3-Point Hitch Do you know Brian Faulkner at Kioti - or his manager(s) ?

RickB · Aug 3, 2020

murphy1244 said:
I wonder if a paying customer would have the same troubles with corporate.

It appears the tractor is out of warranty.
The common perception that the end user is the manufacturers customer many times proves to be inaccurate. At the end of the day the dealer is the manufacturers customer, the end user is a necessary evil.

Ford850 · Aug 3, 2020

rademamj1 said:
The MEC is a small hydraulic relief valve. Its part of the MLS.
Not all tractor manufacturers use them, and those that do use them, may not use MEC valves in all their tractor models. If one of these failed, it should be quite simple to replace....unless it was stripped by over tightening.

Also, here is a link to a previous thread. Same problem your having Erik. Posts #1 to #16 deal with your specific problem.

https://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/bobcat-tractors/277308-another-winter-more-mls-valve.html

View attachment 665156

That thread sure sounds like the current problem. I saw in this video Kioti CK2S Tractor MLS Valve Adjustment on 3 PT Hitch - YouTube that there is an adjustment to fix the bouncing, which was the original problem. Makes you wonder if the dealer found the messed up threads or caused them while trying to make the adjustment shown in the video. In either case, while replacing parts, they could have jarred a spec of dirt of Loctite loose and plugged that tiny hole mentioned in your posted thread (causing the current overall failure).

drysalty · Aug 3, 2020

If you decide to pull that tractor out of Profile I would suggest you contact Concord Tractor. The Ryan family operate this dealership and the George has been selling tractors in this area since Ford was a tractor company. I’ve had nothing but good experiences there. It’s a bit of a haul for you but it’s a lot shorter than another six weeks of getting jerked around by a snowmobile dealer pretending to be a tractor dealer.

fried1765 · Aug 3, 2020

drysalty said:
If you decide to pull that tractor out of Profile I would suggest you contact Concord Tractor. The Ryan family operate this dealership and the George has been selling tractors in this area since Ford was a tractor company. I’ve had nothing but good experiences there. It’s a bit of a haul for you but it’s a lot shorter than another six weeks of getting jerked around by a snowmobile dealer pretending to be a tractor dealer.

Another option would seem to be Chappell tractor.
They may not be a Kioti dealer, (Kubota/Mahindra), but they are major tractor sellers with 3 locations just South of you in NH.
Chappell has a very good reputation.

coobie · Aug 3, 2020

radios1 said:
it seems the Brian Faulkner at Kioti is in hiding from the web, no info is available on him, you'd think someone important at a company would at least be acknowledged in some manner in a web search, but NO!. other, less important Brian Faulkner's are listed though!.. maybe he was fired in shame, and Kioti don't want to acknowledge him??.. interesting to say the least!!..

Glad you chimed in.Just curios what do you mean NO INFO on him is available ? How do you know he is in hiding? As usual a lot of assumptions on your part.

rademamj1 · Aug 3, 2020

Regarding "THE Brian Faulkner", I tried in vain to locate any Kioti staff listing, employee listings and even checked the Wendell NC phone book....and all my attempts failed. Even social media finds several Brian Faulkner living in other states, and not associated with Kioti USA. So I just gave up.

rademamj1 · Aug 3, 2020

Ford850 said:
That thread sure sounds like the current problem. I saw in this video Kioti CK2S Tractor MLS Valve Adjustment on 3 PT Hitch - YouTube that there is an adjustment to fix the bouncing, which was the original problem. Makes you wonder if the dealer found the messed up threads or caused them while trying to make the adjustment shown in the video. In either case, while replacing parts, they could have jarred a spec of dirt of Loctite loose and plugged that tiny hole mentioned in your posted thread (causing the current overall failure).

Ford850...you caught that critical piece of information. Apparently a small pinhole blockage in the MLS can cause a complete failure of the 3pt hydraulic arms. Its almost like Chaos Theory at work.

MESSMAKER · Aug 4, 2020

Someone needs to be talking to you. It is not a sound policy for something like this to continue. It cost tractor sales. They may not be obligated to pay for it, but they should be responsive. You need help and they need to give it to you. Going above and beyond is what legends are made of. It is not as much whether you have problems, but how you handle them. I don't know the facts, I just know what you have told us. I will remember this post for a good while and sleep a little less soundly as the owner of a 18 month old Kioti. Good luck.

PetersenRockFarm · Aug 4, 2020

August 4 2020 9:00 am update (posted 12:50 PM)

Hi All - great comments and thank you very much.

Showed up at dealer when they opened, sat at Service desk for 15 minutes, finally service mgr comes out and says the KIOTI "guy" is here, the dealer guys gave him lowdown on what they have done, now the KIOTI guy is working on it... the service guy said all his guys are off it, Kioti is dealing with it now...

Maybe he just gave me a fake name? I wouldn't be surprised.

I will head back up there at 2 PM. Totally agree, lack of communication is so rude, you would think the dealer would have given me a courtesy call to say, "hey, by the way the Kioti guy will be here Tuesday morning..." just wrong. Then again he failed to call me after 3 different times (days) saying he would call me at X time, I even repeated it 3 times one of the days before leaving "OK, you'll call me either way at 3:30" ? haha nope... Integrity. nope.

We'll see what he can find and that will determine next steps. And, without doubt I won't be going back to this dealer for anything. I'll head to one of the places mentioned above.

Let y'all know soon I hope.

thanks
Erik