CK20 serviced at Upper Valley Swansea, NH no glow starting fixed and more

[malk315]

There's more to come... I can understand you guys attacking me as you've been in the dark... I'm not ignoring this thread given I posted on another one. I'm in the process of figuring out how to move forward with Uppervalley -- but we've been playing phone tag

I didn't get a hold of Dave yesterday when I discovered his responses here (I meant to call him, but I'm in an office enivronment where it's easy to pop off a TBN post while on a computer, but I wanted to wait til in the car to have a conversation w/ Dave as a courtesy to people in office (not babbling on the phone), but that didn't happen yesterday). It's great he went as far as he did to get a hold of me. Looks like he's very eager to get this taken care of. That's fantastic.

I still haven't talked to him, I talked to Heather today finally and left a number for Dave to reach me.

What got me bummin was that Rob mentioned I only needed a socket to get the plugs out. This is why I got one in the mail so I could have a replacement on hand when doing the work on the weekend w/ no time to run up and get parts after investigating. An extra week went by because it snowed so I didn't touch it even though I had the plug in time to do it the weekend it snowed. This past weekend I go to take it apart and find it's a major project (at least for me) to remove all of the fuel / injector line / intake / other line related parts in the way. Even Rick Wallace said I had quite some work ahead of myself. I was I upset I had the wrong info -- had I known the work involved I wouldn't have bought the plug through the mail and figured out another plan but I went on incorrect info from the week earlier when I ordered the plug... At this point I called Rick Wallace trying to understand how on earth I get the plugs out without removing everything and I found out I had the wrong info because Rick took the time to look at a CK20H and compare to a CK20S. At that point it was too late to call Upper valley Saturday (they close at 1:00), so in frustration I posted my experience here above and then pointed Dave to the post via PM and an e-mail.

That's the latest... I'm going to wait til I talk to Dave before posting anything else here... Looks like he wants to come fix the machine, but at this point I'm comfortable with just waiting until the next major service in the fall after mowing season and I'll haul it back and get the glow issue solved at the same time. It's a long haul from Enfield to where I live (I'm 50 miles from Swansea) and as long as the machine won't be damaged from starting on only 2 glow plugs no problem. The other logic behind waiting is before I moved I stored the machine in an unheated shed -- now it's stored in a garage attached to the house, so even in really cold weather, my garage is always better than outside... plus the winter is mild and glow plugs shouldn't matter much once we get through February.

I'm really not a tough guy to please... just frustrated when I get incorrect info -- all would have been well if when the machine was up there the plugs were ohm'd, it was test started when cold, etc. But at this point is no big deal and I'm thinking it's best for everyone involved if we take care of it next service in the fall. I'll be satsified with this -- I can just bring the plug back with me and it will be taken care of -- they can just install 3 new plugs as I know the relay and keyswitch are fine. Everything else on the tractor is strong as ever and I'm confident it will do great through the rest of winter and the long mowing season where I put plenty of hours on each week.

Sorry for my usual long winded post....
I'll still follow up once I talk to Dave... I'm sure everything will be fine!

 

[coobie]

There's more to come... I can understand you guys attacking me as you've been in the dark... I'm not ignoring this thread given I posted on another one. I'm in the process of figuring out how to move forward with Uppervalley -- but we've been playing phone tag

I didn't get a hold of Dave yesterday when I discovered his responses here (I meant to call him, but I'm in an office enivronment where it's easy to pop off a TBN post while on a computer, but I wanted to wait til in the car to have a conversation w/ Dave as a courtesy to people in office (not babbling on the phone), but that didn't happen yesterday). It's great he went as far as he did to get a hold of me. Looks like he's very eager to get this taken care of. That's fantastic.

I still haven't talked to him, I talked to Heather today finally and left a number for Dave to reach me.

What got me bummin was that Rob mentioned I only needed a socket to get the plugs out. This is why I got one in the mail so I could have a replacement on hand when doing the work on the weekend w/ no time to run up and get parts after investigating. An extra week went by because it snowed so I didn't touch it even though I had the plug in time to do it the weekend it snowed. This past weekend I go to take it apart and find it's a major project (at least for me) to remove all of the fuel / injector line / intake / other line related parts in the way. Even Rick Wallace said I had quite some work ahead of myself. I was I upset I had the wrong info -- had I known the work involved I wouldn't have bought the plug through the mail and figured out another plan but I went on incorrect info from the week earlier when I ordered the plug... At this point I called Rick Wallace trying to understand how on earth I get the plugs out without removing everything and I found out I had the wrong info because Rick took the time to look at a CK20H and compare to a CK20S. At that point it was too late to call Upper valley Saturday (they close at 1:00), so in frustration I posted my experience here above and then pointed Dave to the post via PM and an e-mail.

