Deere and Hitachi? Whats going on?

[alco]

I've always been told the same thing. That the Deere, and hitachi minis are rebadged airman machines.

 

[Deeretracks]

Is there a DHSP plant in Regina, Sk or is that just the parts depot?

 

[alco]

You might be thinking of Brandt Tractor's operations. They are a Deere dealer, and have custom/specialty machine building operations around that area.

 

[Dustin Dirt]

Im reading a lot of love for the Deeres. I think they are making great machines on their own now E series trucks and K series large dozers, but I think they should never change from the Hitachi. does any one else agree?

 

[xr4ticlone]

Deere's NC plant now makes up the the 470 and it now has a Deere engine as well as of this year.
Quality from that plant is highly suspect and not the old stand by Hitachi of Japan equipment. They build Hitachi's there too now. I've had a couple low hour Hitachi machines offered to me lately as well...and I know why.

Deere has a habit of 'Deereing' everything they touch. The Bell trucks & 950 & 1050 were all non-Deere that Deere mucked with along the way.

New trucks & 950/1050 are all Deere only now. 850K's have drive failure issues...but their sales pitch on the 950K to customer with several 850K's with problems? We use FOUR 850K drives in that machine. : 0

I've sold Deere for a short time...lots of electrical issues. They've clearly fired anyone with practical knowledge or experience in their engineering department. Who else puts a vertical air filter in a dozer with the intake on the bottom? 300 hour motors dusted. UAW is killing them as well. Build quality is poor and all over the place. Much of both are just lazy and short sighted like not securing or wrapping up wiring harnesses. BUT when your electrical fails the tractor is just as bad as if the component failed.

No manufacture is perfect right now...but Deere is IMHO currently on the bottom of the heap for mainline mfgs. I won't touch or sell anything K. Not worth it. Don't look for it to improve as Deere is well aware and making no changes.

 

[Birken Vogt]

Sorry to hijack, but I am always keeping my ear to the ground with industrial engines especially as my field is currently transitioning to Tier 4.

Deere seems to want a piece of the loose engine market with the 3029, 4045, and 6068 which is all I really care about...same good engines as always or are they falling off the cliff also?

 

[xr4ticlone]

Sorry to hijack, but I am always keeping my ear to the ground with industrial engines especially as my field is currently transitioning to Tier 4.

Deere seems to want a piece of the loose engine market with the 3029, 4045, and 6068 which is all I really care about...same good engines as always or are they falling off the cliff also?

Deere motors have a lot of EPA overhead. They were evidently dirty, they've got every damn emission reduction method under the sun on there. I did Deere's T4 training...it was informative & funny. 60% engineering, 40% BS spin to explain why they're using 15 different technologies to get to T4 final. : ) But with all this **** on there, fuel economy on T4 sucks. IRL a 544 from T3 - T4i- T4 final almost doubled fuel consumption.

Deere fuel systems are some of the most fragile in the industry right now. Water and debris F up all fuel systems these days, but Deere seems to be highly susceptible and like everyone else their pumps & injectors are asinine priced.

The EPA is kicking the **** out of diesel. No one has gone unscathed. And for the most part I don't know who is my favorite. Fiat actually has a very good, fuel efficient engine line up. Cummins also was way ahead of the curve on emissions as well. Due to their now defunct partnership, a lot of the tech is shared.

But I'm sticking by my 'never Deere' stance until proven otherwise.

 

[SchoolProject29]

Any updates now that the Deere-Hitachi partnership has been dissolved. I know the thread has been dead 6 years now, but thought there may be some opinions after the break-up. Professor has loved the project progression so far also!

-SP29

 

[chidog]

Isuzu yes very good engines. They can last for a long time with no oil changes and operators knocking dirt out of the air filters with the engine running. Ask me how I know. It was the most worn engine I had ever worked on, every moving part well broke in.

 

[KSSS]

I think it is interesting. I am seeing a lot more Hitachi dealerships spring up since the two split. I believe overall that Hitachi will maintain a lot more customers than Deere now that buyers are actually buying a Deere excavator from the ground up. If they liked their Deere Ex built maybe/designed by Hitachi, only makes sense to keep buying them in Orange. As more Hitachi dealerships spring up, it will make it even harder for Deere to keep their customers. It is no secret that Deere engines are thirsty and the Isuzu for certain are not, that alone would likely be a deciding factor for many. CASE is giving up the Isuzu for their Fiat engine in the E series, it will be interesting to see how that plays out. Linkbelt is keeping the Isuzu in the X4S series. If you make your own engines it makes a lot of sense to use inhouse instead of buying an engine, but when you can have an engine as good as Isuzu, perhaps buying them might result in more customers in the end.

