN THIS IS ONLY ON THE DRAWING BOARDS and will NOT happen any time soon. This trailer design, thanks to computer engineering, will not weigh in at 12k, but allot less. Thanks for your input Scott.

Any realistic features anyone think would be cool to include into this build?

There is another manufacture on the West Coast as well. We are looking into this as well. However, from our experience, we find it is usually cheaper to custom build our trailers. With this economy being what it is, that may of changed. Thanks for the recommendation !

You know It. From our experience in building our trailers from scratch, we find that the rubber ride axles with the oil bath and the forward movement over-sized self adjusting brakes feature provides the best handling and performance of any axle on the market.

Yes.... It was a deal !!!! I see Dan regularly. Another Great Guy. We always have a chuckle from the politics. Hey, I think he owes me Lunch..LOL. Dan's unit was " Brand New". Dan just could not use this unit for his type of cleaning. We did considered buying it. The price was a great price, however, the unit was not designed for our application and would costs us up to $2,200 dollars to make it so. Dan's unit has the Standard 6.5 HP motor. Dan's unit was shipped to John Ellis of whom he stated to me that he loves the 36" path and the speed of which he can run. John and Al Patterson are Great guys whom I respect and always tell it as they see it.

I agree