Dealer Service

[heyinway]

You need to find an independent shop.

 

[MHarryE]

Follow up on my last post. Here is the AEM report through May. Note that the equipment manufacturers have hit a wall. Phenomenal sales in the first quarter 2021 depleted inventory to a point where they have been unable to catch up. Numbers are sales, not production. High sales in 2021 were depleting inventory leaving dealers with empty lots. And it only helps to add assembly workers if there are parts to assemble. A tractor or track loader assembled in Georgia cannot go out the door without the engine assembled in Japan or planetaries assembled in Italy.

 

[5030]

You need to find an independent shop.

Great idea but it don't work for the new T4 final units because you have to have a Diagmaster and up to date software to even access the ECM. Independent shops can do the mechanical work but that is it. Only dealers have the Diagmaster and only they can access toe software updates. Was looking at my dealer's Diagmaster today. Was paired to a laptop and was downloading the latest updates.

Like Dennis told me, Kubota considers all of it ' proprietary data' I will be glad when the Deere 'right to repair' group gets a final finding on their lawsuit because other manufacturers will have to follow suit.

I'm not happy that Kubota won't give me the access code for my new bailer. I bought the dam thing, I should be able to access everything in the computer but they won't let me. Why I put an extended warranty on it actually.

 

[Hay Dude]

Is there a trick to get a dealer to work on a tractor. My nephew forgot to enable auto regen when his electricity went out. Tractor driving emergency gen for 20 hours, was near 99% at start, was at 160% in the morning, wouldn’t regen, so in a week dealer picked it up. It’s his main feeding tractor and FIP on his old IH backup - replacement can’t be made to run. So my new M5-111 is his chore tractor, except when I need to cut or bale (every day) so it’s in shuttle mode. Meantime blower failed in cab of my M7. It’s buried under the seat and blocked by side panels. I’ve torn it apart, 8 hour job, found problem is wire connector pinched under AC unit. Cab needs to be removed. Dealer hasn’t even responded to my calls. I’ve spent over $500,000 at the dealer since 2013 including 3 tractors between $100k and $200k each . Is this todays service? Every time I run the M7, a warning light come on saying the hydraulic oil is bypassing due to heat - sometimes within 2 minutes of start. Kubota says likely a switch failure, done worry. I worry that it’s been a year and they don’t have time to fix. Also the software is to be updated under warranty but Kubota won’t let them come out to my farm to update - I need to pay $1000 hauling to get it done, but the other problems keep cropping up. Kubota should be proud of my $18 12v fan in my cab as a crutch. Are all dealers getting this was or is my WI dealer an outlier? No promise yet when nephews M111GX gets back - it has 4,200 hours no problem but one slip on his part and he’s screwed.

I‘d guess part of the problem is that its prime time farming this time of year and dealers are stretched thin. I began buying as much equipment I could from one specific dealer because they are service oriented. Whatever shortcomings AGCO may have (if any) they make up for in excellent service and parts and then some.
$500,000 is a decent amount, but be sure you are well behind many farmers as 500k is small fry (at least in my area).
We have a breakdown about every 2 or 3 days and can handle most repairs myself, but then there’s that little issue of getting hay baled and making money.
I haul anything I can’t fix to dealer myself at night after work to save transportation costs.

Had a repair this morning that I could barely handle. My AGCO dealer had a tech ready to send to me in under an hour- all I had to do was say the word. Luckily, I was able to drill out broken off studs, get parts installed and get going in the field. They keep their parts dept open 24/7 in season and have a tech on standby to take calls after hours. Have a good Case-IH dealer, too.

I have run 2 130HP Kubotas for 13 years now and I am not exactly impressed with them.
I think the legacy, serious farming brands (AGCO/Deere/CNH) are still the go-to for farming. Kubota still light on equipment used for daily farming.

Anyway, not much help but I would suggest shopping dealer first and brand second or third. I think your original inclination to go to an AGCO dealer (Massey/Challenger/Fendt) may have brought you more satisfaction.

I wish you luck with your dealer and may suggest you go to another dealer and ask questions about buying their equipment. Word spreads fast-maybe it’ll get back to your Kubota dealer?

 

[sea2summit]

THank you for bringing this subject up.