 

[excavator]

I really wonder what either company was thinking. As far as I'm concerned, Deere had it made with Hitachi's technology and Hitachi had it made with Deere's parts distribution. In the mid to late 90's when Totem Equipment was still in business in Seattle and Portland they were the top Hitachi excavator dealer in sales for North America, now a year or so after the split there still doesn't appear to be a Hitachi dealer in Washington yet. A number of guys from the area asked the Hitachi people at ConExpo this spring and were told that nothing had been decided yet. Setting up a whole new dealer network in these times seems foolish to me, unless they plan to steal techs from Pape and other brands who are all having difficulty finding good help already.

 

[Welder Dave]

I knew a guy who had Hitachi's but was forced to buy Deere 892's because the agreement didn't allow Hitachi to sell the 300 series in Canada/N. America. I had heard the Deere engines were mounted higher so the hyd. pumps had to work a little harder and the Deere engines were thirstier, not as reliable and didn't last as long before needing an overhaul. They were better than 6V53's he had in his earlier P&H's. He swore by the Isuzu engines. He sold a UH122 to his former partner. It had over 9000hrs. but still ran like new and had never been touched other than routine maintenance. The one thing he did do is add water separator's to the fuel system. That seemed to prevent IP problems and gave piece of mind.

 

[KSSS]

The Deere/Hitachi agreement did work well for both of them. Probably one of the most successful joint ventures that I can think of. Since Hitachi brains developed the machines, it will be up to Deere to atleast match the machine they used to offer their customers. That is asking a lot for a company that has never designed and built their own excavators. They are using WN to help with the mini's, so that says something about how they felt about design and building even a mini all on their own.

 

[Welder Dave]

JD designed and built their own excavators long before Hitachi came into the picture. I think the 690E was the last JD designed and built excavator.

 

[KSSS]

John Deere and Hitachi began a supply relationship in the early 1960s; then in 1988 the companies started the Deere-Hitachi manufacturing joint venture to produce excavators in Kernersville, NC. In 1998, Deere-Hitachi expanded the relationship to include the production of forestry swing machines at Deere-Hitachi Specialty Products in Langley, BC. In 2001, John Deere and Hitachi combined their marketing and distribution efforts in the Americas. In 2011, excavator manufacturing was expanded with the addition of the Deere-Hitachi Brazil factory in Indaiatuba, Brazil.

I don't think the 690E was built by Deere all by themselves. The above was put out by Deere. Other information states that Hitachi collaberatated with Deere since the 60's. Hitachi has been a part of Deeres hydraulic excavators from the very beginning of Hydraulic excavators. Clearly since 1988 when the official build agreement went into place.

 

[Welder Dave]

Earlier 690's and the 890 were designed and built by Deere. A guy that did some work for me had a 690E and it didn't cross to a Hitachi model. According to him it was the better machine between a Deere and Hitachi. Interestingly Deere/Hitachi machines could be bought at the same time. There was likely some, or a lot, of influence from Japanese excavator designs but not necessarily directly from Hitachi. The Hitachi designed Deere excavators started with the 790 series.

 

[excavator]

As far as I know the 690E had a Hitachi built cab but did not use the Hitachi hydraulics.

 

[Plebeian]

This is what John Deere put out 2/28/22 with regard to the Americas and Hitachi etc.

John Deere Acquires Deere-Hitachi Factories, Begins New Agreements

John Deere has acquired full ownership of Deere-Hitachi joint venture factories and has begun new agreements with Hitachi Construction Machinery.

www.deere.com

 

[92U 3406]

When I used to work up north, JD and Hitachi excavators outnumbered Cat and Komatsu an easy 3 to 1. I think that speaks volumes about the product and dealer support.

 

[DMiller]

Hate to say but explains seeing some Fiat Allis based ideas in Deere mid 90s and early2000s machines, from those FA Hitachi days.