RDrancher's Photo Thread

[two_bit_score]

Yes it was. The owner told me that another contractor had told him to just bury the stumps under the pad fill. I think that that may have been the neighbor. The last thing you want under a building pad are a bunch of rotting stumps!

Yeah, that is so wrong! Makes one wonder what all else that guy would cover up.

 

[two_bit_score]

Yes it was. The owner told me that another contractor had told him to just bury the stumps under the pad fill. I think that that may have been the neighbor. The last thing you want under a building pad are a bunch of rotting stumps!

Yeah, that is so wrong! Makes one wonder what all else that guy would cover up.

Washout makes a good drive way.

 

[RDrancher]

The other contractor also told them that he would just bring in dirt from a pool dig. I informed them that this kind of thinking is the major reason that the foundation repair companies are doing so well. Luckily, these folks looked for a second opinion and found a guy (me) that actually cares about the final outcome of the project. It seems that most guys around here are just after the quick buck.

I looked at a final grading/drainage job at another location for an owner-builder the other day. A beautiful 6,000 sq ft home built in a hole, twelve feet below the roadway. The grading contractor brought in 300 yards of select fill to build up the pad, but the fill wasn't "select" at all. It didn't pass the soil test. So the contractor removed and stockpiled it in the front yard and talked the poor folks into building it on the native ground that DID pass the test. Now they're in a hole, with a huge pile of junk fill AND a couple of hundred yards of excavated dirt onsite. The contractor took the money and he's long gone. Now that the home is in a hole that backs up to a pretty steep down-slope, the septic tanks and system will have to be place next to the walkway to their front door. Their drainage and concrete grading isn't going to be inexpensive, that's for sure. I see this kind of stuff going on all of the time around here.

 

[oosik]

View attachment 379988View attachment 379986 Pics of my little lake in the winter & summer.

 

[EddieWalker]

Around here, foundation problems get blamed for everything that's wrong with a house. Most of the time it's actually framing problems in the attic from modifications or a poor design over a great room. Those times where there is foundation issues, it's either from not compacting the soil and it's settled over time to the point there is a gap of an inch to several inches under the slab, or when it rains, they have standing water around the house, and sometimes it even floods the floors. By the time I get a call, they have already spent money on a French drain that didn't last, or never worked like promised. In my opinion, they are worthless. The only thing that works is removing soil to give the water a place to go.

What people don't seem to understand is that when the ground is saturated and we have a hard freeze, the soil expands and pushes the house up. Then after it thaws and warms up months later, they notice what happened and blame the foundation or the ground drying out. Foundations never crack from dry ground, it's always because of water. Either freezing or eroding the soil.

Eddie

 

[RDrancher]

I'd be willing to bet that almost all of the actual foundation problems around here come from building on crappy expansive soil that won't drain, or from poorly thought out drainage around the structure, or both. Unfortunately, the majority of the soil here in North Texas is expansive (clay.) It is possible to compact expansive soil and get 90% rates under the right conditions, but there are 365 days in a year, and during most of them the soil will either be too dry (cracking) or too wet (saturated.) That pad that tested good once is destined to fail and then a portion of the foundation fails too. If the soil pumps under any condition, it'll never be a stable pad for a structure. Most of the clay around here will pump in "pockets" randomly with repeated traffic over a given area. I've even seen it happen with completely dry ground under drought conditions.

There's a reason that commercial pads are lime stabilized or replaced in areas of expansive soil...the native soil is junk and the engineers that will be held responsible for structural failure know it. Most cities up here are finally getting semi-smart by requiring soil testing prior to building of residential homes. But even if they do, compaction testing on a pad after the grading is completed and any thought process regarding lot drainage is a rarity. Proof-rolling is still an accepted method of checking compaction which is simply put...ridiculous.

In the county, the poor customer is at the mercy of the builder. A typical pad in the county is built by pushing the onsite soil up from the area surrounding the homesite, or with just a few loads of imported select fill spread on the surface. Either way...compacting in "lifts" seems to be unheard of. The bottom of the foundation is still sitting in expansive soil, so it's designed to fail anyway.

If I'm called in to do final and drainage grading after the home is completed, I can guarantee that unless select fill that passed the test was imported during the pad building process, any fill I use to accomplish the task will be better than the soil the home was built on. That's pretty sad.

I could go on with all of the homes I see built at the lowest elevation of the property, or below the bar ditch invert elevation...but that's a whole 'nother thing,

 

[RDrancher]

I picked up my CASE TR320 today from the dealership. No charge for the repair from the fire. But......When I went to unload it I noticed a large puddle of hydraulic fluid on the deck coming from the NEW FINAL DRIVE! Zero income from this machine for the entire month of June and most of May. Do you think I'm just a little peaved right now?

