Heading for the finish line...

[94BULLITT]

94Bullitt, thanks for pointing out that you experienced the sticky pedal issue early on in the life of your tractor. I hope that my prior post was not interpreted as a proclamation that poor maintenance contributed to the issues with your tractor or of the others- that was certainly not my intent. I was just extending kudos to Vic for his maintenance efforts and good fortune.

No problem. I just wanted to be sure that you understood that this was not cause from a lack of maintenance.

 

[Wile E Kioti]

Yes, thanks.

 

[Pierrepont]

If the pedal sticks, for whatever reason, I know that centering the hydro pedal brings the tractor to a stop.

Would the brake pedals also bring the tractor to a stop?

 

[kiotiken]

My tractor and I believe kiotikens tractor both did had the sticking pedal at around 60hrs. There is not much room for a lack of maintence with that low of hours. My 50hr service was done right on 50hrs.

Yup, I think mine might have lasted to 75 hrs. My dealer includes the 50 hr service with the tractor so he came over and did it plus my CK30 was a little "special" and had almost weekly visits from my dealer in the first year for one thing or another. Wile E, I know you're not saying it's lack of maintenance, but as Roger said, for the sake of clarity now and for future readers, no amount of maintenance will prevent the hst creep on these machines.

 

[kiotiken]

If the pedal sticks, for whatever reason, I know that centering the hydro pedal brings the tractor to a stop.

Would the brake pedals also bring the tractor to a stop?

Mine got to the point that it would drive clear across my property with no foot on the pedal before it was fixed. It may have progressively gotten worse, but by the time it was fixed, I would have been able to stop it easily with the brakes. From what he's said, I believe 94Bullitt's was worse.

 

[Pierrepont]

So to summarize what is (kind of) known to this point:

- The sticky/lazy hydro pedal concern is random. Some machines experience it, many (most?) do not. It seems to be the "luck of the draw".

- There seems to be two symptoms: #1). Creeping hydro is when tractor is stopped but the machine wants to creep a little. This can be controlled by setting the brake. #2). Machine is being driven and when the operator lifts his/her foot the pedal
does not immediately spring back to the center position. This can be controlled by the operator moving the pedal to the center position. The hydro pedal is not suddenly LOCKED in any position.

- Some machines with regular lubrication of the hydro linkage/spring parts seem to be fine. Others, even with regular maintenance, may have some internal hydro pressure malfunction that no amount of lubrication will address.

The information so far points to the operator needing to be alert to this sticking/lazy pedal problem and always be prepared to operate the pedal as a true treadle pedal with BOTH toes and heel always placed on the pedal rocking the pedal in the direction
needed to maintain control. It's an extra step that the operator has to adapt to. (unlike other model hydro machines). Kind of like having to use the clutch on a gear machine.

Not ideal but manageable.

 

[murphy1244]

So its like .000000001% of product failure?

 

[Wile E Kioti]

Great feed back from all...thanks. Pierrepont, nice summary! So, it appears that it comes down to whether I feel lucky (gamble?), or not, and whether I can live with manual intervention of the pedal if it does not return to neutral automatically. And I thought my purchase decision was going to be based primarily on the dealer and price, since there is little to choose between the best of these CUT's. :confused2:

 

[kiotiken]

So its like .000000001% of product failure?

I couldn't find the exact number in last months Kioti newsletter, but I'll take a wild guess that it's 20%-50% and that most ignore it or don't care. I'm going to stick with my completely unscientific diagnostic that it's caused by pushing the hydro to hard, like road travel in high range with the BH up hills in my case. The smaller framed CK20 and CT122 and McCormick X10.?? and Landini ?? don't seem to have the problem and they don't weigh nearly the same, especially when you load the tires. I think it's a combination of the weight of the machine is too much for the HST and the way the operator operates the machine. I'm not saying people are abusing their machines, just that some of us are a little more aggressive than others when we're trying to get stuff done. Road travel, pushing into the pile to get as much in the bucket as possible, using a box blade to the point it stops the machine etc. I really think if you push the hst in a CK27+ hard, you'll get the creep every time.

 

[murphy1244]

Your saying half the CK line is unsafe? Your right, that's pretty wild!