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Joined: Feb 2004
Posts: 17
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New CEG\'er
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Joined: Feb 2004
Posts: 17
First off I would like to say, yes I can probably make the gear you all need. Now, here is a little background on who I am:

My name is Jeff Caplan (aka:hamonbagel) and I live in South Eastern Virginia. A little over two years ago, an old car I was restoring sat in my garage. I didn't have any money to fix anything on it because of an increased cost of living with our first child. The only thing I could do was pull things a part and see if I could fix them. I discovered a small gear was split on the shaft of the odometer. This explained why it wasn't turning. I called around to the authorized shops and they all wanted me to send it in for around $150. All that was wrong was a tiny gear but no one would sell just the gear. Being a person of principle, and cheap, I wasn't going to pay $150 for a gear. I set out to make my own. Word got out on the web boards and today, I make just about any replacement gear for odometers. It is important for me to tell this story so you know I am just like you all, a DIY backyard mechanic that just wants to help others out because no one was there to help me. The business is designed to save the end user time and money by filling a void that the original manufacturer refuses to fill. I sell my product direct to end users, shops and wholesalers. As long as the final buyer is saving money and is happy, my number one goal of the business has been met.

Some folks have the mentality that when a part is made for a Porsche, BMW or MB, you should be charging more because the owners should have more money. This is not my thinking. I make a gear. It takes me the same amount of time regardless of what it looks like. Some gears are the size of a pencil eraser and others are as big as a silver dollar. I really don't care. A gear is a gear. Most importantly, a gear can not be copywrited. A gear is not an original and unique item and you can not receive a patent on it. One of your members emailed me with a quote from a manufacture to make them out of metal. The cost was around $70k. Yes this is possible. I have other ways to make the gear and for all the above reasons, I will never inflate the prices. I use my equipment for a lot of items that I get hired to make. Those will pay for the machine one part at a time. This gear will help but it is just a very small item in my inventory. If you want to look up the costs of the machine, I use a BOY 22M plastic injection machine. They are not cheap but what really costs are the molds. Again look up some prices and you will see.

There are lots of parts that I make for the automotive industry that aren't listed on my website. This is because I sell only to the person who hired me to make the part. To get this exclusiveness, they are ordering many 1,000's of parts. This is how I really pay for the eqipment. Again, no one was there to help me. It's goofy but the movie Pay it Forward is really what this business is about.

Anyone is welcome to call or email me at anytime if they have questions. I don't hide behind a website. My address and phone number are right there for all the internet files to see. If you have a part you want made, let me know and I will consider it. More than likely I will try to make it as long as I can handle to work load. My corporation consists of me and only me. I work full time as a photojournalist which pays most of the bills. This is a second job. If there are problems with any order, I am the one who will answer for it. I can't blame somone in China or India because I make everything. On a side note, some businesses will get parts made overseas. Doing this you have no control over what they send back or if they send anything at all and just cash your check. Keep that in mind. I have several stories that aren't about me thankfully. Think about it. Are you really going to sue a chinese company because they cashed a $10K you sent them and didn't come through for you? It's not worth it and you will never win.


What I need for this sunroof project is the following:
One good gear. It has to be 100%. Anything missing and it will not work. For the first person to get me this gear, I will gladly give them the first gear made for free. If no one has one to give up, which is why you need one in the first place, I will call a few of my sources and see what I can find. I plan to start on this in about a week so if you have a spare, let me know while the offer is on the table.

All my products are guaranteed for life. Even if you sell the car, the new owner can ask for a replacement at anytime. I am confident in my product. Buying through the internet or store front should never be a scary ordeal. Ask on any car board about my business. I will let those people do the talking about my business.

Sorry this is long and rambling post but it's important to me that you understand where I am coming from. I hope we can get this done in a timely and professional manner. Again, if this ever evolves into spam, please let me know and I will stop the posts.



Please look at the website and you can see what I offer now.


Thank you,

Jeff Caplan
Odometer Gears LTD
757-593-3478
Odometer Gears LTD sales@odometergears.com

Joined: Apr 2003
Posts: 2,779
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Joined: Apr 2003
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Hey Jeff, I was the guy talking to you through email. All I have to say is wow, what a first post. I REALLY hope we can get this thing going. I think someone has a gear available, check the other post. Thank you for doing this.


99 SVTC, T-Red, #652/2760-12.8.1998 Mother#@%@!* did I sound abstract? I hope it sounded more confusin than that!
Joined: Nov 2003
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Joined: Nov 2003
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Hey Jeff, welcome to our site. I hope that you can help us out here. As I have told you(and you can see from the discussions) we are really interested in this gear. I am confident that we can find one for you to use as the mold.

Bruce Inman


"Eagles may soar high, but weasels don't get sucked into jet engines."
Joined: Dec 2002
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if i had a sunroof, i would be in on this, just because that post was so nice ...anyways, welcome to the site


1998 T-Red CSVT 3.0L
Joined: Nov 2000
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Learned patience the hard way
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Update,

Jeff and I have spoken and I'm sending him a gear so we can hopefully get this buy off the ground. Keep an eye out for pricing and buying info.

Thanks,
Rick


Owner of 00 #1611 Silver (Totalled) 98.5 T-Red SVT #6180 Buckshot77@msn.com Misc 3L parts for sale

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