05/01/2026
The tale of the tape:
By now everyone is aware of the recent water pump failure that has caused us to miss not one but two trips.
The initial estimate provided by the dealer exceeded $3,000.00 plus another $1,000.00 for towing and rental expenses since the repair facility is three hours from home.
The vehicle was alleged to be ready on Wednesday, 4/29, by noon.
I arrived at 11:00 AM to discover that they had not even started working on the repair.
I was then told that it would be ready on Thursday, 4/30, by noon and plans were rescheduled yet again accordingly.
Thursday morning I was notified that what I call a positioner pin had broken off of the old idler pulley control arm.
It can be debated as to when this pin actually broke but shouldn't be a significant issue since the new control arm has a pin and what remains of the old pin can be drilled out of the housing sufficiently to remove with penetrating oil and an EZ out.
I am relatively certain of this as the pin is NOT threaded and is only 3/10's of an inch deep.
During the recent oil filter housing debacle, nine 6 inch long threaded bolts of a much smaller diameter were broken off IN the engine block because Ram chose to use pot metal screws.
We succesfully managed to remove what remained of all nine bolts without damaging any threads.
The dealer solution is to swap out the housing as opposed to being ingenious.
Thus delaying us further by a week and adding another $2,700.00, parts and labor, to the estimated repair cost.
It is important to note here that as a preventative maintenance measure and since they were right there at it, I asked that they swap out the alternator to the new one in the passenger front floor board.
The cost for that, another $740.00 for labor.
Shameful for what should take no more than an hour.
The first quarter of this year Red Fern posted a deficit in excess of $10,000.
This decision to cease operations was not made by me but for me.
A $8,000.00 hit on the heels of a horrible first quarter is just unsustainable.
Their fault, my fault or nobody's fault, the funds are simply not there to allow us to continue operating.
I feel absolutely horrible as I have never failed to deliver even under conditions of extreme duress.
We have groups, guests and adopters all waiting patiently to send or receive their precious charges and I do sincerely apologize to all for our inability to overcome the most recent obstacle placed before us.
During our tenure and for the win, Red Fern has traveled 531,000 + miles absent any moving violation or incident while loaded and we have safely transferred off 4,261 of our guests into furever families or care of another rescue.
It has been our honor for five years to be entrusted with such precious cargo and for that I will remain eternally grateful.
I will be assisting, as I may, to help our customers transition to another carrier and that carrier is
Hearts, llc- Hopson Express Animal Rescue Transport Service.
Jason and Amanda run a five star operation as well and I have entrusted them with my previous fosters many times.
It is my intent that any invoices that were paid in advance of this disaster will be refunded by this afternoon.
This page will remain open and available to all for posterity purposes as I also look back daily through the memorable posts myself.
Godspeed to all and thank you for your many years of support!
