What piece of equipment is the problem child in your fleet? Bei9ngs we have Coal Burner with his Volvo and we have a favorite piece of equipment thread I thought a problem child thread would be interesting. This thread is not ment to bad mouth or bash the equipment or the manufacture or the companies that service the machines. The 2 companies we use to service the Fuchs have treated us very good. We have one where I work, it is our 350 Fuchs. We have had it for 2 years now and the last 8 months have been real bad. This machine has constant hydraulic leaks and has had over 50 hoses replaced .in the past 3 months. None of the hoses are dry rotted or cracked, the just blow. We have constant trouble with the generator and the electrical system for the magnet. We also have had the connector plat from the engine to the hydraulic pump break and now we are having trouble with the boom. Once you stick out and boom down you cant boom back up. I for get the hours on it, I will have to get them and post the tomorrow. We also have a 340 Fuchs that has 14233 hours on the clock and has had 2 engines in it. Right now the hydraulics are a bit slow. I am assuming they are slow as the hydraulic pump has never been touched. Sorry I was not sure where to past this as this not a digging machine as it is a hydraulic crane. Please feel free to move it to the proper spot if there is one for it.
I had a '87 Chevy 3500 rack body. I had so many problems with it I sold it when it had only 80K on it. That was about 5 years ago......
We run Terex scrapers take your pick. No we have a one that is nothing but trouble, but I don't know what it is they only call it Bigfoot. Its one of a kind, really the serial # is 00000001.
What is it a prototype?? Or did you just buy the first machine they made??
My 97 D6RXL has been the problem since the day it was bought. Transmission shift valve problems every season, unlimited sensors, equalizer bars, the block had to be cut and liners shimmed, final drive problems, and yesterday the engine oil cooler took a crap and pumped 3 gal of engine oil in the radiator seems like everyday something new. My 91 D6H was the best tractor i had ever owned
2003 Bobcrap S220. The parking brake grenaded 8 times since new. The Stealer (Bobcrap West or Pape Machinery) insisted it was the operator everytime. We finally caught it just before it went and found a $0.50 spring was letting the parking dog drop on the brake rotor while in full motion. The dealers response "Thats not the cause of all of e'm" I am in the process of divorcing Pape and trading in our Bobcrap loaders for Komatsu equipment.
I moved it here to "General Industry Questions", since we've already had a truck mentioned, and I'm sure atgreene's trailer will come up. Problem chidren come in many varieties. Great question, by the way. :thumbsup
I no longer have a problem child,,,I fired his a err...behind.
My two Ford Super Dutys are mine. Both have been plagued with problems since new and have made more trips back to the dealer than anything I've owned in the past. Two summers ago my F-550 spent 15 weeks at the dealer's total for various repairs. It killed me having it sitting there not making money and still having to send the payment. I so wanted to give the dealer my statement for those months, it really fried my rear end. It will be a long time before I buy another Ford truck.
What year F-550?? I've had nothing but great luck with my Fords.
Badger 1085D rubber tire excavator. NPK hydraulic breakers (We're switching to Cat I hear after a big fight with the John Deere dealer that has the partnership with NPK and rebuilt that POS.)
I have an '01 F-350 and an '02 F-550. Both have a laundry list of recurring warranty issues. For the money I've paid for these things vs. the problems I've had, I'm fed up!!
Does the F-550 have to 6.0L or 7.3L?? (Thay made BOTH in 02 & 03) Is the 01 a gas or diesel??
Both are the 7.3. I bought the 550 a year earlier than I had intended to avoiod the new 6.0. The F-350 is an auto, the 550 a 6 speed. I've owned Ford's exclusively since starting my business, these are the 3rd and 4th 7.3s I've owned. I had '97 F-350 dump I wish now I had never sold, these new trucks have been nothing but trouble.
My problem child is some of my employees.
04 F550 Dump w/ the 6.0, and an NPK Hammer are the worst
every truck i have that has a 6.0 ford diesel in it has problems. one went through 2 motors in 10,000 miles. The others I caught on before it happened. But everyone of them has had the injectors replaced, and the egr valve update. Which was clogging witht he trucks at an idle and the truck would run funny. So they made the truck bump up to 1000 rpm after like 5 minutes or someething.
No problem Digger. Thanks. Well I forgot got to mention the names of the dealers we use. They are Anderson Equipment and Reco equipment. Anderson was out yesterday looking at both machines and found the problem on both. The 350 there is a limit switch on the boom not working right and the 340 there is a valve on the pump that is going bad. They ordered both parts this morning and we should have them some time Monday. The Fuchs 350 has 5500 hours on it.
F-o-r-d Hi, Steve. Congratulations. You have done FAR better than most Ford owers I know. No doubt most of the members of this forum have heard various versions of what the letters in the name Ford stand for (And none of them that I believe have the 'F' standing for 'first'.) but what do they stand for when you read them backwards - Driver Returned On Foot. In my limited experience I have never come across a real dog of a machine or vehicle that gave trouble endlessly in the manner that some have descibed above except for one, a Ford Cortina GT sedan. I got it with 20,000 miles on the clock from a real fussy first owner, did another 25,000 miles in 5 months and never stopped having little bits and pieces fall off of it. Starter pinion chewed out, front wheel bearing worked loose due to failing bearing (OEM - Came with car), voltage regulator died, parking brake cable broke (small lady driver at time of incident), gearshift lever broke (This one was ODD. The gear lever had a double bend in it that looked original and the stick broke in the middle of the bottom bend. It DID appear to be crystalised at the break. I had to drive 400 miles home changing gears with a pair of vise grips clamped on what was left of the shift lever.) I traded it on a Toyota Crown 2000 (First Toyota 6-cyl. DownUnder.) pick-up and IMMEDIATELY went back to having a good run from my vehicle. That Cortina was the first Ford that I ever owned and will be the last.
ON the rental side of the business, blue bird sod cutters and jcb mini cx's come to mind.
I have a McNaught grease gun that leaks grease everywhere in my truck on a hot day. I can't for the life of Brian determine why I still own that POS:Banghead :Banghead . I think its the worlds worst grease gun!. If something is going to arc me up its going to grab tools or equipment and getting a handfull of grease...especially first thing in the morning. Grease has its place...in the pins...not all over my bloody machines:cussing In fact I'm going to ditch that bloody grease gun first thing in the morning....I'm getting angry just thinking about it now BTW Deas....I have a Ford, you can have it real cheap...its very economical...gets great mileage
+1 I agree with Squizzy246B nothing worse than getting greasy first thing in the morning.:cussing I would have a hard time getting out of bed if I knew I had to go to work on a lube truck every morning, but I feel for those who have that thankless job day in and day out.
Here our Cat dealer sells NPK hammers. I'm curious what kind of problems you have had with them. We have one with about a thousand hours on it and have not had any problems other than a quick coupler. Most of its life has been spent under water. The pin fell out and had to get a diver a couple times to retrieve the steel so I welded a plate over it and fixed the problem. I think this was caused by the air pressure. You got me wondering what gonna happen.
Re Cheap Fords Hi, Squizzy. Quote: "I have a Ford, you can have it real cheap...its very economical...gets great mileage." Now Squizzy, you are starting to sound like a used car salesman and we both know that there are only 2 species on the face of the planet that can rival them for mis-handling the truth - lawyers and politicians. All three are able walk under whale manure with a top hat on. (Whale manure finishes up on the ocean floor and you can't get much lower that that.) There ain't any such thing as a CHEAP Ford - or an ECONOMICAL one. And you say it gets great mileage. I would ask, "Does it DO great mileage?" There is a difference. D-river R-eturned O-n F-oot. Tell me, Folks. Would YOU buy a used Ford from this man??????????????? LOL.
Wow, that is very odd. I know a guy that has a 01 F250 & has nothing but problems but his is a gas. I have a few buddies that have the newer 7.3L and love the trucks..... Thats horrible with the problems you guys have. I've had nothing but great luck with my Fords. My buddies have; '04 F550 dump '05 F350 pickup '01 F350 pickup '06 F350 dump '06 F350 pickup '06 F350 pickup '06 F550 dump '96 F350 (2x) dump & pickup '97 F350 dump '98 F350 dump '98 F450 dump '88 F350 dump & they love them...(all diesels & 4x4)
Cat 325BL - 3 final drives, swing motor/swing gear, many assorted repairs in 6500 hours.
I think it was a prototype I know it is a wheeled push dozer, but not sure if we still have it or not.
Any crane I ever operated manufactured by P & H.:thumbdown
The hammer leads a pretty abusive life... I'm not sure if I'm honestly qualified to make worth-while judgements on NPK hammers... We'll see how the cat breaker holds up in a few years and then I can comment. All I know is that the boss of the shop is not very happy with the NPK breaker, but really I wonder how much experience he has with breakers, and what kind of abuse have the operators been putting on that breaker?
My main POS's are anything made my MultiQuip. The new JLG Lull's or Gradalls and seems lately Case is slipping a lil in the quality dept. With the JLG's and Case it's been hydraulic leaks right out of the box. Loose lines and blown hoses. MQ... whata POS. No need to go on there! No new JCB's for the time being, all old ones are being sold off. I can give my Fluke DVOM a break!
As for hammers... it's a deal all its own. If you don't really understand them, they will kick yur butt and work like crap. It's all about precharge pressure and the flow being right. Too much flow is a bad thing.
Our Locomotives are our big headache. They are 1953 GM-Electromotive GP-7 models that were refurbished and painted. The wiring is original and causes big problems because of its age. We are supposed to be getting a new one to take the place of the 2, that is supposed to be as strong as the 2 put together but I think its on the "5 year plan" .
Yur likely to get an old cast off from somewhere CountryBoy. Still good for the short hauls and newer. Hard for most companies to fork over the real cash for a new one. The old GE's were good in the motor department. Those old EMD's wont quit. Wiring is a different story all together.
It really wouldn't be that bad if somebody made a wiring diagram when they rewired it. When you work on them, you just look for burnt stuff or loose wires......nothings labeled :Banghead . The engines and generators are decent even though the engines have the "auto oil changer system" . The traction motors are terrible, 1 every 6 months. Yes they are old and decrepid but at some point its more trouble then its worth. Somebody else got all the "goodie" out of them. Oh, they got the money.....:cool2
Agreed xcopterdoc... and NPK is as good or better than as anyone else in my experience. Most of the hammer problems I've been involved in are around the carrier such as bad couplers, blocks, lines and hoses too small, improper relief pressure or too much or not enough back pressure. Apart from needing the correct pressure in their accumulators most hammers have specific flow, relief pressure and back pressure requirements to work efficiently.
When we purchased our NPK hammer we got our Cat dealer to come down and set it up. Although it was a little spendy, sounds like the right move. It is set up so you switch the computer to a seperate code when you use it. I'm definetly not saying its better than any other. Its the only one I've ever used.
subject Our problem child would have to be a Cat 621B pan.Its now broken a bolt off the hydrolic pump,no brakes,steers like a tank on ice and thats its good days.
Problem child is Volvo Excavtors, and Off roads :Banghead At 3000 hours or less My company has had final drive bearing, and gear wear on all of our EC 330'S, and 210's. We service at 250hr intervals, and still to no availe, a bad sample comes back. Are we the only ones with this problem? Also they are electrical nightmares too. All out of Ideas!!:Banghead
My problem child - 05 International 7600 tandem dump. 2 turbos on the Cat C13, fan shroud came apart and destoyed the fan and radiator. The A/C has went out 3 times - it is currently in the shop to fix it one more time so I can sell it. It has also had numerous electrical problems - we have become very knowledgable of there fault codes. BTW the truck only has 50K miles on it.
I'm not going there. ointhead
Been involved with a few fleets. The machines a recommend for mass scrapping. All Terex TA 40's. All CAT 375. Any configuration. Ross
subject my companys problem child?Caterpillar.:usa
Did you think that the 6H performed better too? I thought that the H's were a lot more willing than the R's that I have run, be they diff steer, conventional or finger tip control. Niether one of them could keep up with the Komatsu 65 EX or PX in my opinion.
We have a multiquip MVH-702 remote reversible plate compactor. It is a very trick machine and on level ideally moistened material, it is a great compactor producing good results on either grannular or even cohesive material. When it's running. Which is rarely. I've been through 8k in repairs on this stupid thing. It still pulls to the right on level ground. It still gets stuck easily. It still often does not make enough engine power to keep RPMs up. And that's after a ton of work, replacing the injection pump, replacing many hoses, etc. I still like it a lot for jobs where I will not put an operator near a machine. (trench over 5' we don't want to spend time shoreing, very small flatwork, very small slope repairs, etc.
:update Well got the POS truck back and within 2 weeks the A/C crapped out again! This time it needs a new dryer and blower motor. I had the compressor and lines replaced last time.:Banghead All excessive idle time has been eliminated because I thought the high head pressure was the cause of blowing the seals and compressor. After talking to a few other people that have '02 and newer International trucks are having the same problems. Anyone else experienced this?
A 1999 Blaw-Knox paver the thing has near about been in the shop every other week since we bought it new.
Cat backhoes, especially a 416B.
ours is old s-10 a 637D in the shop 85% of the time and its really not that old, but all the younger operators dont like it, not much power but rides like a caddy. every one is pissed when they have to run it so they abuse it then it breaks and back to the shop for awhile, its down at the doctor right now big crack in the neck.
all trucks cost more than they can make you chevy 6.5 diesel had 5 of them. still have one now, pulling the motor for the 2nd time i in 55000 mile puting in gas 400 went to ford power strokes 7.3 motor been great, if u give them clean air and good oil have one that has 300000 never been opened all fords are a little hard starting on the cold days
The biggest POS I had would have been my Vibromax 265 vibratory roller. I bought it with about 700 hour on it at auction. Ran great for about 300 hours. The last 2 hundred were very painful, numerous problems, would never start, if it got cold it really would not start (thats a problem in Idaho). Since JCB bought Vibromax the cost of parts tripled in price which were out of control as it was ($300.00 hyd. filter). It was costing me hundreds of dollars everytime I used it. I traded it off this Fall for a new CASE roller. Which honestly for the amount I use them I did not need to buy new, but I was completely fed up with dealing with the problems of a used machine. The Vibromax did a fine job when it ran. It hit hard and the design was nice, to bad it would not run.
