Consumption Diesel/Gas Woodmizer

LT40HDD51 · April 16, 2007, 12:12:16 PM

Heres a couple things Im sure of:

1. Cat is an extreme duty engine, the Kubota was a regular duty. The Cat holds more oil and is much stronger-looking by the reinforced block, warranty is also better on the Cat.

2. Perkins was bought by Cat along with the tooling to make the smaller engines, before that they didnt make one smaller than the 200hp range.

3. Cat has been after WM to switch to their motors for a while now.

Like anything its evolution. The Lombardinis had problems with the head gasket leaking coolant into the oil, ruining the turbo. So they switched to Kubota. I think the switch to Cat was because of the Cat reputation as a great engine, the warranty, and the extreme duty rating.

Dave Shepard · April 16, 2007, 06:40:38 PM

Define extreme duty, the Kubota is already bulletproof. I would rather buy Kubota parts than cat parts any day, $$$. Also who is doin the rating? Hostess can call a twinkie extreme duty, but I can eat them up all day long.

Dave

Tom · April 16, 2007, 07:12:23 PM

Well, I'm an example of having to work with Kubota on a Warranty problem where my 38 horse engine was failing from the factory with a mold crack that allowed oil into the cooling jacket. My salvation ended up being a pugnacious Kubota Industrial Engine Dealer who, lucky for me, had migrated to Florida from the streets of New York City and held the distributor at task. Still it took over six weeks of the engine being in his shop and me being without it to get a replacement engine.

Firstly, I was turned away by the Kubota tractor dealership and told that It wasn't their problem, "go find an Industrial dealer".

I did, and believe me, Industrial Kubota dealers aren't that easy to find. Most of them are manufacturers of their own product and don't deal with the public frequently accept for their own warranties. I was lucky. This dealer took me under his wing and found himself in an out and out fight with his Distributor.

The Distributorship in Ft. Lauderdale did everything within their power to, first, do nothing, and, second, offer a short block and a rebuild, with parts from the original engine.

Finally, and I attribute it solely to the dealer, I received a new engine. The old engine had less than 150 total hours on it.

Once the problem was resolved, I sent a letter to Kubota of America in California and expressed my dismay at the actions of the Distributor and my thanks for the actions for the dealer. I got no response. About three months later, I sent another letter reiterating the first and showing my displeasure that Kubota of America had ignored me. I have never gotten a response.

Now, on the Cat front. I had a problem with the 3116 in my Kodiak that couldn't be resolved by the Chevrolet dealer here. They were trying, but I think they didn't have the knowledge to do what they were trying to do. I ended up in Industrial Cat dealer for this area, Ring Power, for a servicing one day and they found that I had a problem. I was of the understanding that warranty work had to be done where I bought the truck. NO! The said. That's a Cat engine and we work on Cats. l We'll get it fixed.

It was a lot more difficult a job than they bargained and took the better part of a year to get it fixed. In Frustration I even got angry with them one day. But they took it all in stride, assured me that they would get it fixed and I would not suffer from it, even if it took hauling the truck from another state. They were right. I couldn't have asked for better service nor a more valiant effort. When I went for servicing, the book on my truck came out and they looked for any indication of the problem. The entire bottom end of the engine was replaced one time because "we want to make sure you aren't left stranded somewhere". I know that must have cost a bunch.

What amazed me was the volume of work they could do in such a short amount of time. I saw them rebuild stuff in a couple of hours that would have had me down for a week or more at the Chevrolet place.

When it was over, the engine was fixed, had been dyno tested several times and I was given a clean bill of health with the promise that, if it so much as sneezed, they would make it right. How can you be unhappy with service like that?

Brucer · April 17, 2007, 01:00:07 AM

I used to own a D-7 Cat, 25 years old when I bought it. If I ordered a part that the dealer didn't have in stock, it would be shipped by bus from Spokane, WA, and would arrive at the dealer's the next day at 7:00 AM. If I didn't want to make the hour drive to the dealers, they'd put it on the local bus (no charge) and it would show up here by 10:00 AM.

One day a track adjuster broke so I ordered a replacement. Next morning I got a call at 7:15 -- "Sir, we're very sorry but the adjuster they had in Spokane is missing a piece. They sent it to us anyway, just in case you could use it. Do you want us to send it on to you?" Well, naturally the missing piece was the one part that I couldn't salvage. I asked when they might be able to get a complete unit (hoping to have it "by the weekend".) Their reply blew me away. "Well, sir, just in case you couldn't use the one we've got here, the corporate jet is on it's way to Houston to pick up a unit. It'll be in Spokane this afternoon. If you like, we can have someone drive it up from there, or if you can wait until tomorrow it will be here at 7:00 AM."

This was for a $200 dollar part for a quarter-century old machine that I used on weekends. But they promised next day delivery of parts, and they meant it.

I guess you could say I'm a Cat fan ;D.

BBTom · April 17, 2007, 09:41:41 PM

I didn't mean to start anything. I just really like my Kubota. The one LT40 with a cat engine I know of in my area has been in the shop several times. The dealer is giving fantastic service. It just doesn't want to run smooth, wants to cough and sputter and blow black smoke. They have replaced all the fuel components at least once, some of them twice - just to be certain.

I wonder how many problems there were with the Kubota 42 as compared to the Cat, on a per hundred basis. Maybe someone has that info, but since Cat does all the service, WM may not even know.

Dave Shepard · April 17, 2007, 11:49:26 PM

Tom, sorry to hear you had such trouble with your Kubota. I am surprised that you had so much trouble with Kubota, I have dealt with them on occasion and it has been great. The lengths Kubota Credit went to keep me out of trouble after a motorcycle accident and etc. was just over the top. My local bank wouldn't have done it, that's for sure. As far as Cat equipment goes, I have respect for the big stuff, but in dealing with the compact market, I was left feeling that they were really taking advantage of their reputation. My friend bought a Kubota mini-excavator. It was $39k, for the same Cat, with several less options, they wanted $56k. In this class the Kubota is a far better operating and built machine. The Cat salesman wouldn't even negotiate, said he didn't have to. I said he was right, and left. This just made a bad impression on me. I realize this is a little different than the warranty issues you have dealt with, but I have never heard of anybody having to have any warranty work done on a Kubota.

Dave