Continuing the discussion from Pressure needed for commercial work:
So in reading the thread above, it raises a question I’ve always had. Why does Jerry @ pressurewasher.net not get recommended when we talk commercial setups?
I personally don’t support or mention him because of his attachment to the Uamcc
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Jerry is a scam artist! He will rip you off, sell you sh*t you don’t need and when it comes time for him to deal with issues on his POS dual pump setup, you’ll be left scratching your head wondering why your dropped $5300 on a POS washer! 
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A post I made on FB early last year… Grab a beer and a chair. It’s a long read!
A lot of people have been asking me in private messages and also on these forums why I decided to sell my bulldog pressure washer that was built by Jerry McMillen.
Around September 2015 I had saved up enough money from doing jobs by utilizing my northern tool 3.5gpm/4000psi washer. It was at this time I decided I need to step up to the plate and join the big leagues. So upon doing some researching on these forums and also on the Internet the name Jerry came up and a couple of people raved about his dual pump pressure washing setups and told me I need to look into them.
Well I contacted Jerry and we literally spoke on the phone over the next month or so for probably a good 10 to 15 hours. I was preached that his systems are state of the art, easy to troubleshoot, maintenance is easy to complete on them etc etc. I was sold!
So around October 2015 I told Jerry I wanted him to build me a custom washer that was specked out with a 31 hp vanguard engine and 2 AR 18.28 pumps that are rated at 4.75 GPM/4000 PSI each. I would have a total flow of 9.5GPM and my psi would only be about 3200 because the horsepower of the engine was not high enough to accommodate the full potential of those pumps. So paid in full and three weeks later my washer arrived. Everything looked great.
Being somebody who has never even dealt with a Pressure Washer of this magnitude, I felt that I was the top dog in my area.
So after using it for about 10-15 hours I was quite pleased with how much faster I was able to wash houses and clean concrete.
Then the issues started to show up. The belts he used on this washer were originally (2) 3vx belts for each pump. I noticed that while the engine was under load the belts were flopping around like crazy, they were shaving against each other while they were in operation, and after a couple of more weeks the entire backside of the frame was covered in black rubber dust from the belts. So I contacted Jerry with my concerns and he told me he was going to upgrade the belts to a Banded 5VX and he would have them shipped out to me free of charge.
I also explained to him that the pump pulleys were not aligned properly with driver pulley. The frame that he had the pumps mounted to did not allow for any adjustment to move the pump towards the back of the frame or towards the front of the frame. So I had to take everything apart and make those holes oblong so I can have some kind of adjustment to make the pulleys lineup.
So the new belts came in I put them on the machine and after another 15 to 20 hours I was having the same issue. Belts were flopping around like crazy they were shaving and eventually they got to the point to where they were not usable anymore. Dumbfounded about why these banded belts would do this we finally came to the conclusion that I was using 5VX belts in a pulley that was designed for a 3 VX belt!
So after speaking with the engineers at Vbelt supply, they determine that an order for a banded belt to work properly the driver pulley have to be a certain diameter and obviously the pump pulley have to be a certain diameter to get the proper rpm for the pump to turn.
After was all over and done with I was sent free of charge a 5 inch driver pulley and a 12.5 inch pump pulley along with a new set of belts.
So me and my friend spent the entire day taking apart the old pulleys and bushings on the engine and the pumps and replacing it with the new hardware that was sent to me.
Everything was tensioned down properly, and I even purchased a little device to know how much deflection my belt had and what it required from the manufacture just to make sure I was ruling everything out.
Well as you can imagine the same thing happened again with the new pulleys and belts.
I once again emailed Jerry with my displeasure of this piece of equipment and asked him what he was going to do about it. Throughout the conversations that we had it was learned that only less than a handful of these washers were built and sold, therefore all of us were pretty much test dummies.
Several weeks went by and I did not hear from Jerry. No phone calls no text messages no emails.
So finally I sent him one last email that was slightly threatening. Which will be included at the end of this post.
He finally replied back to me and agreed to send me a updated state-of-the-art version of his new frame for these pressure washers. Basically the only thing that was different was the platform that the pump to sit on allegedly can be moved from front to back to lineup the pulleys. But when you look at the design only the back side of the pump can be moved from front to back because the other side of the pump is sitting stationary with a threaded rod going through the pump platform so basically when you adjust the pump from front to back your pulley alignment it’s going to be parallel misaligned!
Once I saw this on this new updated state of the art frame I decided right then and there I just needed to sell this washer and let somebody who likes to tinker with machines and has the time to do so to make it their project.
After speaking with several other people in this field and sending them videos and pictures of this build they were all in agreement that the frame was not built strong enough to accommodate this set up. What was really concerning, was the threaded rods being used to hold the pumps in place. These threaded rods also were used to adjust the tension on the pulleys. So in order to adjust one pump I had to loosen up a total of eight nuts and then start to screw them down one at a time until the pulleys were lined up and the proper tension was met. Complete nightmare!
The entire frame shaked like a SOB when it was up and running and obviously this shake was so significant that nothing would stay aligned with each other.
