It's here, and broken, again...

[KiotiOrange]

It\'s here, and broken, again...

Well I promised a post when it arrived (sorry, no pics yet), but I was too busy working /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif with it to fire up the old 'puter.

She arrived on a rollback about noon on Friday the 8th and after a quick review of the manuals I set about striking things off of my "to do" list. First to work on some of the stumps poking up in the new parking area. Started picking at a stump from one side and got as far as I could until it was time to reposition. Up with the right outrigger. Up with the left outrigger... where's this shower of hydro fluid coming from??? /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif A quick look reveals a pinching of the lift hose and fitting between the cylinder and the BH foot well, exactly like broke hydrolic /forums/images/graemlins/mad.gif

A quick call to Carver equipment and they are sending a new cylinder and hose straight away /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

So it's only FEL work until Monday when UPS arrives with the parts. I can handle that.

Monday and all is right, UPS has my goodies and everything goes off without a hitch. Back to backhoeing stumps. All is going well until this afternoon (Wednesday) and the wife is watching (from a safe distance) while I "play". As I am finishing up with one stump and moving on to another she says "Did you know you're dripping something?"

Shut down and start crawling all over this baby to find the leak. The leak is coming from the top fitting of the hydro pump (slow, but enough to start leaving puddles). /forums/images/graemlins/mad.gif

Another call to Carver and Terry (sp) suggests tightening the three bolts on the hose on top of the pump. Give that a shot, and the bolts just continue to spin, not tighten. The pump is still weeping hydro. He's going to call Kioti in the A.M. as they are already closed (it's 4:45 EDT) and get back with me tomorrow on parts order status.

Am I just heavy handed or have I managed to come across a couple of problems early on? I like the tractor, if I could spend more time using it than waiting for parts and fixing it I would be ecstatic.

I will post some pics later (as replies). Just wanted to let everyone know what fun I'm having (when I get a chance).

By the way, even with all the down time I have managed to put 12 hours on it sine it arrive (had 3 from the dealer).

 

[KiotiJohn]

Re: It\'s here, and broken, again...

A sad tale, but true, things happen. You'll get these all taken care of, and then go go go without a hitch for a long time.
When I first got my CK20, the only problems I had were with some too tight fittings that squished the O rings and they started leaking. My dealer took care of it right away, and things have gone fine since. The only other problem was with one of those plastic knurled knobs that tightens the ROPS. It just broke to pieces around the metal. Dealer brought one to me, 37 miles away.
Carver is and will take good care of you, I'm sure.
I can't wait to see you posting all the "I did this!" posts soon.
John

 

[Cliff_Johns]

Re: It\'s here, and broken, again...

Man, that's disappointing, though it sounds like they're treating you right.

Cliff

 

[sodamo]

Re: It\'s here, and broken, again...

Sorry to hear you joined my little club /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif but happy to hear your dealer is taking care of you. I plan to attach a length of rubber hose on the stabilizer to "cushion" the blow. I found some red rubber hose at HDepot that ought to work.

David

 

[KiotiJohn]

Re: It\'s here, and broken, again...

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( Sorry to hear you joined my little club but happy to hear your dealer is taking care of you. I plan to attach a length of rubber hose on the stabilizer to "cushion" the blow. I found some red rubber hose at HDepot that ought to work.)</font>
David, when you and your baby are reunited in Hawaii, look at the bracket where the stabilizer hits. I think there's a hole already there that you can put a bolt and a couple of nuts on that will keep the stabilizer from hitting the fitting. If not, find a location where you can drill a hole and put something like this in it, maybe with a rubberized end on it to cushion the blow, but protect the fitting. My dealer has done this on one of the models, but I can't remember it it's the same one you have or another.
John

 

[KiotiOrange]

Re: It\'s here, and broken, again...

David,

I saw your Post before the unit arrived and hoped that Kioti had made a design change. Apparently not.

What I am thinking of doing is finding a hood alignment bumper (similar to the side panel bumper on the LK3054) so that I can 1. mount something more permanently than I could with adhesive alone, 2, afford adjustability for a final fit, and 3. have some cushion so I can still hook the arms with the transport locks.

Wish me luck and I'll keep everyone posted as this saga continues...

 

[KiotiOrange]

Re: It\'s here, and broken, again...

Cliff_Johns,

The funny thing is that I have a Kioti dealer about 20 miles away, yet I ended up dealing with Carver (270 miles) because the "local" folks were entirely unresponsive. Every time I went in to look at and/or discuss the product line it was the same thing. I would spend 20 minutes poking around the lot looking at what was there before I would have to go into the showroom and down the hall to their offices before anyone even noticed I was there. Getting pricing was next to impossible. I walk in, find a salesman (I think he was anyway) sitting in his office and tell him I want to buy a Kioti with TLB and I need some pricing info. You'd have thought I asked for his SSN and first born.

Needless to say I was not comfortable that I would get service and support after the sale if they couldn't even bother to be there for the sale itself. I heard good things about Carver on this forum, requested a quote, spoke with Al Murray a few time on the phone (even stopped in to see the folks on a return trip from FL in early March) and they have been there all the way. I couldn't ask more from a dealer.

KiotiOrange

 

[KiotiOrange]

Re: It\'s here, and broken, again...

I promised some pics once things settled down and here they are. This is one of the tractor on my 20' 12k trailer behind the Ram 2500 Cummins. It tows okay, but I'm going to get the weight distribution setup working so I have some peace of mind.

 

[KiotiOrange]

Re: It\'s here, and broken, again...

Here's another of the tractor on the trailer.

 

[KiotiOrange]

Re: It\'s here, and broken, again...

Here's one of the busted hydraulic line /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif