King Kutter

[Northland]

I wonder if Dark Horse will be pulled from TSC's implement line-up as well? I saw the Dark Horse line still for sale at the TSC in Victoria, Texas last month.

I saw a Dark Horse box blade at TSC when I was shopping for a box blade. It was a piece of crap.

I think KK represents good value (for example, compared to Dark Horse) given the price. I have a 6 ft KK rear blade that was a great buy for the $260 I paid for it.

 

[foggy1111]

I bought a 5' King Kutter RC last night at the local TSC during their Tuesday night customer appreciation special (15% discount). Price: $552.00 after discount. Was pretty happy with that......kinda like buying overshoes in July. King Kutter was the only brand in the store here.

Wanted to buy a somewhat more heavy duty cutter....but at this price I can wear out two (or three) for the price of one...and I dont think I want much more weight on the back anyway....so.....

Now....if I can only find a good disc at a fair price, and, and...

 

[Northland]

I bought a 5' King Kutter RC last night at the local TSC during their Tuesday night customer appreciation special (15% discount). Price: $552.00 after discount. Was pretty happy with that......kinda like buying overshoes in July. King Kutter was the only brand in the store here.

Wanted to buy a somewhat more heavy duty cutter....but at this price I can wear out two (or three) for the price of one...and I dont think I want much more weight on the back anyway....so.....

Now....if I can only find a good disc at a fair price, and, and...

Sounds like a great deal foggy I'd have snapped that up too

 

[khamill2000]

Just to keep this stirred up.... Was at TSC on Monday and asked the yard man about the dark horse/KK implements. He said that the Dark Horse brand was actually a KK factory in China and the implements were built to KK design/spec. He said they were being discontinued and that they had sent all of the Farm Force mowers to the KK factory. According to him, KK repainted the mower decks yellow and sent them back. The gearboxes remained grey (he showed me several).

Also, Farm Force is listed as a Speeco brand on the Speeco home page.

SpeeCo Inc. - Manufacturer of Log Splitters, Tractor Parts, OEM and Farm Accessories

 

[Northland]

Good tractor gossip on this thread

Farm Force was owned by Tartergate before it was sold to SpeeCo.

I bought a Farm Force carry-all from TSC and e-mailed Tartergate about the capacities.

 

[jpm1]

I have numerous K K implements and swear by them, not at them. Box Blade, slip scoop, which I use for wood road building and lots of it at that.3pt hitch rake and finally a rear discharge finish mower which mowes approx 37 acres a week at home, and my 3 acre lawn say nothing about neighbors mowing too.
I can saw nothing bad about any piece of equiptment which bears the K K name. I'm on my second mower though; dad sold the first one on me along with one of my tractors. The man see the nice job it did and had to have it NOW! so I bought another and would do it again in a heart beat. Note the second mower has 600 hours on it and nothing has been repaired or broke

 

[Taylortractornut]

A friend of mine that works for KK told me that they have laid off 1200 workers. He told me quality was down considerably due to the fact all the workers were paid by the part. used to you had a quota then every thing past that was production pay. He says stuff just gets slopped together, and alot of their Chinese parts like gearboxes are killing them.
They cant seem to get through to managment about quality. He showed several weld pictures that were scary. He and his dad are starting to build box blades and carry alls out of there shop and are making batch orders. They look great I saw a load they had headed to his cousins paint shop to get the lot and a few custom paint jobs done. They are working on set up to stamp out a heavy duty pond scoop and a small dirt pan. They seem to have a great deal of private orders and say that later this month they will start taking orders. They take alot of pride in their work and I think may be a good company. I just cut out some bending dies for some of there presses.

 

[Northland]

Sounds good. Maybe you can help them get some business from TBN members once they get past their private orders

 

[keyser soze]

I hope whatever brand replaces KK is better quality. Had a 5' rough cut that I returned due to a broken weld on the tail wheel assembly. TSC replaced the unit. I then had to have a broken weld repaired on the replacement.