That's the latest... I'm going to wait til I talk to Dave before posting anything else here... Looks like he wants to come fix the machine, but at this point I'm comfortable with just waiting until the next major service in the fall after mowing season and I'll haul it back and get the glow issue solved at the same time. It's a long haul from Enfield to where I live (I'm 50 miles from Swansea) and as long as the machine won't be damaged from starting on only 2 glow plugs no problem. The other logic behind waiting is before I moved I stored the machine in an unheated shed -- now it's stored in a garage attached to the house, so even in really cold weather, my garage is always better than outside... plus the winter is mild and glow plugs shouldn't matter much once we get through February.

I'm really not a tough guy to please... just frustrated when I get incorrect info -- all would have been well if when the machine was up there the plugs were ohm'd, it was test started when cold, etc. But at this point is no big deal and I'm thinking it's best for everyone involved if we take care of it next service in the fall. I'll be satsified with this -- I can just bring the plug back with me and it will be taken care of -- they can just install 3 new plugs as I know the relay and keyswitch are fine. Everything else on the tractor is strong as ever and I'm confident it will do great through the rest of winter and the long mowing season where I put plenty of hours on each week.

Sorry for my usual long winded post....
I'll still follow up once I talk to Dave... I'm sure everything will be fine!

I don,t think anyone is attacking you,but would like to see you resolve the problem with your dealer/tractor problem.Lighten up my friend.coobie.

 

[malk315]

No worries Coobie -- I'm good.

Talked to Dave -- in a nutshell he's going to fix the tractor here on site tomorrow. That is fantastic -- he's going the extra mile big time because it's about 130 miles and I believe they will be coming from Enfield, NH.

To Dave's point it's my fault for not talking to him sooner. I'm sure if he knew what was up he would have done whatever is necessary so again this great. I feel bad because it's a long distance and this is the main reason I'd have no problem waiting til next time it's convenient for me to bring the machine to Swansea (which won't be til warmer months when there's enough hours to do the next regular service).

So -- thanks a bunch Dave, and sorry to bring so much attention on TBN.
Looks like in the end it will be a great outcome.

 

[coobie]

No worries Coobie -- I'm good.

Talked to Dave -- in a nutshell he's going to fix the tractor here on site tomorrow. That is fantastic -- he's going the extra mile big time because it's about 130 miles and I believe they will be coming from Enfield, NH.

To Dave's point it's my fault for not talking to him sooner. I'm sure if he knew what was up he would have done whatever is necessary so again this great. I feel bad because it's a long distance and this is the main reason I'd have no problem waiting til next time it's convenient for me to bring the machine to Swansea (which won't be til warmer months when there's enough hours to do the next regular service).

So -- thanks a bunch Dave, and sorry to bring so much attention on TBN.
Looks like in the end it will be a great outcome.

Glad to hear this.I also have a GREAT Kioti dealer by me,Michigan Iron and equipment.Good luck,coobie.

 

[Coyote machine]

Malk315,

Now you have the attention of your dedicated dealer and his more than genuine willingness to keep his customers satisfied beyond any reasonable person's expectations - so don't blow this opportunity to make sure he knows how much you appreciate his efforts.
And next time find a way to contact him instead of waiting until its convenient for YOU. Your tractor issues seem important in the moment but they're easily solved by using some patience and waiting for things to connect both here on TBN and with your tractor dealer.
More common sense and less 'longwinded posts', (your words, or similar wording to that effect).

 

[malk315]

You know sometimes you have expectations on how you think something will turn out and then things happen like today when Rob from Upper Valley came down to fix my machine. My expectations have been sooooo far exceeded. I talked to Rob and I understand the root causes involved in how things unfolded -- and now that we talked a bit we're on the same page and on the right foot. Now I understand just how extremely thorough Rob is and knowledgeable with these machines and it's obvious he takes pride in what he does and personally cares that things are right regardless of what anyone says. Now I understand why Upper Valley has the consecutive 5 paw awards they have and they deserve to wear that with pride. It's rare that you run into people like that today -- I think sometimes our expectations are set low from getting burnt by people who don't care, but I can't stress enough that Rob went the extra mile today and I couldn't be any happier with the results.

