How durable is your flex 3401

S

sparklescarwash

New member
Just thought to see how old you flex 3401 is mine is close to probley at least two years old Bought it when they first came out use probley 1-3 hours a day 5 days a week. Still going strong. Broke my side handle off the outher day.This thing takes a beating.I will be adding another one to my shop.
 
Like you Matt, I run mine hard and every day for the past 2+ years. Only had to replace the backing plate; other than that, the machine has been perfect. I'll be adding a second soon.
 
Still need to get one but I'm not dropping $300 on a polisher when I have a perfectly good DA and a rotary and it WON'T STOP RAINING HERE FOR MORE THAN A FEW DAYS AT A TIME!!!! /rant about the weather :p
 
Scottwax said:
Still need to get one but I'm not dropping $300 on a polisher when I have a perfectly good DA and a rotary and it WON'T STOP RAINING HERE FOR MORE THAN A FEW DAYS AT A TIME!!!! /rant about the weather :p
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Yeah, I know you take awhile to catch on to certain things ;)....I remember when I first started out here and would read all your threads with cars you polished out by hand. :D
 
Matt@Autogeek said:
Yeah, I know you take awhile to catch on to certain things ;)....I remember when I first started out here and would read all your threads with cars you polished out by hand. :D
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Well, with a rotary and a G110, I can pretty much handle anything anyway. Paint was a lot softer when I started detailing full time in the early 90s but now there is no way to remove swirls without a machine. :waxing:



The weather has been miserable here so I limit my purchases to what I need so I don't start going into my savings. 40% chance of afternoon rain today out of nowhere so my morning customer already cancelled.
 
Scottwax said:
Well, with a rotary and a G110, I can pretty much handle anything anyway. Paint was a lot softer when I started detailing full time in the early 90s but now there is no way to remove swirls without a machine. :waxing:



The weather has been miserable here so I limit my purchases to what I need so I don't start going into my savings. 40% chance of afternoon rain today out of nowhere so my morning customer already cancelled.
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I hear you. I've been trying to detail as many cars as I can lately before rainy season kicks in. Speaking of which, we have some nasty clouds moving in as we speak.



FWIW, if I had your rotary skills and a G110/PC/Griots DA/whatever, I wouldn't bother with the 3401 either.
 
Matt@Autogeek said:
I hear you. I've been trying to detail as many cars as I can lately before rainy season kicks in. Speaking of which, we have some nasty clouds moving in as we speak.
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Bad enough here I went to Phoenix for a week to work. Last week was really nice but we had rain Sunday, Monday, yesterday morning and now possibly this afternoon. :hairpull



FWIW, if I had your rotary skills and a G110/PC/Griots DA/whatever, I wouldn't bother with the 3401 either.
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Thanks, I appreciate that. :)
 
Scottwax said:
Bad enough here I went to Phoenix for a week to work. Last week was really nice but we had rain Sunday, Monday, yesterday morning and now possibly this afternoon. :hairpull







Thanks, I appreciate that. :)
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Sucks, but that's how it is pretty much everyday in the summer afternoons here in FL. I saw that thread you made for your Arizona trip...very cool stuff! :hifive:



Anyways, don't want to derail the thread too much, sorry OP!
 
My 3401 is still working like new, but I'd guess it doesn't get used as much as most people's.



It seemed like there was a rash of failures there for a while, maybe it was a bad production run or something.



Everybody pulling off the plate to inspect the gears on a regular basis?
 
Are there any good prices on it right now? I remember it being sold @ $240 New at carcaredepot last 4th of July but I was late to the game.
 
Accumulator said:
It seemed like there was a rash of failures there for a while, maybe it was a bad production run or something.
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it seems like it was the backing plate and everyone should have a spare anyways...
 
BigAl3 said:
it seems like it was the backing plate and everyone should have a spare anyways...
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I thought there was an internal-gear issue too :think:



But yeah, I keep a spare plate on hand too.



I also have an Edge adaptor for it, but I've yet to try that. I can see how abusive use would bust it up pretty fast so I plan to be a little gentle with it.
 
BigAl3 said:
it seems like it was the backing plate and everyone should have a spare anyways...
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I was planning on gettin a back up plate when I finally place my flex order. What is the life expectancy of the backing plates when used on a regular basis (ie 3-5 days a week)?
 
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