King Kutter Rep.

[Stormtruck2]

Since so much of the KK attachments are made in the USA, why can't they make the gear box too? Is there really that much savings buying them from China? Would we even notice say a $20 difference in price? Especially if there was a tag or sticker that stated 100% made and assembled in America??

 

[Agrantina]

Thanks F850 for the info... I figured so.. I am not one to jump up and down about -only USA- stuff..heck I have a Kubota .. Just wanted to know as I had heard different. Local guy is telling its ALL USA made... which I was questioning...

 

[Stormtruck2]

I buy as much American made product as I can, unfortunately, not much is made in America anymore. Not even American cars are made in America. The things that I can't buy made in America, I try extremely hard to buy not made in China. China is a communist country, who is a very serious military and economic threat to us. We are foolish to send our hard currency to our enemies. I am not an isolationist, just an American who wants to buy American. I even don't mind buying made in Canada. Lots of great products made in Canada. If I can't find it American/Canadian made product, then I turn to Europe, IE England, Germany, Italy et al. My very last choice is any communist country, especially CHINA. Guess that makes me a Cretin in some eyes.

 

[Travis_R]

He answered this question in other posts regarding the KK products and where they are made.

"King Kutter products are MADE in the USA. Tiller rotor bars are made here. The flanges are made here and welded onto the rotor bar. The top of the deck of the rotary tiller is formed in our plant. The deck for the rotary kutter is cut and formed in our plant, as are the side rails. We manufacture the stump jumper in our plant. The box frame for our discs are cut, punched, and welded together in our plant. The three-point frame is bent, and punched, and put together in our plant in the USA. To me... that's MADE IN THE USA."

"99.9% of the King Kutter equipment is made in the US, in three different factories. Only a few items like spin spreaders, cement mixers, and drag harrows are actually outsourced from overseas (not china).
Like all of the other big implement manufacturing companies, we buy gearboxes from China. King Kutter has extremely good luck with these gearboxes and have an extremely low failure rate. Extremely low."

"I want to address a couple issues in this thread which I beleive have been mis-represented.

1 - Unless something has changed recently the Woods machine also has a chinese gearbox. Woods, Land Pride, Bush Hog, Rhino, and King Kutter, all use gearboxes made in China.

2 - King Kutter has a failure rate of about 1 in 10,000 on gearboxes. I'm speaking of actual manufacturers defects here. So to whomever stated that the gearbox has been the weak spot of the King Kutter Finish Mowers, I'm sorry if you had an issue with one."

I bought a Bush Hog 285 rotary cutter in June of 2009. It has a sticker on the gearbox that reads "made in China." I didn't notice it til after I made the purchase and I wasn't happy about it one bit. But so far, I've had no issues with it. It has the "BUSH HOG" name engraved in the casting on the gearbox, but it does NOT have the "charging hog" logo on it...

 

[mojoinco]

Storm: sign me up as a cretin as well.

 

[TripleR]

I buy as much American made product as I can, unfortunately, not much is made in America anymore. Not even American cars are made in America. The things that I can't buy made in America, I try extremely hard to buy not made in China. China is a communist country, who is a very serious military and economic threat to us. We are foolish to send our hard currency to our enemies. I am not an isolationist, just an American who wants to buy American. I even don't mind buying made in Canada. Lots of great products made in Canada. If I can't find it American/Canadian made product, then I turn to Europe, IE England, Germany, Italy et al. My very last choice is any communist country, especially CHINA. Guess that makes me a Cretin in some eyes.

Some maybe, but not many, certainly not mine.

 

[Ford850]

Storm, I do almost the same thing. I've been "mentoring" my nephew to do the same too. My son has shopped this way since he's been buying things,starting with toys and now with tools. He's 12 and the first thing he does is look for the "Made In..." tag on products. It makes me proud when he flips a gift over and pronounces "YES! Made in the USA" after opening it. Sometimes the giver is a little confused by that. He's smart enough to say nothing if it doesn't say "USA" on it. I do look at quality first when there is more than one product to choose from, but in the end the results are usually the same. Sometime the European item bests the US product though.

 

[TripleR]

Storm, I do almost the same thing. I've been "mentoring" my nephew to do the same too. My son has shopped this way since he's been buying things,starting with toys and now with tools. He's 12 and the first thing he does is look for the "Made In..." tag on products. It makes me proud when he flips a gift over and pronounces "YES! Made in the USA" after opening it. Sometimes the giver is a little confused by that. He's smart enough to say nothing if it doesn't say "USA" on it. I do look at quality first when there is more than one product to choose from, but in the end the results are usually the same. Sometime the European item bests the US product though.

I recently ran into this when ordering a product "Made in the USA", the quality was so poor I sent it back in for a refund. The quality just has to be there to support loyalty.

 

[Baby Grand]

Since so much of the KK attachments are made in the USA, why can't they make the gear box too? Is there really that much savings buying them from China? Would we even notice say a $20 difference in price? Especially if there was a tag or sticker that stated 100% made and assembled in America??

Does any 3PT Cat1 attachment use a domestic gearbox? I'm sure KK would love to use a domestic gbx if they could do it without killing their sales. We all appreciate your intentions, but it's not a deal changer if a few people will pay a premium for the USA sticker. To stay in the game you need to sell huge numbers of a product. If you can't produce enough volume, then you can't even come close to competing on price. What's important is that the vast majority (sometimes I'm guilty, too) surf for the absolute lowest price. Who here doesn't haggle with the dealer? The Walmartization of our economy has led to the death spiral of US manufacturing in many sectors. And I don't have any easy solutions short of tarrifs - what some would call "protectionism" and others would call "socialism". When you compete on price with sources that use ultra cheap labor, you usually lose sales & jobs. Either you forfeit quality for cost or you just get out of that business.

I recently ran into this when ordering a product "Made in the USA", the quality was so poor I sent it back in for a refund. The quality just has to be there to support loyalty.

Truer words have never been spoken. Somehow KK is still making most of their product here and with excellent quality. I wish more would or could do the same. -Jim

 

[Stormtruck2]

You asked who doesn't haggle the dealer, I usually don't. I tell them give me their best price up front, it I can afford it I accept it. If not then I don't. You can read my earlier post about me and my methods. I agree the quality must be there in order to justify the price. That's a concept I call value. I place a value on made in America. My pickup is 99 F-250 SD made in Kentucky. My wife's cars are a Mitsubishi Eclipse, built in Normal Illinois, and a Hyundai Santa Fe built in Alabama. Yes I know they are foreign nameplates, but I believe I kept more Americans working by buying these vehicle over Chevy or Ford. My TV which I got when my mother passed last year is a Mitsubishi, before that it was a 1978 Sears LXI console. Yes the quality must justify the price, no matter who makes it. I believe that Americans and Canadians can make the best products in the world, if given the chance.