New 448 Hoe

[GreatWhitehunter]

I've discussed it with my dealer. He said they would call Deere to inquire about the issue. I also asked about after market buckets and apparently there not available. I talked to Gannon and the don't make one. What reallt gripes my @ss is how easily they break. I haven't even dug up any rocks yet. I don't really know the solution. I guess I need to buy another brand bucket and modify it to fit?

Matt T.

 

[Haoleguy]

GWH - It sounds like you have taken the right first step with the dealer. What you might consider doing in parallel is contact Deere through their email address. I did this once and got a return phone call the next day from someone at headquarters to discuss my issue. When I did this I let my dealer know what I was doing while he was pursuing the issue as well. I made sure that headquarters knew that I had a very strong dealer who gives good support but that the issue was important enough to me to ensure that it received attention. There must be a straightforward solution that Deere can do for you as I would guess that your experience is not an isolated case and they have heard from others previously.

 

[flyer]

Well, the 448 finnally arrived an was installed on my 3320. I was so excited, I couldn't wait to make a mess. Within the first hour I broke off a tooth on the bucket. Is this a problem others have had? I was removing an oak stump when I lost the tooth. It's an 18" bucket if that helps. I noticed the other three are also already bent. I would have thought that these thinks would hold up a little better than that for almost 8k. Other than that I love the hoe.

Matt T.
One of these days I got to post some pics of my toys for you guys to see!

Matt - Other than the broken tooth, how'de the backhoe work on those oak stumps? How big were they? How much time per stump and how big of a hole was remaining? I've got a bunch of oak stumps to take out and was wondering how the backhoe performs ... thanks!