Moldboard crack

[20/80]

I tried searching through some threads looking for anyone having problems with their moldboards cracking on their Cat m series graders, our sister shop has a year old 12m-2 Cat and the moldboard has cracked along the bottom almost the full length of the moldboard just above the bolt holes for the cutting edges, also the main arm coming down from the circle which the moldboard attaches to also has cracked for the second time sense new, Cat is covering the repairs, the operator been grading for us for 12 years with no problems like this ever, on a side note though this is the second engine in this grader sense new, any info or your thoughts would be great thanks.

 

[John C.]

Does the machine have accumulators and a slip clutch. If it does it might be worth your while to check the charge in the accumulators and run a test of the slip clutch to be sure it is releasing when the end catches something hard.

If it doesn't have accumulators you might have a discussion with the purchasing agent or the sales rep about why not and what will it cost to get them.

Good Luck

 

[20/80]

Does the machine have accumulators and a slip clutch. If it does it might be worth your while to check the charge in the accumulators and run a test of the slip clutch to be sure it is releasing when the end catches something hard.

If it doesn't have accumulators you might have a discussion with the purchasing agent or the sales rep about why not and what will it cost to get them.

Good Luck

I believe it does have a slip clutch for the moldboard not sure on where the pressure is set for it to release though, I will pass your info on thank you, the machine is just over 2 years old not a year sorry for the mistake.

 

[ovrszd]

The cracks you describe sound like vibration or stress cracks.

The crack along the length of the moldboard certainly isn't very deep or the moldboard would have failed by now. Regardless, that's not normal and shouldn't be accepted.

I'm not sure accumulators and/or slip clutch would have prevented this crack.

 

[Bls repair]

What does cat think is the problem? Are they going to extend the warranty? Are they replacing with new?

 

[ovrszd]

Yeah, I'm curious about this as well???

 

[20/80]

Yeah, I'm curious about this as well???

The work is being covered by Cat, the machine is still in their hands and haven't heard what their thoughts are on this issue yet, I will keep you guys informed when I find out.

 

[ovrszd]

I would assume they will replace the moldboard. These things always make me wonder how many are out there with this stress issue, regardless of machine brand.

 

[20/80]

I would assume they will replace the moldboard. These things always make me wonder how many are out there with this stress issue, regardless of machine brand.

I ask our mobile mech about the mould board he said Cat just welded it, Cat never gave a reason why it cracked just fixed it and sent the machine back, never heard no more about it.

 

[Bls repair]

Being a new machine I would need an extended warranty on the moldboard before I would except a welding repair

 

[20/80]

I would think Cat would warrant any work or repairs done by them.

 

[Bls repair]

For how long?

 

[ovrszd]

I would be soooooo disappointed with a "weld" repair. Okay if it's a machine out of warranty. New machine,,,,, soooooo disappointed. Probably would want to speak to a CAT Warranty Rep about that one.

 

[John C.]

Time for a basic explanation of what a warranty is.

A warranty works kind of like an insurance policy in that it gives the entity providing the warranty the option of repairing the problem in any way they determine is cost effective to them. There is no requirement that they replace an item deemed to have failed due to defect in materials or workmanship. It's one of the reasons before getting into the argument I always told the customer to bring their sales contract and warranty papers with them when they came in to scream at me about their problem. The warranty papers will set a limit of time or term on the duration of the warranty measured in calendar time and in operating hours or in mileage and will also spell out the remedies available. The sales contract may have additional terms that were agreed to by both parties before the contract was signed. The warranty papers will also spell out items that are specifically not covered.

Let's say the warranty papers state the term of the warranty is three years or five thousand hours of operation. It may be bumper to bumper for one year or one thousand hours and cover the drive train for the three years or five thousand hours. It further excludes all consumables, all wear items like tires, teeth and cutting edges and finally any damage not caused by defect in materials and workmanship. It will also specifically state something to the affect of damages caused by owner's negligence to provide timely maintenance is not covered. It will also not cover any damages incidental to the original failure. So in essence it will not cover down time because the machine broke even though it might have shut down a whole construction site. It won't pay the cost of all those trucks or other pieces of equipment idled on the clock nor will it pay for lost production of materials. If you are making 20 loads of logs a day and you lost four days of production the manufacturer is not going to pay for the loads you would have gotten.

The key thing to all this is that it can be modified up front with the sales contract if you know that when you purchase the unit. Now most dealerships won't agree to work outside of the warranty papers without some pretty heavy leverage.

One last item is that the repairs done under warranty are only covered for the term of the original warranty. So if you had an engine blow up with fifty hours left on the warranty and the dealership repaired or exchanged the engine, that engine warranty is only good for fifty more hours.

 

[Bls repair]

Did they give an itemized list of the repair process or welding procedures.for your records Incase it breaks again?

 

[20/80]

Did they give an itemized list of the repair process or welding procedures.for your records Incase it breaks again?

This is more then I could tell you, our fleet service manager is keeping a tight lip on this issue for some reason.

 

[ovrszd]

Yeah, there seems to be much more to this story than any of us know.

In regards to the moldboard crack, I can't think of any operator errors that would cause that. Sure sounds like metal failure. Not saying that couldn't be successfully repaired by welding, probably a complicated procedure that would need to be performed by a professional/certified welder. And that wouldn't be a simple bead ran over the crack.

In regards to warranty. If we bought a new truck and the frame cracked would we settle for a welded frame?

Seems like the proper pressure applied by the Fleet Service Manager would have gotten the moldboard replaced.

Arm Chair Quarterbacking of course.

 

[20/80]

Yeah, there seems to be much more to this story than any of us know.

In regards to the moldboard crack, I can't think of any operator errors that would cause that. Sure sounds like metal failure. Not saying that couldn't be successfully repaired by welding, probably a complicated procedure that would need to be performed by a professional/certified welder. And that wouldn't be a simple bead ran over the crack.

In regards to warranty. If we bought a new truck and the frame cracked would we settle for a welded frame?

Seems like the proper pressure applied by the Fleet Service Manager would have gotten the moldboard replaced.

Arm Chair Quarterbacking of course.

unfortunately this kind of stuff goes on all the time, not really high enough in the food chain to do anything about it either, when the mould board completely breaks off at the weld upper management will just be standing there looking at it scratching their heads with the warranty run out on the work and have to buy a new mouldboard plus the downtime of the machine, round and round we go, one would think if a new mouldboard that came with the machine wouldn't hold up, do you really think welding it will would solve the problem, this is just a jury rig from Cat cheap out, I agree the mouldboard is defective caused by metal failure, who would know maybe it was just a quick fix by Cat to get us through the winter with a new mouldboard ordered.... nope.. can't see that happening. ps by the way Merry Christmas and a happy new year to all.

 

[Bls repair]

Does this happen to different warranty repairs(half fast).

 

[20/80]

Does this happen to different warranty repairs(half fast).

This was a first time with a mould board failure with all our Cat graders for us with the machine still under warranty, Cat will most often replace the defective part in the past but this part failure would be costly so they tried the quick and easy fix first, that's my take on it.