Ferdinand
Active Member
In one word; Servicability. I've spent my life working on cars, motorcycles and such. When I started to buy and use heavy equipment,
I was shocked to see how poorly thought out some aspects of the machines were. In a world where time = money I expected the ability to keep the machine up and running would be a high priority during the design process.
Ive' now worked on Cat, Deere, Mack and some cottage industry brands. Inaccessible bolts, seals that you know will go bad over time in locations requiring major disassembly to get at, hoses trapped between two large hard to remove parts, no proper drain points for fluid systems, etc., etc. I could make a list that goes on for pages. There's nothing like reading "Remove ROPS and cab from machine..." as the start of a procedure to replace a simple hydraulic return hose when all it would take is to make the hose 3" longer to clear the cab.
It's why older used machines are frequently such a money sink. Once the second or third owner has the machine, they can't / won't service some of the more difficult to do items due to cost or effort. When the machine no longer works right, it gets cleaned up / painted and is put up for sale.
In my special hell for the people that create these things, they would spend all day every day fixing 30 year old, extra greasy, rusty, neglected machines on the Alaskan north slope...
I was shocked to see how poorly thought out some aspects of the machines were. In a world where time = money I expected the ability to keep the machine up and running would be a high priority during the design process.
Ive' now worked on Cat, Deere, Mack and some cottage industry brands. Inaccessible bolts, seals that you know will go bad over time in locations requiring major disassembly to get at, hoses trapped between two large hard to remove parts, no proper drain points for fluid systems, etc., etc. I could make a list that goes on for pages. There's nothing like reading "Remove ROPS and cab from machine..." as the start of a procedure to replace a simple hydraulic return hose when all it would take is to make the hose 3" longer to clear the cab.
It's why older used machines are frequently such a money sink. Once the second or third owner has the machine, they can't / won't service some of the more difficult to do items due to cost or effort. When the machine no longer works right, it gets cleaned up / painted and is put up for sale.
In my special hell for the people that create these things, they would spend all day every day fixing 30 year old, extra greasy, rusty, neglected machines on the Alaskan north slope...