After my dealer was no longer Kioti I had always wished Rick Wallace was local since he's been very helpful historically here, people talked highly of him, and he helped me in the past ... Well that's not an issue now, Upper Valley will be taking care of anything that comes up with my machine. I'm very pleased they have a location in range now -- I've got a way to haul the machine to them, and with Rob at the helm of their service department they will continue to earn 5 paw awards and any dealer of any brand should model how they do things after these guys.

So it did turn out to be one plug that wasn't glowing as we suspected. Unfortunately Kioti had assured Rob the plugs he brought were the right ones however they turned out not to be. Upper Valley didn't have them on the shelf so Rob went to another dealer 50 miles away to get the plugs from their stock! He replaced all 3 even though 2 were at least glowing. In removing the intake Rob discovered a squished gasket for one cylinder and another gasket that had an air leak. He replaced those gaskets and mentioned I may get better fuel economy since it won't be drawing air.

Everything else checked out fine and this is where he was extremely thorough in going through everything. Where Rob really went beyond my expectations is the travel -- 130 miles from Enfield to here, 50 miles to other dealer, a full day spent dealing with my machine, 360 miles on the road

I fired up the machine when I got home this eve and it's back to normal and runs perfect. I'll be curious in the spring to see how it runs the mid-mount deck -- I'll bet I won't use as much fuel mowing 2 acres.

I'm going to call Dave in the morning and gladly pay for whatever he needs for parts / labor for the work done etc. -- it's worth it as I've got piece of mind EVERYTHING is right. I haven't had to put much money into the machine in the last 6 years and the work done today (plus the work done at their shop on the other items) means I should be able to go for several more years -- hopefully as good as the first 6 have been -- I really haven't had too many problems for 6 years of ownership (bought the machine new).

A huge thanks again to Rob and Dave from Upper Valley.
If you want your machine to be right -- see them, and it will be taken care of. Period. I will be seeing George in Swansea when I'm ready to buy a rear snowblower (or maybe a front one after talking w/ Rob today) so I can at least do some business with them on new equipment.

 

[malk315]

By the way Coobie on your post mentioning Michigan Iron ... I have the Night Site Worklight bar my wife got me including the optional rear light -- custom made to order from Michigan Iron. That thing is awesome. If you search for posts by me you'll see some action shots.

Doesn't everyone need a wife who buys tractor accessories the caliber of that night site from Michigan Iron?

With all of the work the machine has done at the old house and the projects upcoming at the new house I don't think my wife would ever want to go back to a wheel barrow. Once you have a bucket, you just don't need a wheel barrow... she probably would not want to ever get rid of the tractor -- she used to give me some flack years ago... but it's been a long time!

 

[VTFireftr]

Malk,

Glad to read that everything worked out for you.

I bought my CK 30 at Upper Valley almost two years ago. Whenever I have had an issue (actually only twice) they have been extremely helpful.

Both Dave and Robbie are extremely knowledgeable, and this is why I drove alomost 100 miles to purchase from them. Now that they have a store closer, I can pick up parts much more easily when needed.

Last summer, my wife and I stopped by Michigan Iron on our way out to the Black Hlls of South Dakota. We purchased a hydraulic thumb for the backhoe on our CK 30. Extremely well built and engineered.

When I installed the thumb, there was a small issue. I called Michigan Iron and spent over an hour on the telephone trying to diagnose the problem. Turned out to be a bad quick disconnet couplling. Michigan Iron put one in the mail that day and after replacing the bad coupling, everything worked perfectly.

Two great Kioti dealers with EXCEPTIONAL customer service! If I ever need any service locally, I know exactly where I will take my tractorr, and if I need any hydraulic attachemtns, I know who where i'll call to order.

Marc

 

[Dmace]

Good to hear all is well!
I'll have to add them to my growing list of great Kioti dealers in the area.

 

[Coyote machine]

Excellent! With the right dealer and a Kioti life is good.:thumbsup:
Glad to hear everything is back to the way it should be.