King Kutter is not being replaced. What is happening is TSC is using other people to cover different areas of the country. A dealer in TX for example will still get the full King Kutter line, while say a dealer in the northeastern US will get Farm Force. I believe there is another brand also for a different region of the country. Michigan maybe? I don't know what brand though.

I think the King Kutter stuff is the best value in the market. There is definitely heavier, more expensive equipment. And there is lighter, less expensive equipment... but from my experience, dollar for dollar, the King Kutter stuff is hard to beat.

 

[keyser soze]

A friend of mine that works for KK told me that they have laid off 1200 workers. He told me quality was down considerably due to the fact all the workers were paid by the part. used to you had a quota then every thing past that was production pay. He says stuff just gets slopped together, and alot of their Chinese parts like gearboxes are killing them.
They cant seem to get through to managment about quality. He showed several weld pictures that were scary. He and his dad are starting to build box blades and carry alls out of there shop and are making batch orders. They look great I saw a load they had headed to his cousins paint shop to get the lot and a few custom paint jobs done. They are working on set up to stamp out a heavy duty pond scoop and a small dirt pan. They seem to have a great deal of private orders and say that later this month they will start taking orders. They take alot of pride in their work and I think may be a good company. I just cut out some bending dies for some of there presses.

King Kutter has NEVER had 1200 workers at one time. How could they lay that many off?

 

[keyser soze]

TSC manager told me this week King Kutter is not going to be suppling there eqpt anymore . Can not remember the name of company that will be making there items . Was told no difference in products or price just that King Kutter could not keep up with sales TSC

King Kutter is still supplying tillers, finish mowers, and other products to all stores, but it will be under TSC's brand County Line starting next year.

 

[3 point hitch]

I enjoy reading up on all of the crazy, wrong, and none factual information that people post on here about KK. There has never been anything close to 1200 employees there. They for sure don't get gear boxes from china. Some knock-offs may look like KK, but I can assure you that they are produced with no regard to the custome. The knock-offs may be cheap HAY break one down and find out why.

 

[johnk]

I enjoy reading up on all of the crazy, wrong, and none factual information that people post on here about KK. There has never been anything close to 1200 employees there. They for sure don't get gear boxes from china. Some knock-offs may look like KK, but I can assure you that they are produced with no regard to the custome. The knock-offs may be cheap HAY break one down and find out why.

So tell us where KKutter equipment is made and how many plants are there. We really don't know all the facts but if you have some, share the information with us please...

 

[keyser soze]

So tell us where KKutter equipment is made and how many plants are there. We really don't know all the facts but if you have some, share the information with us please...

King Kutter has three manufacturing facilities. Winfield, AL, Athens, TN, and Gallopolis, OH. And, as the poster you quoted and I both stated, King Kutter has never had anywhere close to 1200 people working for them. How could they lay off that many people? Also, the quality is being paid attention to more now, than it ever has been.

 

[Soundguy]

King Kutter is not being replaced. What is happening is TSC is using other people to cover different areas of the country. A dealer in TX for example will still get the full King Kutter line, while say a dealer in the northeastern US will get Farm Force. I believe there is another brand also for a different region of the country. Michigan maybe? I don't know what brand though.

.

I wonder if that is being done to save on hauling... IE.. regional distribution.. etc.

soundguy

 

[keyser soze]

I wonder if that is being done to save on hauling... IE.. regional distribution.. etc.

soundguy

I don't think so, b/c King Kutter will still make ALL of the Rotary Tillers and Finish Mowers, and a couple other products which I can't remember right now, to be sold at TSC stores everywhere.

Basically, TSC has chose to stick with the Rotary Tiller and Finish mowers made by King Kutter no matter where the store is located.

 

[Soundguy]

Hmm.. then I wonder if it is a money issue on the other items?

soundguy

 

[keyser soze]

I don't think so. I think TSC wanted more than one manufacturer. I think TSC wants to play the equipment manufacturers off the others.

 

[EV59]

The last time I visited the KK plant....There were no 1200 staff members...not even close.??????

ev59

 

[Soundguy]

I think we have already established that...

soundguy