I am close to buying a newer IH. Has this been a CAT engine problem or an IH truck problem? Your post is making me nervous.
I have no problems with anything, bought all new, used to be Bobcrap for 4 years, that was a close problem child, now it's strictly Cat and Hitachi and Ford.
KSS run like the wind away from a IH with a Cat motor. IH says it's a Cat problem, Cat says it's an IH problem, all the while I have a $3K bill for fixing the A/C! IMHO I would not purchase a later model IH. The model I had was a 7600 tandem dump with a C13 motor. I don't want to trash a manufacturer but I wouldn't buy one.
Ours is a 1979 D3 Cat. The starter went out (turned out just the seleniod was bad oh well, too bad its a pain to get those starters out, and back in). Even before this (and still today) the transmission leaks like a sieve where in an hour you'll be all out of all your fluids. Fun stuff, to add to that the front main seal is leaking, and the rock guard is bent. So now we've got the starter back in but it still won't start because there is apparently no fuel getting in, (turn it over a bunch of times but no smoke coming out, not even unburned diesel), so we are still working on the sucker. The other and worse one is a Hobby Horse compact tractor that my grandfather bought. I think it was made in China or Japan or whatever and not saying all their products are no good but this one definitely isn't. As soon as we got it the seleniod went out and every time they tried to fix it by sending it back in it still didn't work, so you had to do the screwdriver trick and jump the seleniod. Then after maybe 100-200 hours the clutch died, just a bad machine in and out.
It has not been a good year for team ford. F 450 with electrical problems and 05 f350 6.0 that has been in the shop 11 times since last year ,it is sitting at dealer right now and they just cant get this thing fixed. Total P.I.T.A. and very frustrating.
JD 250C haul truck.we have two one must have been built on a monday constant electrical and wiring harness issues.No problems with the other
7810 Gehl POS spent more time in the shop than in the field. 700 hours on the clock I bet it had 1000 shop hours.
Problem Child 1400 JCB Backhoe. The dump cylinders on the front bucket. Are sooo weak. I bent one. My neighbor bent one. My son bent one. Then I bent another one. We got rid of it. No more trouble. :usa
wacker rt 82 trench compacter the rt 82 is the biggest p.o.s on the planet, but we have to have them. they are impossible to work on. only show up about half the time, have a bad attitude, just a miserable machine. we have one that has 800 hours on it and it may as well have 8000 hours. bought a brand new one and just the same.. nothing but problems. very disapointing. after that I am going with dump trucks, then trash pump and jumping jacks.. oh and or course pickups and work vehicles. the trackhoes, dozer, loader , minis and skids all seem to work very well
I'd have to say all our dumptrucks and trailers. Always having wiring problems, brake control issues, lift gate problems, reach lock issues etc. We don't have a problem piece of equipment, even our 87 Bomag. Have you checked your hydraulic oil cooler? If its packed with crap, the heat will cause orings and seals to leak. I don't know if it would shorten the life of your hoses.
Sorry to hear that. We have 2 MQ walk-behinds, a gas and a diesle. Both have been reliable. The gas one got a new carb ($26!) last year and some new bearings for one of the drums a few years ago. Haven't done anything to the diesle. Both were well used rental units.
I didn't notice how old this thread is....:Banghead
My biggest POS was a 2002 8520 John Deere tractor, bought it with 900hrs on the clock and just couldn't keep the damn thing going! ended up being too scared to start it up for fear of a breakdown so sold it again at 2000hrs luckily for the same money I paid for it, just cost me about $50,000 in repairs while I owned it!
Case Back/hoe 580D got it nearly new, made $10 spent $9.50 fixing the POS, sold it Asap never looked back Leroy (engine ,trans, hyd, diff/brakes)
Ok, Now I remember the 580K came out with a bolt on head for the backhoe bucket. Four bolts. They stripped off the 1st week. Sent it back to case and they tapped it out and installed larger bolts. Those held for a while. Later I noticed that they eliminated the bolt on end. :usa
wacker remote trench compactor. i forget the model number.
Our 385's you could 2 mechanics for every machine.