Significant Damage to Mini Excavator Rental While I'm on Vacation
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 30 ก.ย. 2024
- This one is a bummer, but it is a very transparent look (without a filter) of what it's like to be in the rental business. Whether it's the dumpster business or the equipment rental business.
Someone definitely found the limit of this Kubota KX-040-4, but the limit also surprised me quite a bit (I would love to talk to someone at @Kubotatractorcorp about this situation). It's all a part of owning a business, finding solutions to problems as soon as they happen. While building good relationships with your customers.
Video features a peak at Ozark International Raceway!
I wouldnt involve the customer, im not a business owner myself but either warranty or buy it and take the hit.
Pushing hard on the warranty. But can't let things slide 100% everytime or you go under fast.
Weld it for the weekend rental.
Might for a backup
I am not in the equipment rental business but I do rent properties. I say fix it and split it with the customer. Simply put if it drags out you will not only loose money but you will also have to tell more and more customers no when they call. He is a business owner and should respect a 50/50 split on cost of repair.
Splitting the bill:
Customer respects machine and next time and treats it more like it’s his.
Footing the bill:
Removes incentive for customer/crew to operate machine responsibly in the future.
Nailed that
Your homie you rented to was pounding concrete with it to break the slab into pieces.
Not quite. I got a video of exactly how it happened
I can tell you what happened here. He side loaded the bucket pulling hard and sheared the coupler. I know because I just did the same thing. Worse part is the replacement parts are back ordered. I found old stock and ordered it to avoid waiting. Now I’m fighting with Kubota to get reimbursed.
Dude if you think its a defect in the bucket leave your customer alone you just take the hit end of story.
I mean, that's exactly what happened.
Been in heavy equipment rental business for a few years. Nothing as small as your mini excavator. Seen a lot of weird stuff break. Kubota should warranty it. Replace the cast pins with steel. Get a machine shop to build it for you and move on. Being in equipment rental you can’t take it personally. Do whatever to get it fixed and back on rent to pay for it.
Why no Redneck shipping container race trailer?
We've done that in the past! But with my brother running a delivery business, this was an easy option, allowing my truck to stay at work with my driver!
The main pin is 1045 steel or something close to it. It failed so violently you can see the grain structure of the steel which is probalby why you think it's cast iron. The coupler would be cast steel not cast iron if it isn't a weldment.
Thank you for that info! That's good to know!
This might be the opportune moment to switch to a to a pin grabber type coupler. Especially if Kubota drags their feet or declines the warranty claim.
Good point!
I have looked very hard at at these machines and plan on having one by the end of the year to rent along side my roll offs. One reason I have looked so hard at kubota is the insurance, and also how close I am to the dealership. That being said the dealership I have close to me has told multiple stories about how great the insurance is through kubota. One guy didn’t strap a mini down and went around a turn and threw it off the trailer, the machine ended up coming off the turn table and it was replaced. The other guy had a tractor and was bush hogging around a pond and the tractor ended up in the water. Same story, kubota replaced it not one time but twice because the guy drove the new one in the same pond in the same spot. That all being said you do have a very hard decision as to if you let them cover it on warranty or insurance, or just pay out of pocket. But I would definitely like to see how great the insurance is first hand if you hold out for them to fix! I’m definitely looking forward to see how this plays out for you if you decide to let the insurance cover!
I 100% hope you are correct.
I repaired one of those on an older kx121..... I did a video on the repair on my channel. Turned out the main pin was cracked which lead to the thumb breaking right off..
Dang! I don't like hearing how often this happens!
This happens when the pin slides out, had this happen 2 times,
I suspected this! Because that quick release pin always runs off. So I ran a Nutt and bolt through it instead.
With pulling concrete, rolling the bucket back once you get underneath is much safer for the operator and the equipment. If you roll it backwards the force is upwards, I have abused the hell out of rentals more times than I can count but just pulling straight on concrete can kill you if it breaks and comes at you. I have never broken the linkage like that, that took talent.