I think we got into this position because we bought so many products which we knew were not designed to be repaired. Even a casual glance would show us that today's dealerships - whether tractors, cars, appliances, tools, or you name it... do not have the facilities, parts, education, personnel, or backing to repair their own products. Nor do they feel a responsibility to do so. There has been a major shift in our manufacturing philosophy.
Manufacturers are now selling goods designed to be replaced rather than repaired.

And knowing all this, we are still voting with our dollars to buy unrepairable produts.
The inescapable conclusion is that we have done this to ourselves - and we continue to do so.

If we continue to mortgage our land to buy newer tools to farm it, then eventually our land will belong to those corporations. A lot of it does now. And we will be working for them. Is that what we want?

It's not too late to change things around, but the later it gets the harder it becomes to make changes.

rScotty

And the legal issues continue with right to repair! Can’t these manufacturers figure it out? Not sure we have done it to ourselves, unless you know options I don’t? Heck, the last several things I bought were purposefully outdated just so I could fix them myself for a reasonable cost!

 

[5030]

Why I will not purchase a new T4 final tractor. I prefer 100% mechanical injection. YThe more complex they get, the more chance for failure. With the new Kubota's (my technician told me) it's more about owners not adhering to the Kubota recommended regen procedure than anything else to which I commented that maybe Kubota needs to change the regen parameters from being able to over ride to no over ride.

 

[ultrarunner]

No over ride could leave you in a bad way could it not?

There are times when it is move it or loose it… applying to equipment as in the case of massive California wildfires and in terms of harvesting when the window is short and tractors work around the click…

 

[sea2summit]

Why I will not purchase a new T4 final tractor. I prefer 100% mechanical injection. YThe more complex they get, the more chance for failure. With the new Kubota's (my technician told me) it's more about owners not adhering to the Kubota recommended regen procedure than anything else to which I commented that maybe Kubota needs to change the regen parameters from being able to over ride to no over ride.

No way. My MX has no over ride and my M4 has over ride. My MX loves to decide it needs to regen when I'm cooling off the turbo after a job getting ready to shut down so then I have to reheat/overheat it to burn it. On the M4 I have only had that happen once I recall, so over rode but on the next start up as soon as she was hotted up allowed the regen no problems and that would be my preferred method.

 

[5030]

No over ride could leave you in a bad way could it not?

There are times when it is move it or loose it… applying to equipment as in the case of massive California wildfires and in terms of harvesting when the window is short and tractors work around the click…

it could I guess but I wonder what the alternatives are? Dennis told me issues arise when owners over ride multiple times in a row and the DPF unit gets clogged and then bad things start happening. I guess it's a multiple over ride issue more than anything else.

He told me that Kubota will deny warranty on any machine when they determine that the failure was the result of multiple over rides. How they determine that I have no idea but I bet every time you over ride the regen, the ECM logs that event. Trouble with ECM controlled engines, the ECM is usually smarter than the owner is.

Commented a while back that he told me they actually had one come in where the owner just kept using the over ride button and the cannister became completely clogged and was back feeding the exhaust into the engine itself and destroyed it. Don't know if Kubota warranted any of it or not because that was a while ago. I did ask the regional rep about it when he was here at the farm adjusting the net tail stickout on my new bailer and he confirmed that they would not. He also commented to me on the side that I was much better off not having any emissions compliant computer controlled units. My philosophy is, if it don't blow off some particulates when I throttle them up, I don't want it. Neither of mine blow smoke except when throttling up under load. Once they assume the load, the exhaust is just heat, no visible smoke at all and both of mine are very frugal on using diesel anyway which is a good thing considering what ORD costs today.

 

[5030]

No way. My MX has no over ride and my M4 has over ride. My MX loves to decide it needs to regen when I'm cooling off the turbo after a job getting ready to shut down so then I have to reheat/overheat it to burn it. On the M4 I have only had that happen once I recall, so over rode but on the next start up as soon as she was hotted up allowed the regen no problems and that would be my preferred method.

Don't know which have an over ride button and which don't actually. I guess my big issue with it is it takes additional fuel to regen and ORD ain't cheap and with the largest ones, you have the DPF fluid as well to purchase. I believe Dennis told me over 100 pto horsepower, the DEF comes into play.

How does it notify you when it requires a regen? An idiot light on the dash or a audible warning or what?