Losing faith in the "system"

[Legdoc]

So it's like this. Over the weekend I was was discing a winter pasture for livestock with my Kubota M9540 tractor. The left lift assist hydraulic cylinder blew out. I was able to complete the job by making wide turns in the loam field. I had to leave the implement in the field as the machine would not lift it. We lost some fluid in the field and none showed on the dip stick. I decided rather than just topping off the system we should drain what was left and go for a refill with new OEM filters and fluid which we did.
On installing each $50.00 filter I noticed "made in China" well that pissed me off! Well lo and behold, after an exhaustive nation wide search this morning Kubota has discontinued all seal kits and cylinder parts offering new cylinders only at just short of $1,000.00 each. I believe this corporate tactic is outrageous and just another attempt to victimize the consumer through greed. So here is where I'm at.
1. Try to find the seals elsewhere. Hercules?
2. Going forward with filters find another source possibly Donaldson?
All of this BS takes up precious time!

Anyone else feel the same as I do? Or am I just getting old and remember the way it used to be and not wanting to roll over and be a victim?

 

[crane operator]

OEM have for some time considered parts as a revenue source, not as support for their customer. So no reason to sell parts at small margins.

They want to limit inventory in stock. Because that’s dead money in inventory. So they only stock the whole cylinder.

Any publicity traded company is only interested in quarterly results, not long term . CFO’s are now the usual choice to become CEO. The bean counters are the ones running the business. And their pay is directly tied to the stock price.

Welcome to capitalism.

 

[Welder Dave]

Most cylinder seals can be matched up at seal shop if you can take the old ones or cylinder to them.

 

[Legdoc]

Thank you for the replies! Upon tear down I will try Hercules as we don't have a local hydraulic shop.

 

[Truck Shop]

Any publicity traded company is only interested in quarterly results, not long term . CFO’s are now the usual choice to become CEO. The bean counters are the ones running the business. And their pay is directly tied to the stock price.

Welcome to capitalism.

Which for most companies/dealers replacing with complete cuts down warranty issues with half
trained personnel in the shop.

 

[Welder Dave]

I wouldn't think a hyd. shop would be too far away in Texas.

 

[CM1995]

OEM have for some time considered parts as a revenue source, not as support for their customer. So no reason to sell parts at small margins.

They want to limit inventory in stock. Because that’s dead money in inventory. So they only stock the whole cylinder.

Any publicity traded company is only interested in quarterly results, not long term . CFO’s are now the usual choice to become CEO. The bean counters are the ones running the business. And their pay is directly tied to the stock price.

Welcome to capitalism.

OEM's should view parts as a revenue source, nothing wrong with that since they are in the business to earn a profit. Without a financial gain there would be no reason to have a parts network in the first place.

The better OEM's have good parts availability and inventory, the lessor ones not so much. It is the reason why one OEM is at the top of the list and the others trail in a given area.

I've had my Cat salesman take a part off a new machine twice in order to keep us running on a major project. No doubt I've become loyal and we are a small contractor.

Free market capitalism creates competition which is good for the consumer. If an OEM or dealer isn't being competitive then find another one or go aftermarket.

 

[Legdoc]

I was

I wouldn't think a hyd. shop would be too far away in Texas.

There is one local place that might be able to help. Otherwise it's 100 miles to a larger town.
I was considering a Kubota mini excavator. I think I will look elsewhere. I have been a loyal Kubota customer for over 25 years spending over $250k with Kubota. This really pisses me off. There is a farm and ranch show here this week. The Kubota dealer will be there. I hope a factory rep is there. I will give him or her a piece of my mind. Cat is not playing this game?

 

[CM1995]

FWIW we take our cylinders to a local shop that does great work. They are 20 mins away from our equip yard with normal traffic.

 

[digger doug]

Orange is letting you down ?

 

[Legdoc]

Orange is letting you down ?

You better believe it!

 

[MG84]

I understand your frustration, unfortunately its all cheap junk these days, the better brands are just a little bit less so. Every brand is using parts made in china, Kubota was actually one of the holdouts and only recently started using filters and other small parts made in china. Other manufacturers (Cat is one) are building complete machines there and shipping them back to us. For moral, political and financial reasons I don’t think we should be buying anything from china but thats a discussion for another thread.

I own equipment made by Case, Kubota, and Deere and am lucky to have excellent dealers for all three. Parts availability is usually very good and about the same in my experience for the aforementioned.

 

[treemuncher]

I've found my Orange parts to be extremely pricey. They see to want to be in competition with the big Green company that also has expensive parts. I normally do research to find aftermarket parts when I can. I refuse to pay $100+ for a 5 gal pail of Kubota Super UDT when I can purchase equivalant, K rated oil for $50-$60 per pail. I normally cross reference filters to Donaldson or other competitvely priced filters. Slapping a name on a box or a part does not make it any better than some of the others out there.

K wanted $1,200+ for a new AC compressor (part only) on my M120. I got the same thing for under $300 after doing some research on the net.

QDM sums up these kinds of companies pretty well:

 

[CM1995]

Other manufacturers (Cat is one) are building complete machines there and shipping them back to us.

Which models?

 

[JaredV]

307/308 excavators, to start with.

 

[CM1995]

Not familiar with the 307 model however the 308's have been made in Georgia for a while. I think Cat opened that plant back in 2012/13? Before that the 308's were made in Japan.

The plant in GA also makes the small track type tractors.

 

[JaredV]

I could be wrong on the 308 but the I ran a fairly new 307 for a few hours last spring that I'm pretty sure said "made in China" on the serial number plate. It looked like basically the same machine as a 308 but with a non-swinging boom. We have a little older 308 at work but I won't be around it for a couple weeks to look.

 

[MG84]

307 I know for sure is and I’m fairly certain one of the new smaller Cat mini excavators is also made in china. I was looking at one and was shocked to see that on the data tag. For some reason I’m thinking it was a 301.5 or 304 but I can’t remember. Cat does a very good job of hiding that info on the web.

 

[crane operator]

This little cat for sale by Riggs Cat in Little Rock, was made there.

Pardon Our Interruption

 

[CM1995]

Video from 8 years ago about the plant in GA.

Our 2018 305 is made in the USA but not sure if it's made at the GA plant. Our 2 - 279D's (2016 and 2019) are also made in the US.