I know this ended up getting resolved but you have a good customer with damage resulting from a possible manufacturing defect. Fix it at your cost and keep making money off the guy. If it happens again then you take another hard look at it. If it’s obvious customer damage then that’s easy and I’m sure he’d be willing to pay. Honestly if I was the renter doing “normal” work I’m not paying for what appears to be an equipment malfunction and wouldn’t rent from you again. That being said if I broke it I’d pay for it as a customer. Do you offer insurance the customer can purchase.
Those brakes looks like they have rust on them! Almost like there were cracked before! And weakened maybe
It rained a couple times before I was able to pick it up, but that's an interesting point
Love your videos man! Definitely a ton of useful info and getting me to want to start my own business.
Do you have any videos or could you talk about the tax side? What all are you able to use as a write off? An entire truck, dumpsters, your heavy equipment, etc? It seems like as you expand, getting new equipment you can write a lot of it off.
Go with Ami coupler quick attach that cast junk surprised it didn’t break sooner
I’d definitely be leaning hard on Kubota for warranty on that. Our Bobcat E35 has over 500 hours and no issues like that. On the other hand our T66 has a recall but the part is on backorder. My dealer is giving me free coolant until they can get the leak fixed.
I really think they should stand behind it. It just seems a bit too soon for a catastrophic failure like this to happen during regular use. But I also hope it doesn't drag out and cost me a crap ton of business.
He could have been striking the concrete or reversing tracks while pulling, which is probably considered abuse. Going forward, maybe dont allow it to be used on concrete work unless its a heavier sized machine.
The 2022's are junk, im not buying any model year 21 or 22.
I hope I don't have a lemon!
Seems like a week material problem
I have a u 35 and do every thing with it never broke that part
Concrete work digging everything
If other people have complained about the same issue, then I would say something with the casting material was weak. Probably best to buy one and have it on hand and still have the warrantee replace the original.
Maybe charge a damage waiver fee like most rental yards do unless you already have one
Hoping it's just a defect from "covid times" where stuff was being pushed out too fast
Yea I would have that for future if they break it they buy it.
For this, I would have him foot the bill for materials, you cover labor
Your vidoes are awesome! Do you advertise on facebook marketplace or offerup? What do you recommend your fans that wants to start this where they can get more clients?
Google is your best return for digital marketing. Put money in Google ads, and work hard organically on Google my business which is free
If its me i would get new one and see if they will pay on warranty. If you can keep the broken one. Repair and reinforce it with plate steel. That where knowing how te weld is good to know.
Even better, dealer actually took a part of another machine that was for sale because there was a 6 month back order. Pretty awesome service, honestly.
It's not made for concrete if you're going to rent it out have somebody turn to relief pressure.old trick in the rental business
This machines not made for pulling concrete? I'm confused
Kubotatractorcorp - I'd love to speak to someone about this because I have had many reach out to say this was very out of the ordinary for your quality of product.
@Kubotatractorcorp
I respect the hell out of the fact that you understood what the guys were doing with the equipment and gave them the credit of having a past of being responsible and competent.
Too many times has a rep from a. Rental company came to a site and not only had zero clue how to actually use the equipment, but had zero understanding of what you can do with them too.
Sorry about your piece of equipment bro
I try my best to give the customer some slack. Luckilythis got covered on warranty, just took forever!
That track is awesome!! We did a car rally down there 2 years ago and were the first ones to ever be on that track with fun sports cars (corvettes, mustangs, lamborghinis, mclarens, track cars, etc.) Owner is one of the nicest guys we have met. Loves his Ford's (mustangs and raptors).
He was the coolest! And he did mention ford a couple times!
What was the outcome for this?
It was repaired! The place that sold it to me took a part of a unit that had not been sold. Because everything was OK national backorder of course
So it was in fact a warranty issue? Thanks for the reply. Love the content made me comfortable enough to start my own company. I've learned alot through your channel.
