Out of 25 threads on the front page of the excavator section, 6 threads are about problems with Hitachi excavators. I thought that was pretty interesting given their bullet proof reputation.:cool2
I think part of the problem is that along with there being no real dealer support in most of the US, there were hundreds if not thousands of grey market machines sold here and in Canada, some of which had known issues which for obvious reasons were not addressed under warranty. Pretty dificult to get service information for the grey market stuff also, as it is different in most cases.
Hitachi was very much the leader of the pack IMHO. Excavators I operated were never seen by the dealer after they had done the PD until they come back to be traded with many thousands of trouble free hours on them. Now I don't know weather Hitachi has slipped back to the pack or the pack has caught up and now like the yellow machines, they're trading on past reputation.
And on the front page of the dozer section, out of 9 threads concerning machine issues, 6 are about problems with Caterpillar dozers. Are they problematic by nature, or over-represented in the older machine population? Don't know what conclusions I could draw without more information. I know Hitachi had their share of electrical problems with the older machines, but I think they were quite popular sellers in their time and I see quite a few still chugging along. I have owned four Hitachi/Deere excavators over the years, including one -3 machine and the only real complaint I have ever had was with the John Deere engine in one of them. Not saying they were better than other brands, but I have been happy with them.
Although I agree with everyone who has posted, I think this statement sums it up the best. The more machines you sell the more problems you will have, that's just common sense. But....if you stumbled on HEF doing research on which machine was the best to buy, it would be easy to write Hitachi off. There is also a case to be made that Caterpillar can't build a final drive as two threads are about their final drive issues. It struck me as funny that two of the best machines made took up a third of the front page dealing with their problems. To me, that shows the relevance of statistics at times BTW, I just bought a Hitachi last week
I have had the good fortune to work for dealers almost all of my career as an HD mechanic (Case, Cat,International and finally 22 years with Deere)and have found that Hitachi to be one of the best engineered machines out there. I think one reason being that they use "just in time" manufacturing methods and that they strive to keep it simple. Anyone that has worked on German stuff will know what I am talking about. Unfortunately most North American manufacturers use the poor customer and mechanic as the R and D department and will make a million copies of a bad design and I have seen Deere pull some real boners. The grey market stuff was one of our biggest competitors because you could save tens of thousands of dollars on a machine but they were hard to find parts for. I think maybe the biggest problem with the North American stuff is that we continue to put up with the crap that they manufacture and they will not improve until they lose market share. Don't get me wrong,Im as patriotic as the next guy but I drive a Toyota because I don't have to work on it when I get home.
Correlation does not equal Causation. Statisically most people die in hospitals therefore hospitals should be avoided at all costs, even if you are sick or injured. OR...as my Pa used to put it "Figures don't lie son...but liars figure!" However, the sum extent of my knowledge of excavators is best summed up by the figure 0. But I am still Jone's'in for a 100 -120 series. Dave.
As a mechanic my opinion is dealer support can ruin the very best in anything.
WC Fields said that beds are dangerous...........Ron G
:stirthepotI think this thread could get real good
Go Kubota
What did you get roddyo??
I got a ZX 270 LCD-3. I thought of you a few weeks ago. I guess that was one of your machines behind Dairy Queen?
We have 12 Hitachi machines 0n the wharf here used for pushing and stacking logs on the ships going to China, we load 30 000 t of logs and the machines run 24 hrs at a time when the log boats are in. We use 16 t and 20 t machines and to be honest after 12 hr shift x 12 hr shifts I can not fault them. They are an excellent machine once they sorted the turbos out on the 2013 machines!
Do you have any pictures of your grapple set ups? How do the 16 ton machines do loading logs?
Being new to this forum one thing i have noticed in a hour of browsing is most of the issues with the Hitachi machines all seem to be in machines which are very old. You'll not get many faults on the newer range of machines from the -1 through to the current -5, provided of course the maintenance schedules are up to date.