 

[japody]

Really sorry to hear of all the issues you are having with your Case. I sure do wish I could find someone with your talents around my part of the country. The builder did a sorry job of grading around the house and I can't find anyone who knows what they're talking about to fix it. Let me know if you want to move to Virginia!

 

[dave1949]

I picked up my CASE TR320 today from the dealership. No charge for the repair from the fire. But......When I went to unload it I noticed a large puddle of hydraulic fluid on the deck coming from the NEW FINAL DRIVE! Zero income from this machine for the entire month of June and most of May. Do you think I'm just a little peaved right now?

I bet you are. I hope it is something minor like a loose fitting.

 

[RDrancher]

At this point I'm in a quandary as how to move forward. As much as I love the performance and comfort of this machine...I can't trust it. The CASE dealer that repaired the fire damage bent over backwards to get it done as quickly as possible and was the main force behind CASE taking care of the bill. The service manager is a stand-up guy. Then there's the Kubota guys. They've always taken care of me like family and they're itching to make me a deal. Besides that, the salesman at the new CAT dealer in our area found me off of my website and has been blowing up my phone. Kubota has been ruling the roost here locally with their CTL's and I'm sure CAT wants to make a dent in their success. I'm going to have to make some big decisions soon...I have a bunch of work on the books and I need a reliable machine to do them with.

 

[PapaPerk]

At this point I'm in a quandary as how to move forward. As much as I love the performance and comfort of this machine...I can't trust it. The CASE dealer that repaired the fire damage bent over backwards to get it done as quickly as possible and was the main force behind CASE taking care of the bill. The service manager is a stand-up guy. Then there's the Kubota guys. They've always taken care of me like family and they're itching to make me a deal. Besides that, the salesman at the new CAT dealer in our area found me off of my website and has been blowing up my phone. Kubota has been ruling the roost here locally with their CTL's and I'm sure CAT wants to make a dent in their success. I'm going to have to make some big decisions soon...I have a bunch of work on the books and I need a reliable machine to do them with.

Yeah I would dump the Case and buy a Kubota and not look back! The Case is too problematic. The Kubota should provide you years of service.

Work is hard enough... U shouldn't have to fight everyday with your tools.

 

[two_bit_score]

At this point I'm in a quandary as how to move forward. As much as I love the performance and comfort of this machine...I can't trust it. The CASE dealer that repaired the fire damage bent over backwards to get it done as quickly as possible and was the main force behind CASE taking care of the bill. The service manager is a stand-up guy. Then there's the Kubota guys. They've always taken care of me like family and they're itching to make me a deal. Besides that, the salesman at the new CAT dealer in our area found me off of my website and has been blowing up my phone. Kubota has been ruling the roost here locally with their CTL's and I'm sure CAT wants to make a dent in their success. I'm going to have to make some big decisions soon...I have a bunch of work on the books and I need a reliable machine to do them with.

It is good to hear that you have work stacking up and you need to get to it! Also good to hear that the dealer got Case to take care of the repair cost! That is great and I'm convinced prayer does work.

Hate to hear about the continued problems but it sounds like you have some options knocking at the door and plenty of work to make it worthwhile.

Maybe at least with the repairs done so far the Kubota or Cat dealer will treat you right on a trade. I'm sure you will make the best decision! You know who to look to.

.

 

[RDrancher]

After finding the leak late on Friday... I find out that the dealer isn't open Saturday's...really...not even until noon? So I'm dropping the machine back off Monday at the branch dealer that replaced the drivemotor after not even unloading it from the fire-fix trip. Another day of missed work for this machine. I'll be heading out on Tuesday to regrade and top a gravel driveway with my good-'ole 3000hr New Holland tractor.

After checking it out myself, I think I know what happened. The leak is coming from one of the small hard-lines between the machine and drivemotor. I bet the line got tweaked and cracked either taking the old drivemotor off or putting the new one on. I'm also pretty sure that they never checked the drivemotor in 2nd gear. When the drivemotor was replaced and I picked it up from the dealer, it was in 1st gear. I loaded it on the trailer, pulled it off and parked it. When I picked up the machine THIS time from the other dealer branch, the guy that ran it out to my trailer had it in 2nd gear. I shifter to 1st and loaded it. There was a puddle on my trailer when I got home. I have a feeling that the small hard-line has something to do with the shift to 2nd gear.

If that's the case they'll have to remove the track and drivemotor yet again. I'm not too happy about having this machine down once again. I'd keep it, do a couple of jobs, and then take it in for repair, but I'm afraid they'd somehow make it MY fault.

 

[ShowroomShine]

I hate you are looking at other options, the Case is such a good machine. They've corrected some first model year jitters, and the only one we've had back at the shop in the past year is for a TV380 that drove into a fire.

Even though I'm a dealer rep for Case, it really is a good machine. I'd never buy the Cat, we win bids against those all the time. Kubota makes a solid machine, and the new Deere 329 is a hellova machine.