So these other people that I spoke with told me I needed to reinforce the frame I needed to weld certain things that were already on the frame at certain spots and all this other stuff and they all have valid points and they were all trying to help me. but everything that I kept thinking is I spent well over $5000 for this POS and I should not have to do anything like this to it.
I forgot to mention that I I had to purchase the new set of belts to accommodate this new frame so this cost me another $80 out-of-pocket for something that was not my fault.
Last time I heard from Jerry was about him asking me to buy the belt on October 12, 2016 after my frame arrived never got a phone call from him never got a text message never got an email.
I have heard but have not confirmed that other people that have purchased a washer from him have since sold their’s or have taken the parts apart and salvage whatever they can.
It is my hopes that if someone new is going to make a large purchase they need to ask lots and lots of questions to several different people before making a $5000 decision on their own that will ultimately cost them later on down the road. I can tell you right now that I lost about half my money when I sold this unit last month that only had about 120 hours of use on it during a 14 month stint.
Email to Jerry
"Hi Jerry
Last time we spoke was on 8/21/2016. I expressed my concern once again for the constant issue I have been having with the belts on this pressure washer. The pulleys don’t stay aligned, the belts over heat, the belts shave & eventually break. We even went to a banded belt setup. This set up did not work because the banded belts were sized in 5VX and the original pulleys on the machine were sized at 3VX. So now the pulleys had to be upgraded back in April I believe, to accommodate the new banded belts. Still, the belts were slapping under load, shaving etc.
This has been a issue from day one, and I have communicated all of this to you. I have been more than patient with this setup. I can not drill, cut and modify my pressure washer anymore in a attempt to make it work like it should.
For the $5049 + shipping I have spent on this machine, it has become ridiculous that I have to continue to tinker and play around with this pressure washer to make it work properly. Since I took delivery of this pressure washer at the end of October 2015, I have accumulated only 99 hours of usage on this machine. That comes out to approximately 9 hours per month. I estimate I have about 25-30 hours invested with aligning pulleys, replacing pulleys, replacing belts, making the holes bigger in the pump platforms (so the pulleys can align better,) replacing the hoses that came with the pressure washer because I could not get them air tight and the list goes on. Enough is enough with this machine.
Last time we spoke on 8/21/2016, I inquired about a hinged pump platform that I saw on a new pressure washer you built with hopes this could solve my issues. I offered to pay for this new design and you declined to accept any money, which I was grateful for. You also told me that these parts will be shipped out at the end of the week which would have been 8/26/2016.
Now, 4 weeks later, I have not heard from you and I have not received any parts for my pressure washer.
I can no longer use his machine for my business as it is not reliable. I have lost multiple jobs because the pressure washer was out of service or decided to have a issue in the middle of a job and that job needed to be completed by a particular date and time.
I can not stay at a job site for an extra 2+ hours loosening 16 nuts to change out 1 or 2 belts. then spend even more time making sure that I have the proper tension on the belt and the pulleys are lined up perfectly so I don’t have any belt shaving, belt slapping etc on the machine.
I am going to give you a opportunity to buy back this machine and keep everything peaceful for the sake of our businesses.
It is quite obvious there is a design flaw with this build, unfortunately I don’t want to be the one testing out this machine any longer considering the $5000+ I spent on it.
Please email me your response by 9/23/2016 on how you would like to proceed."
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And this is why people other peopke don’t recommend Jerry lol. Sorry Frank. If I knew you then I woyld have told you.
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Ohhhh. So I’m not the only one?
I saw the machine at a round table years ago and knew it was crap from looking at it. Look st his website and you can see the poor design in pics
My blood boils when I see his shady work. He’s a very lucky man that he lives 3000 miles from me
Please educate me. What is it that is obvious to you that the untrained eye wouldn’t see?
Engine sitting on a bolted im platform instead of welded. Adjustments for belt on left side of frame only. Unloader hanging off the pump, not on a block. Top heavy system. Plus, I didn’t like him as a person. Just my observations.
Yea just googled that McMillin guy an looked as his “state of the art” equipment he sells. It belongs on the shelf at northern tool… or harbor freight…
Im no engineer by a long stretch but ive been cutting stuff apart, building, rebuilding, and welding things together since i was about ten (shadetree fabricator). Nothing about the design or machine appeals to me nor looks like it’d last more than a year ( that means more than a few hundred hours ) or so… but thats just my opinion and well everyones got one.
Interesting. Thank you.
Here was my POS unit from Jerry… The pumps are held on with 1/2" threaded rod! To adjust the belt tension, you must loosen (8) nuts. 2 per threaded rod, one on top and one on bottom. It was a COMPLETE NIGHTMARE!!! It was a POS! Only thing good was the engine. If a pump went out, how did you know which one it was?? Gotta take the belt off one and diagnose each pump separately. Yea, you aint doing that in the field. Sold machine with about 98 hours on it. I estimate I had about 50 hours tinkering with it to get it to work right.
Did I mention this whole thing was a POS? Ok, well it was.
How did you manage to sell it?
Who did you end up buying from the second time?
I sold it as is with the issues I had and explained. It was a good project for someone to tinker with. Live and learn.
I built my next washer and it will run circles around Jerrys POS washers.
