Can we put this in perspective? I have read a handfull of Kioti IP failure threads in over 8 years here. Take in the number of tractors here on this fourm vs those failures and it has to be below 1%. I am guessing the failure rates of the other colors are comparable?
Hands off the panic button..................:laughing:
OK. But, how many active members are over the 300 hour mark? It would be interesting to know how many active CK25/27/30/25 owners there are. Without knowing this, and hours and number of failures, it's hard to claim it's above or below 1%.
I would be surprised if there are 300 active owners of these machines on TBN. I read regularly, and have for years. I haven't seen even 100 different posters. And I know I've read about at least 4 pump failures (mine included). This might suggest it's more than 1%. Then there are thousands (I presume) of owners that aren't members here that may or may not have had pump failures.
My understanding is that Kioti recognized that they used an inferior part (too brittle) and made changes to correct this (around 2007 or 08?). So, any CK built with the brittle part is simply a ticking timebomb. For those of us that had it occur in less than 300 hours or so and got Kioti to replace it, we are the lucky ones. Those that haven't had the failure, and may have difficulties getting Kioti to make it right, will be the ones left holding the bag.
I had a similar issue with my JD. JD put a plastic cam gear in the engine. After a few years (~600 - 700 hours was about the magic number for most), they would fail. When this came to light, JD switched to a metal cam in the later models. However, they did nothing for owners with the plastic cam. Mine failed at 998 hours. JD charges like $1200 to do the repair right (replace gear, push rods, water pump, oil pump, governor gear). I did it myself for ~$500. IMO JD should have covered the cam cost plus half the labor, knowing it was an inferior part.
The lesson I take is to avoid new models for at least the first 4 years to see what they are made of.