 

[RDrancher]

Showroom, I'm sure that most of the machines are pretty good. I must say though that the unprotected hyd. hoses running through the inaccessible chaincases is a rather large design flaw. The new guards that are available for the plumbing to the drivemotors should be standard as well.

I won't go into "the rest of the story" since CASE is paying for the damage that ASCO's driver did to my wife's grandparent's motorhome when they picked up my machine. Let's just say that it adds to the absolutely unbelievable series of events that I've experienced with this machine.

I liken my CASE experience to having a bipolar girlfriend. She looks and feels good...but if she misses her meds, she just might try to slit your throat with a steak knife while serving dinner!

 

[RDrancher]

Showroom - Since you mentioned winning bids against CAT...I'll hazard a guess that maybe that's part of the problem. I've been around equipment since the mid-70's, and I remember when CASE was very responsive to the little guy. Through all of this...including a letter to CASE Stories, I have not been contacted by anyone other than the service manager at ASCO. Nothing from CASE Customer Service regarding how the fire repair was going to be handled, and nothing from the CASE dealer rep. CASE wouldn't even give me the guy's number to discuss the problem. Ii was told that all customer relations go through the dealer. I find that to be insulting. I may be a little fish, but I'm a large mouth bass when it comes to product performance. Most owner/operators are. If I'm happy...everyone I talk to knows about it. If I'm not...well, you get my drift.

 

[ShowroomShine]

Showroom, I'm sure that most of the machines are pretty good. I must say though that the unprotected hyd. hoses running through the inaccessible chaincases is a rather large design flaw. The new guards that are available for the plumbing to the drivemotors should be standard as well.

I won't go into "the rest of the story" since CASE is paying for the damage that ASCO's driver did to my wife's grandparent's motorhome when they picked up my machine. Let's just say that it adds to the absolutely unbelievable series of events that I've experienced with this machine.

I liken my CASE experience to having a bipolar girlfriend. She looks and feels good...but if she misses her meds, she just might try to slit your throat with a steak knife while serving dinner!

Understood. Bad taste, I'd likely dump whatever brand gave me that as well.

Truthfully though, one of our clients bought 3 Cat 299's, all 3 have been in the shop 2-3 times in the past year for final drive problems. He bought a 270 and 320 from us, nothing but success.

Other brands that I respect as a Case dealer, Kubota and Bobcat. Deere has great performance specs on paper, but I'd like to see it in person to know if it actually performs. The Kubota is a really well performing machine, although high on cost. Bobcat always has great engineering and dealer support, but their on paper specs as of late are getting underwhelming.

Whatever you decide to go with, keep us updated. Being in sales, I always like to know what customers think of other machines. I'll never bash a machine, they are all good at something, but knowing the weaknesses and strengths of Case is valuable to me.

 

[RDrancher]

Understood. Bad taste, I'd likely dump whatever brand gave me that as well.

Truthfully though, one of our clients bought 3 Cat 299's, all 3 have been in the shop 2-3 times in the past year for final drive problems. He bought a 270 and 320 from us, nothing but success.

Other brands that I respect as a Case dealer, Kubota and Bobcat. Deere has great performance specs on paper, but I'd like to see it in person to know if it actually performs. The Kubota is a really well performing machine, although high on cost. Bobcat always has great engineering and dealer support, but their on paper specs as of late are getting underwhelming.

Whatever you decide to go with, keep us updated. Being in sales, I always like to know what customers think of other machines. I'll never bash a machine, they are all good at something, but knowing the weaknesses and strengths of Case is valuable to me.

It looks like we were typing at the same time. See post #596 above.

Edit: I wouldn't be using CAT's problems with drivemotors as an avenue to sell CASE CTLs since they both use the same units manufactured by Bonfiglioli! That's the main reason I'm bypassing CAT as an alternative.

 

[ShowroomShine]

It looks like we were typing at the same time. See post #596 above.

Edit: I wouldn't be using CAT's problems with drivemotors as an avenue to sell CASE CTLs since they both use the same units manufactured by Bonfiglioli! That's the main reason I'm bypassing CAT as an alternative.

We dont use Bonfiglioli any longer, we use Berco due to the problems exposed earlier in our TR/TV product line.

 

[RDrancher]

We dont use Bonfiglioli any longer, we use Berco due to the problems exposed earlier in our TR/TV product line.

That's just another reason for me to get rid of my present machine. Even CASE thinks that the Bonfiglioli drivemotors aren't up to the task.

Do you have a photo of the new Berco drivemotor? Every one of the newer CASE CTL'S I've seen has been equipped with Bonfiglioli (unless Berco is using the same final drive covers.) Wacker Nueson also advertises that they use Berco undercarriages on their new line of CTL's, but states that the drivemotor is a Bonfiglioli. Literature from Berco mentions sourcing products from "partners". Are you sure that their drivemotors aren't sourced as well?