DK45S 4 wheel drive problem

fastpat · Mar 6, 2007

Update: I just called my Kioti dealership who says the fuse box is on backorder. Apparently what is happening is Kioti USA doesn't think it needs a large warehouse full of parts in America, they send to Korea for many parts.

I have news for Kioti, that isn't going to cut it in America. If they want to be seen as a serious tractor company, they'll need to have a two week turn-around time for parts at the outside, particularly for a one year old model.

Yes, I'm getting to the end of my patience on this problem.

rback33 · Mar 6, 2007

fastpat said:
Update: I just called my Kioti dealership who says the fuse box is on backorder. Apparently what is happening is Kioti USA doesn't think it needs a large warehouse full of parts in America, they send to Korea for many parts.

I have news for Kioti, that isn't going to cut it in America. If they want to be seen as a serious tractor company, they'll need to have a two week turn-around time for parts at the outside, particularly for a one year old model.

Yes, I'm getting to the end of my patience on this problem.

I think for the most part this problem is unusual and short lived. The fact that it is a newer model makes it tough. They stock a lot of our parts. I ship stocking orders regularly to them. The thing is, that these loaders have been around there for a long time and they have a detailed consumption history. They know how much to keep on hand and how much to have on order. With new equipment.. it's a crap shoot. You order and hope you have enough, but not too much. Some times you miss. I would not think that a complete fuse box would be very high volume and they just under ordered that item. I know this does nothing to fix your tractor, but it is a situation that can occur with any tractor company. This is simply conjecture from my point of view. I know for a fact that Kioti has a large parts warehouse and tries very hard to stock everything possible. I have been in it many times. To say that they expect Korea to supply parts on short notice without stocking any themselves is not true. I realize that you are frustrated and most likely repeating the dealers words in some way, shape, or form, but saying things like that will not help the situation. I would put more pressure on the dealer. Does he have any other tractors he can "borrow" the parts from?

Steverino · Mar 6, 2007

It would seem that a creative dealer could rig a temporary fix until the OEM parts arrive. Also there are these little known companies which advertise that when it positively, absolutely has to be there overnight any place in the world, or something to that effect,. A couple of names that come to mind are Federal Express Expedited Services, and UPS UPS International Shipping A small package like a fuse block should not be a prohibitively expensive item to ship, note the operative word is prohibitively not expensive. Good luck and keep us posted.

DrRick · Mar 6, 2007

I was crushed when my dk55c had the glass door and the curved glass rear window completely demolished by an accident recently. I could just see the glass from korea on the boat coming to america. I think I was more afraid of Mr. racoon taking up housekeeping on my cab seat than anything else. I was pleased when all the parts were ordered, and delivered in about 3 days. WOW!. I have to say I am OK with the stocking situation in the states of KIOTI parts. All of these items originated overseas. In my case it was a good experience. Hope yours ends well also.
ric

RandyT · Mar 9, 2007

I know about your fustration with parts being on backorder. I am a servicing dealer for MTD. If the parts are in stock at the warehouse I get them next day. If they are one back order I can expect a delay of 6-12 weeks. MTD has an emergency order program that will ship UPS next day air. Oh I forgot to mention that it stills days 7-14 days to receive delivery with a freight charge of $24.95. And that is if it is in stock in Cinninati, Ohio. If not than it will be 6-12 weeks with a $24.95 freight charge. Worse backorder that I have had was a $10.00 belt guide that took 5 months to get on a three month old riding lawnmower.

fastpat · Mar 14, 2007

Okay, here's what finally happened. Last Wednesday, March 7th, I called my dealer for an update, and he stated that the parts were on backorder and he had no idea when they would be delivered.

I decided to call Kioti, in North Carolina, to see what the deal was, parts problems, and so forth. They called the dealer for the details, part numbers and so forth, called me back and said that they would take a part off a new tractor and have it installed on my tractor. Also, my dealer welded up a diamond plate steel shield for the fuse box since it's in a very vulnerable place on the tractor, in fact this is at least a partial cause of the backorder situation. Kioti is getting the details from my dealer on the fabricated shield so that they can incorporate something similar on production tractors in the future.

All the above happened as planned, I had my tractor back on Friday, March 9th and all is well as of today. Six weeks after I took it in.