King Kutter Rep.

[Stormtruck2]

Since so much of the KK attachments are made in the USA, why can't they make the gear box too? Is there really that much savings buying them from China? Would we even notice say a $20 difference in price? Especially if there was a tag or sticker that stated 100% made and assembled in America??

 

[Agrantina]

Thanks F850 for the info... I figured so.. I am not one to jump up and down about -only USA- stuff..heck I have a Kubota .. Just wanted to know as I had heard different. Local guy is telling its ALL USA made... which I was questioning...

 

[Stormtruck2]

I buy as much American made product as I can, unfortunately, not much is made in America anymore. Not even American cars are made in America. The things that I can't buy made in America, I try extremely hard to buy not made in China. China is a communist country, who is a very serious military and economic threat to us. We are foolish to send our hard currency to our enemies. I am not an isolationist, just an American who wants to buy American. I even don't mind buying made in Canada. Lots of great products made in Canada. If I can't find it American/Canadian made product, then I turn to Europe, IE England, Germany, Italy et al. My very last choice is any communist country, especially CHINA. Guess that makes me a Cretin in some eyes.

 

[Travis_R]

He answered this question in other posts regarding the KK products and where they are made.

"King Kutter products are MADE in the USA. Tiller rotor bars are made here. The flanges are made here and welded onto the rotor bar. The top of the deck of the rotary tiller is formed in our plant. The deck for the rotary kutter is cut and formed in our plant, as are the side rails. We manufacture the stump jumper in our plant. The box frame for our discs are cut, punched, and welded together in our plant. The three-point frame is bent, and punched, and put together in our plant in the USA. To me... that's MADE IN THE USA."

"99.9% of the King Kutter equipment is made in the US, in three different factories. Only a few items like spin spreaders, cement mixers, and drag harrows are actually outsourced from overseas (not china).
Like all of the other big implement manufacturing companies, we buy gearboxes from China. King Kutter has extremely good luck with these gearboxes and have an extremely low failure rate. Extremely low."

"I want to address a couple issues in this thread which I beleive have been mis-represented.

1 - Unless something has changed recently the Woods machine also has a chinese gearbox. Woods, Land Pride, Bush Hog, Rhino, and King Kutter, all use gearboxes made in China.

2 - King Kutter has a failure rate of about 1 in 10,000 on gearboxes. I'm speaking of actual manufacturers defects here. So to whomever stated that the gearbox has been the weak spot of the King Kutter Finish Mowers, I'm sorry if you had an issue with one."

I bought a Bush Hog 285 rotary cutter in June of 2009. It has a sticker on the gearbox that reads "made in China." I didn't notice it til after I made the purchase and I wasn't happy about it one bit. But so far, I've had no issues with it. It has the "BUSH HOG" name engraved in the casting on the gearbox, but it does NOT have the "charging hog" logo on it...

 

[mojoinco]

Storm: sign me up as a cretin as well.

 

[TripleR]

I buy as much American made product as I can, unfortunately, not much is made in America anymore. Not even American cars are made in America. The things that I can't buy made in America, I try extremely hard to buy not made in China. China is a communist country, who is a very serious military and economic threat to us. We are foolish to send our hard currency to our enemies. I am not an isolationist, just an American who wants to buy American. I even don't mind buying made in Canada. Lots of great products made in Canada. If I can't find it American/Canadian made product, then I turn to Europe, IE England, Germany, Italy et al. My very last choice is any communist country, especially CHINA. Guess that makes me a Cretin in some eyes.

Some maybe, but not many, certainly not mine.

 

[Ford850]

Storm, I do almost the same thing. I've been "mentoring" my nephew to do the same too. My son has shopped this way since he's been buying things,starting with toys and now with tools. He's 12 and the first thing he does is look for the "Made In..." tag on products. It makes me proud when he flips a gift over and pronounces "YES! Made in the USA" after opening it. Sometimes the giver is a little confused by that. He's smart enough to say nothing if it doesn't say "USA" on it. I do look at quality first when there is more than one product to choose from, but in the end the results are usually the same. Sometime the European item bests the US product though.

