King Kutter cheap steel (Picture)

[JimR]

Last week I was doing some site work for a friend using my 6 foot KK grader blade. I was backing up when my friend asked if I knew my bracket was cracked. Here is a nice shot of it. There is also another split near the bottom on the left that goes around the left side unde the frame. Both sides of the pipe near the top have weld cracks also. I did manage to sqeeze it back together and weld it all up again. This blade was not made to be used in reverse. I was only pushing 3/4 stone with it. The pipe they use is very mild steel and can be mangled pretty easily. The blade did not sustain any damage of any kind. This tells me that the round pipe on the bracket is of inferior quality.

 

[Soundguy]

Yikes.

I've seen a few grader blades i wouldn't put on my tractor either. I like some of the older solid designs.. sometimes hard to find HD stuff. Any change the welds were bad or already broke?

Soundguy

 

[markct]

we have one of those cheap blades from central tractor that looks like its made exactly the same way. ours has been great, its seen alot of hard use before i got my road grader. its never cracked anywheres but if it had i wouldnt have been the least bit upset, i woulda welded it back together and added some reinforcment. when i buy a cheap implement i dont expect the best quality, im glad KK isnt better quality or else it would be in the price range with brand names like landpride and bushog. i wouldnt consider the pipe inferior quality, i would consider it adequate quality for the class of implement, you wouldnt buy a trailer house and expect the quality of craftsmanship and materials that would be in a $700,000 manshion would you, implements are no different, you get what you pay for, i personaly dont like to pay much but i dont mind rewelding something once in a while, thats the tradeoff for the low price. i could have spent four times as much and known i would never have a problem with the blade, but i would preffer to spend one fourth and take my chances. thats why my point is that the steel is not inferior for the class of implement, its not a high end implement so why expect a high end steel?

 

[JimR]

I think the split in the tube was already there and hidden by paint. The crack is (was well rusted). The same may be for the weld cracks also. I also welded up the cracked welds around the grader blade post in two places on the right side where the post is attached to it. The paint was cracked and I assumed the weld had cracked also. I just laid a heavy bead all over the place on this.

 

[JimR]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( we have one of those cheap blades from central tractor that looks like its made exactly the same way. ours has been great, its seen alot of hard use before i got my road grader. its never cracked anywheres but if it had i wouldnt have been the least bit upset, i woulda welded it back together and added some reinforcment. when i buy a cheap implement i dont expect the best quality, im glad KK isnt better quality or else it would be in the price range with brand names like landpride and bushog. i wouldnt consider the pipe inferior quality, i would consider it adequate quality for the class of implement, you wouldnt buy a trailer house and expect the quality of craftsmanship and materials that would be in a $700,000 manshion would you, implements are no different, you get what you pay for, i personaly dont like to pay much but i dont mind rewelding something once in a while, thats the tradeoff for the low price. i could have spent four times as much and known i would never have a problem with the blade, but i would preffer to spend one fourth and take my chances. thats why my point is that the steel is not inferior for the class of implement, its not a high end implement so why expect a high end steel? )</font>

Fortunately for me this came with my tractor for free. I do understand that the cheaper the item the cheaper the quality. A simple band of 1/4" steel tubing around the upper section would not have been too hard to install while building this unit. That would have just about made it indestructable. I will re-engineer it if I have anymore problems with it. This is the weak link on the whole unit.

 

[Egon]

Different rear blade but I've had several breaks on the same piece you showed.

Rather have that break than a tractor component.

Egon

 

[markct]

</font><font color="blueclass=small">( A simple band of 1/4" steel tubing around the upper section would not have been too hard to install while building this unit. That would have just about made it indestructable. I will re-engineer it if I have anymore problems with it. This is the weak link on the whole unit. i dont mean to sound like im upset at you especialy since you didnt buy it it just came with the tractor, but i just bothers me to see some people complaining about KK quality, its a discount line thats the quality that you get for that price, you wouldnt buy dishes from the dollar store then complain that they wernt as good as your fine grandmothers fine china, yet some people seem to think that discount implements should be held to a higher standard, again i dont mean that about you, just some members of this board and other boards too, glad you were able to fix it up
)</font>


thats probably true, but thats why other brands that cost more, put more thought into desiging and testing there design. if they reinforced it there then there would be another weak point that would show up most likely, and then if ya keep reinforcing you have a heavy duty 800 dollar blade, rather than a medium duty affordable 200 dollar blade <font color="black"> </font>

 

[JimR]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( thats probably true, but thats why other brands that cost more, put more thought into desiging and testing there design. if they reinforced it there then there would be another weak point that would show up most likely, and then if ya keep reinforcing you have a heavy duty 800 dollar blade, rather than a medium duty affordable 200 dollar blade )</font>

I agree 100% on that issue. For now I won't push it so hard. I just spent $1300.00 for a new motor for my truck.

 

[Soundguy]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( i could have spent four times as )</font>

I agree. On many things I don't feel the need to pay 2-3 times the value of what I'm going to get out of the unit.

For instance.. when i paid 5XX for my 5' KK mower.. I knew it wasn't a 9XX bush hog.. and might not last as long.. but I figure.. if it lasts half as long.. which it might/should.. then I can get another, and still be in it nearly dollar for dollar as the expensive one.. except that half way through the lifespan.. mine is 'new' again.

Besides.. Our company uses low priced cutters.. mainly howse and KK... so far, on the last 3, we have had failures other than gearboxes, ( mainly decking rusting thru.. or being mangled by big rocks.. )in the years we've used them. To me.. I figure i can fix pretty much anything EXCEPT the gearbox.. so like you said.. I'f I have to hammer the decking back down and weld on it a little.. no problem... etc..

Soundguy

 

[MMM]

I've been the new cheap route and for me used heavy duty for same or less money is the only way to go. Cheap, thin material on cheap implements just isn't repairable. You need something to weld to or it'll break again. Iguess my el cheapo would have been ok strictly for clipping pasture, but took it to deer lease once and that was it's demise. It never really recovered from little 2" saplings.