Hey Clayton, nice video and you're always taking a sensible approach to handling these situations correctly! You have your customer, who has proven that he is trust worthy, rents multiple pieces of gear from you and you have a revenue stream with him, but you also might need to amend your contracts going forward to include if something breaks under normal operating conditions that the client can be liable for that cost as well and will be determined by the business owner! Just a suggestion to try and protect you. I think this winds up being a warranty fix, so no one has to come out of pocket, just time and missed opportunities on the rentals, but this could have been worse and I admire your customer for being up front with you and telling you what happened and how it happened. It sounds like he still wants to be a customer and bad luck honestly struck both of you guys! Great video, thanks again, enjoying the channel and content! The race cars were incredible, especially the footage and vantage point!
We got lucky and they warntied it! But yea, it was a huge loss of cash because we had 11 calls that week for it to be rented. And I had to hound kubota dealer a little bit due to some miscommunication. But it worked out in the end. I'm glad you liked the karting! We went back this month and unfortunately my camera got destroyed, but we had some awesssssome clips on it!
The major factor in my decision would be the cost to fix. Less than a grand i would fix then put it back to work. (I have no idea how much these things cost )
About 2k from dealer
Yep!! It's not a Cat!
I have a Kubota 121-3 that I sheared the same pin. I found that the weak point was the grease track that is drilled in the center to allow grease to go through. I solve the problem by taking a piece of solid stock on the lathe and making my own pin. problem solved no more issues.. Sorry about your troubles keep your drive rollers lubed as they will surely fail. I also made my own style of rollers and solved a lot of issues.
Great insight! Thanks!
Your welcome, by no means am I an expert but if you ever have any questions lmk.@@rollingops
Where did you find a good rental contract to use to rent out your equipment? Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Go rent something from somewhere big, but use it as a guide. To write your own. I don't suggest writing it word for word.
@@rollingops Thank you. That was my plan if I couldn’t find one.
Spend the money keep rolling..
Like this
I would order the parts and get it fixed and not wait for warranty to fix it. And if it ends up getting covered under warranty you could get reimbursed check with the dealership I'm pretty sure they will do that. I have done that in the past waiting for equipment companies to make a decision.
If you look closely at the broken links can you tell if there is a void, cavity or stress riser that could have led to the failure? Looks like the break is rusted in some spots and not others, like maybe there was an existing hairline fracture that failed when curling maybe?
Not in rental business, but i have seen many equip optrs use the bucket to break up asphalt, concrete and i think maybe the sections not jackhammered enough to break it up just started to beat the hell out of it with the teeth on the bucket, then tried picking it up. ?
Any plans in upgrading to a hooklift truck?
Nopppppe
Not anytime soon, at least. My business model and overhead works really well with the ability to carry dumpster, shipping containers, and equipmemt rentals with pickup trucks and trailers. Especially because I can have 2-3 trucks running for the same price or less, as one hooklift, and the overhead and down time for repairs is significantly less for pickups. If I was in a market where I could compete with 30-40 yard dumpsters that were 6+ tons everytime and recieve a sweetheart deal on tonnage at the landfill, it would be a different conversation, but someone has that market locked down. So I am cornering this one instead.
Thanks for the heads up. Will go with another manufacturer.
I believe it was a defect in the pin and bucket attatchment. New setup we ran a bolt through the pin and have had 0 issues. And it has definitely been put through the paces.
We haven't had a Karting track in over 20 years. Our last one was replaced with a shopping center and houses. Same with the drag strip. Any place with open space has been crammed with development. The damage to the excavator is due to poor metal alloys or cooling welds too quickly. You will never find cast parts on a mini excavator but some forged parts may be used. A friend of mine who has a Kubota svl 90 skid steer break off the attachment due to a poor weld. From what I see in your video it is not the customer's fault.
By the way I was using my old Bobcat at my home and right in the middle of the street the drive belt broke. Thankfully I have a space so I was able to fix it quickly.
This is the kind of content I like seeing. Problem solving is the most important skill to learn in owning a business because something is always happening! Good luck 👍🏼
Appreciate it!