 

[TripleR]

Storm, I do almost the same thing. I've been "mentoring" my nephew to do the same too. My son has shopped this way since he's been buying things,starting with toys and now with tools. He's 12 and the first thing he does is look for the "Made In..." tag on products. It makes me proud when he flips a gift over and pronounces "YES! Made in the USA" after opening it. Sometimes the giver is a little confused by that. He's smart enough to say nothing if it doesn't say "USA" on it. I do look at quality first when there is more than one product to choose from, but in the end the results are usually the same. Sometime the European item bests the US product though.

I recently ran into this when ordering a product "Made in the USA", the quality was so poor I sent it back in for a refund. The quality just has to be there to support loyalty.

 

[Baby Grand]

Since so much of the KK attachments are made in the USA, why can't they make the gear box too? Is there really that much savings buying them from China? Would we even notice say a $20 difference in price? Especially if there was a tag or sticker that stated 100% made and assembled in America??

Does any 3PT Cat1 attachment use a domestic gearbox? I'm sure KK would love to use a domestic gbx if they could do it without killing their sales. We all appreciate your intentions, but it's not a deal changer if a few people will pay a premium for the USA sticker. To stay in the game you need to sell huge numbers of a product. If you can't produce enough volume, then you can't even come close to competing on price. What's important is that the vast majority (sometimes I'm guilty, too) surf for the absolute lowest price. Who here doesn't haggle with the dealer? The Walmartization of our economy has led to the death spiral of US manufacturing in many sectors. And I don't have any easy solutions short of tarrifs - what some would call "protectionism" and others would call "socialism". When you compete on price with sources that use ultra cheap labor, you usually lose sales & jobs. Either you forfeit quality for cost or you just get out of that business.

I recently ran into this when ordering a product "Made in the USA", the quality was so poor I sent it back in for a refund. The quality just has to be there to support loyalty.

Truer words have never been spoken. Somehow KK is still making most of their product here and with excellent quality. I wish more would or could do the same. -Jim

 

[Stormtruck2]

You asked who doesn't haggle the dealer, I usually don't. I tell them give me their best price up front, it I can afford it I accept it. If not then I don't. You can read my earlier post about me and my methods. I agree the quality must be there in order to justify the price. That's a concept I call value. I place a value on made in America. My pickup is 99 F-250 SD made in Kentucky. My wife's cars are a Mitsubishi Eclipse, built in Normal Illinois, and a Hyundai Santa Fe built in Alabama. Yes I know they are foreign nameplates, but I believe I kept more Americans working by buying these vehicle over Chevy or Ford. My TV which I got when my mother passed last year is a Mitsubishi, before that it was a 1978 Sears LXI console. Yes the quality must justify the price, no matter who makes it. I believe that Americans and Canadians can make the best products in the world, if given the chance.

 

[TripleR]

You asked who doesn't haggle the dealer, I usually don't. I tell them give me their best price up front, it I can afford it I accept it. If not then I don't. You can read my earlier post about me and my methods. I agree the quality must be there in order to justify the price. That's a concept I call value. I place a value on made in America. My pickup is 99 F-250 SD made in Kentucky. My wife's cars are a Mitsubishi Eclipse, built in Normal Illinois, and a Hyundai Santa Fe built in Alabama. Yes I know they are foreign nameplates, but I believe I kept more Americans working by buying these vehicle over Chevy or Ford. My TV which I got when my mother passed last year is a Mitsubishi, before that it was a 1978 Sears LXI console. Yes the quality must justify the price, no matter who makes it. I believe that Americans and Canadians can make the best products in the world, if given the chance.

Kinda thought I was the exception. The first thing I tell any salesman is that I don't haggle or bluff, so think about it and if you are going to have to go to the manager then he is who I need to be dealing with. If the price is right, I buy it, if not I am gone. I use to do all the haggling and leave the lot and all that stuff, but quit in 1992; some people love it, I just ain't one of them.

 

[Stormtruck2]

Triple R, you and I sound as if we came from the same cloth. Your signature line has always been a belief of mine. My dad always told me that there are 3 animals in the market, everyone knows about the bulls and the bears, but there is also the pig. Don't be a pig, leave a buck for someone else.

 

[crbr]

I buy as much American made product as I can, unfortunately, not much is made in America anymore. Not even American cars are made in America. The things that I can't buy made in America, I try extremely hard to buy not made in China. China is a communist country, who is a very serious military and economic threat to us. We are foolish to send our hard currency to our enemies. I am not an isolationist, just an American who wants to buy American. I even don't mind buying made in Canada. Lots of great products made in Canada. If I can't find it American/Canadian made product, then I turn to Europe, IE England, Germany, Italy et al. My very last choice is any communist country, especially CHINA. Guess that makes me a Cretin in some eyes.

