Kubota working 24/7 - quality issues?

bhunting · Sep 20, 2017

I have a new B2650 with a loader, BH77 backhoe, box scraper, brush hog, and 4 inch chipper on order. It's been a few weeks waiting for delivery.

My dealer is saying the backhoe and subframe is way back ordered. He is saying their dealership alone has 12 backhoes and subframes on backorder.

He is saying Kubota way under estimated customer demand and that Kubota is working triple shifts 7 days a week to catch up. Anyone know if any of this is true?

Second question, if Kubota is working 24/7, or if they are way back ordered and pushing to catch up, how concerned should I be about quality problems?

I've worked in manufacturing for years. My experience is when there are a lot of back orders and manufacturing is running behind sometimes quality suffers.

People get in a hurry, deliveries are pushed, stuff that might not pass when people have more time starts getting through the system.

Thoughts? Thanks.

85Hokie · Sep 20, 2017

only thing I can say,
get your machine, check it over well, and hope that QC has done there job well!
IF something goes amuck - the 2 year all around warranty should cover it.....you hope!
I would not start to worry just yet.

bhunting · Sep 23, 2017

Well, I talked to my dealer again, everything but the backhoe, subframe, and thumb, are at the dealer. It's coming on a month since he placed the order for the backhoe.

He said he spoke to his warehouse yesterday and a shipment of hoes just arrived from Japan into the Georgia plant. Unfortunately the BH77 is back ordered across the US and this dealership might or might not get any of the latest order of hoes. Apparently it is the BH77 that is the problem, the smaller and bigger hoes are mostly available.

The dealer is going to try one more time to get the hoe and if it looks like a long wait we are going to split the order. Get the tractor, loader, and implements now and when the hoe comes in return the tractor to the dealer to install the subframe and hoe. Any reason that would be a bad idea, adding the hoe on later?

There's a ton of work I could do right now with the loader and implements. The hoe will be nice but I have way more work for the implements than the hoe.

lescarpentier · Sep 23, 2017

bhunting said:
He said he spoke to his warehouse yesterday and a shipment of hoes just arrived from Japan into the Georgia plant.
.

The B77 backhoes are made in Georgia,not japan.

bhunting · Sep 23, 2017

I had heard that, that the hoes were made in Georgia, not Japan. But I know I just heard my dealer say "a shipment of hoes just arrived at the Georgia plant from Japan".

Not sure if he just misspoke or if he's thinking of some other part of the tractor. Wherever the hoes are made, apparently they are on back order with no concrete shipping dates.

pauly · Sep 23, 2017

If the dealer is offering to do the BH later at no additional charge then I would take them up on the offer. Times a wasten.

bhunting · Sep 23, 2017

Sounds like the dealer will be willing to put the subframe and hoe on later for no additional charge.

It's been long enough me and the dealer are both getting tired of waiting. I want a tractor and the dealer wants to sell a tractor.

We'll wait til Monday to see what he can find out about a potential ship date for the hoe. If it's too far out we'll figure out a way to split the order.

Grateful11 · Sep 23, 2017

Kubota dealer a couple counties over said they have been getting too many tractors assembled in GA with missing parts. Then they have to wait for the parts to arrive before they can sell them. He would have no reason to make this up after all he sells them for a living. I think that's sad, could put a black eye on what is normally fine equipment.

2458n · Sep 23, 2017

Depends on who gets paid based on what is shipped. If management gets a production bonus on units shipped you know they are going to ship incomplete tractors if it puts money in their pocket. This is a decision made at corporate.

Mike.O · Sep 24, 2017

Would think the BH 77 is by far the most popular BH size. It fits B2650, B3350, L2501, L3301 and L3901. I know it also fits the previous generation of these tractors L2800, L3200, and L3800. It might even fit some more models. But these are hugely popular models and I'm not surprised about the backlog.

I waited a month for my B2650 with BH77 in April, but the dealer never specified if the BH was the reason for the delay or if it was just volume of tractors moving at the dealer.

Just to give my experience on my BH, I have had 2 warranty trips to the dealer for my BH 77. unfortunately it has leaking valve for one of the stabilizers. The first time the dealer dropped the ball to repair it correctly (they rebuilt the cylinder

) Its back in the dealer hopefully getting fixed correctly now.

The BH always worked amazing, but overnight the cylinder would leak down to the ground and a small amount of fluid would leak from valve.

Hopefully this is the last of my troubles. Dealer keeps saying how surprised he is about this and how the BH 77 generally never has any problems.

skeets · Sep 24, 2017

Sounds like the same thing that happend to Harley Davidson when everybody wanted to jump on the HARLEY band wagon. Shyt went south from there

Stmar · Sep 24, 2017

I don't know about the backhoe but my dealer, small family owned business, could not keep the B2650 on the lot. They sold as soon as they came in, mine was still in the box when I bought it. I had tried the 3350 and knew it was the same except for the engine and the 2650 did not have the regen issues. Did my research and settled on the B2650HSDC. In this country the factory cab was an attractive feature for this class tractor.

Missouribound · Sep 24, 2017

skeets said:
Sounds like the same thing that happend to Harley Davidson when everybody wanted to jump on the HARLEY band wagon. Shyt went south from there

Actually you can thank AMF for that. When they bought Harley they pushed cost cuts to the point the equipment suffered. Yes, they lowered the prices because they wanted a part of the market to compete with the rice burners. They didn't consider the loyalty factor of true Harley owners. That is over now, the company is employee owned and quality control is at it's best for Harley.
That aside...Kubota's are made overseas but many are assembled here, like 90% of the tractors sold today.

bhunting · Sep 26, 2017

I spoke to the dealer yesterday, still no visibility on when a backhoe will be available.

It sounds like we can split the contract for the tractor and implements and then the backhoe later.

It looks like I'll be able to get the tractor, loader, and implements this week and whenever the backhoe comes in the tractor goes back to the dealer to have it installed.

Still working out the details but hopefully I'll be working by this weekend.

Stmar · Sep 26, 2017

At least you will have it before the snow flies and can break it in and get used to the machine. I am sure you will find a lot to do without the bh and soon the ground will be frozen and you won't need it until spring thaw.

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