Sorry guys, no pics, I was out stacking firewood until late last night. Here's the story...
Remember that this is a story from my point of view told for the benefit of all parties.
So as you might recall my end result from the warranty repair was a hacked loader that was strong and functional but a disgrace to my new and expensive machine. It was deficient in many ways but allowed me to use the loader. I am unable to apply Kioti's pending cover plate fix.
Kioti recognized that the hacked loader was not repairable given the apparent lack of skill from the dealer's metal worker. I would argue that even the best metal worker would spend more money repairing that loader than a new loader would cost. Kioti then sent a replacement loader frame (only) to my dealer but it arrived heavily damaged from shipping. Seems they just shipped it naked with a sticker on it. Even the dealer rejected that.
Kioti asked me to agree to a deal. They offered a replacement loader, minus the tractor mount frame, if I was willing to wait for it to be redesigned.
Redesigned you say? Not just a replacement? To me this was the best solution. A replacement loader of the old design would be prone to the same cracking but it would have been fair. Kioti actually took a big step up and offered the improved version in exchange for my patience.
I had no idea it would take so long. It took a really long time.
Fortunately for the brand and for me the new design hit the market three or four months ago. I was starting to get anxious. I hadn't heard a peep from Kioti or my dealer. I thought maybe my contact(s) had changed positions, jobs, promoted, fired, whatever and that Kioti was unaware of the written promises. I sent an email to my contact to ask about the status and to remind them of our deal about two months ago. No reply at all. Fairly typical for some reason but I was beginning to sweat.
Then out of the blue my dealer calls and says that my new loader was ready to pick up. What? It's here? Yep. Bring your machine in (90 miles or so round trip) and unhook your old loader, and drive into the new one.
I got to the dealer bright and early on Monday morning before the staff and began to look over the new Kiotis on the lot. Hmmmm, the new CK30s have a much bigger tie rod. That's nice considering that I bent my old one like a coat hanger, thicker is better so long as your hubs can handle it. They also moved the oil dipstick to the exhaust side, not sure why but don't burn your fingers. Nothing else really obvious except for the loaders. About half of the tractors on the lot had the old model and half the new.
The loader assembly has quite a few differences that I was able to pick out. When I say differences I mean improvements.
1) Starting at the tractor, the hydraulic lines on the tractor side of the FEL hydraulic QDs have a new metal angle fitting so that as they leave the QD cluster and head to the control valve the angle of the hoses is much less severe. They must have had hose blow outs here.
2) The inside and outside of the curved loader arms have large stiffening fish plates welded on each side of the arm surrounding a new solid torque tube that is welded to each of the 4 fish plates. This appears to significantly strengthen the connection of the torque tube to the curved arms. Lots of metal there. The torque tube is of the traditional design with a completely hollow tube through all four walls of the loader arms. This looks great and appears to be very stout.
3) The hydraulic hoses that cross over the torque tube sit on the outside of the torque tube under a plate cover that feels almost 1/8" thick. The cover hides and protects the hoses and almost looks like the old squarish tube from the old design. Traditional loaders use metal tubes here but Kioti kept their rubber hoses and used the cover.
4) The whole torque tube affair seems to sit farther away from the nose of the tractor leaving more clearance for a bigger brush guard. I am guessing that moving the torque tube closer to the bucket decreased the leverage acting on this element.
5) The bucket is redesigned. The old bucket was functional but pretty weak on top. The new bucket is more square with significantly better reinforcement where the loader attaches to it. It looks more like a heavy duty bucket than the old one. There is more flat area on the top to mount hooks, grapples, whatever. The new one has cheeks too.
Purchasers of these new loaders are getting a much improved attachment. This is a good thing for the brand, it shows that Kioti responds to faults and improves their products to make the next customers even happier. An evolving product is necessary to stay competitive.
I was able to drive right in to the new loader and plug it in to my tractor. I cycled the hydraulics and immediately noticed the leaky threaded connection on the loader QDs. Ah, this looks familiar, it happened on my first loader. I'll reseal those threads on my own thank you.
Loaded up the tractor and went home after speaking with the dealer for a few minutes. They all jokingly poked fun at my old hacked loader and appreciated the new model.
I want to be certain that folks understand the reason I ended up with a replacement loader is because of the Kioti authorized repair which ended up being the scabbing on of huge ugly chunks of scrap steel. Noone, not even Kioti, could have imagined that turning out so badly.
I want to thank the many many folks who have lent support and maybe even covert urging of certain people to help resolve my issue. Kioti ultimately made this right and earned a lot of confidence from me in the process.
Now that I've purged the new loader with hydro oil I am off to complete the 400 hour service and get to work.
About two months ago we began to see photos of the new KL130s
I am suspecting it is long, orange, new, fits perfectly on the front of a CK30, requires hydraulics, has a round tube through the torque bar and has the reflection of a smiling Highbeam all over it. I'm jealous just thinking about it. Too bad for me that my dealer didn't offer to send my loader out to a klutz for repair.