LOL.. China owns our debt, continues to buy U.S. Govt. bonds to this very day (pumping money into our economy), and has economical control of this country... Buy what you may but it all belongs to China.... I respect your opinion and philosophy but that went out the door about 25 years ago. Economics has changed immensley. I didn't make it this way. $0.02.

.

 

[Stormtruck2]

LOL.. China owns our debt, continues to buy U.S. Govt. bonds to this very day (pumping money into our economy), and has economical control of this country... Buy what you may but it all belongs to China.... I respect your opinion and philosophy but that went out the door about 25 years ago. Economics has changed immensley. I didn't make it this way. $0.02.

.

Well, I'm glad I could make you smile. I disagree that economics have change immensely in the past 25 years. Economic realities may have changed though. BTW one of my degrees is in Econ. Some economic realities never change though. You cannot spend more than you earn forever, are you listening Congress? You cannot tax without impeding growth in some fashion. You get more of what you subsidize, and less of what you tax. Yes I agree that China has us by the short ones, through our excessive spending, and Americans only focusing on price, not quality. The less we buy of Chinese imports, the less hard currency they have to use against us. There is so much more I could say, but I am trying to avoid worsening the thread drift.:laughing:

 

[King Kutter Rep]

Hello all -

I work for King Kutter, hence my handle.

No, we do not advertise here, but as someone stated, I'm not trying to sell anything. I may post a new product video in the future to get some feedback, but other than that, I'm just here to try and be helpful. Also, I want to make sure that the information people think or post about our equipment is factual. I hope all of you look at King Kutter and Taylor Pittsburgh Mfg. products when looking to purchase new equipment, but in the end you need to buy what is best for you!

Someone asked where our tiller gearboxes are made. They are manufactured in China.

 

[Stormtruck2]

King Kutter Rep, do you happen to have any info on what the price increase would be if you went to an American made gearbox for your products, or are they not even available? Not being a prick, just curious?? I'll probably be buying a few of your products soon for my JD 4600. Need a tiller, blade, box blade, rake etc. Hear good things about your products for the most part.

 

[King Kutter Rep]

Stormtruck2 -

I do not know what the increase would be for sure, and as I don't get into the buying of the gearboxes. I honestly don't know of any companies here in the US that are making any agricultural type gearboxes like we use on Rotary Kutters, Finish Mowers, and Tillers. I'm not saying there isn't, but I don't believe any of the major companies like King Kutter, Woods, Bush Hog, Rhino, or Land Pride are using an American built gearbox on pto driven equipment like Rotary Kutters, Tillers, and Finish Mowers. Woods built their own gearbox to use on a 15' batwing mower up until a couple years ago, but they stopped production on that particular model I believe. It was a model that only had three gearboxes on a 15' cutter as opposed to four gearboxes which is the standard today.

I appreciate your interest in King Kutter products. I believe in our product, and feel that you will be pleased with any King Kutter equipment you buy!

 

[King Kutter Rep]

What a better place to post this than the "Attachments" forum!

I just wanted to say WELCOME to TBN and THANK YOU for becoming a member! I wish reps from other manufacturers were here on TBN!... Sure would help out a lot on some of the confusion and misleading information.:thumbsup:

By the way, I do own a 5-1/2' King Kutter box blade and I like King Kutter products... Soooo, next time I get ready to make an implement purchase can I just say that I know you and prepare my self for a big discount?:laughing:

Let me know when you're ready for my e-mail address so I can retrieve, print out, and redeem my Discount Coupon Code.:laughing:

Travis R

1.) Thank you for welcoming me.

2.) I'm glad you like the King Kutter products

3.) About that discount.... Tell them you know the Queen of England if that will get you a discount! It's likely to garner more weight than a lowly King Kutter Rep! HA!

 

[newt92]

Welcome KKR!! I for one am a happy KK tiller owner. Zero problems in the 8 years I have had it. Got it new from TSC.

 

[BJN644]

Welcome King Kutter Rep,

I don't if this has been asked yet, but I own a KKII tiller that I purchased from TSC. I see that TSC now sells a tiller that looks like a King Kutter, but has a different name on it. Is this made by your company, or someone else that make a close copy of a KKII tiller?