"...Are your opinions based on field time on Komatsu machines or your affiliation with a Komatsu dealership?..."
Both, Steve. I was an operating engineer for 17 years before I came to manage a branch for a Komatsu dealer. I have experience on both sides of the joysticks, so to speak.
HO Penn is a great organization, and one by which many of the other dealers measure themselves. I dealt with them personally when I was involved in a family business some years back. The have great support and have always been fair.
I feel your pain with the JD dealership (were you dealing with them as "KC Canary", or the Nortrax Company). I had similar issues with KCC when trying to get parts for our 792, 490D and 510...this was back in the 80's and early 90's. Believe it or not, the company I now work for used to occupy that same building when they had the IH/Dresser account for the territory. (I was not employed by the company at that time). The Komatsu merger in 1991 changed all that, as you know.
I very much appreciate the work you put into this great forum. I hope that in re-reading my original post, you will see that I am not flaming Cat or their dealer network. I am only trying to set the record straight as far as people very blatantly saying that Komatsu has parts distribution and machine reliability and longevity issues, when this is simply not the case. If you bought a Komatsu in 1982 and had parts issues, I can say, "that was then, this is now". The company has come a long way, and I think that many people who spend time in the newer generation Komatsu stuff are pretty impressed.
If you're ever heading east on I84 towards Danbury, stop in. I'd be glad to have you kick some tires in the back yard, and put a Komatsu hat on your head (no charge, of course!)
Take care and thanks again,
Tony
I prefer to respond to Deas Plant's posts by skipping over them!"Kummagutsa"????????????????
Hi, Tony.
You are a comparative newcomer to this forum and so would not be likely to have seen my previous explanation of my use of this pseudonym. It is a slang name that I picked up way back when the company's products weren't quite the quality they are today. I have stated my views on the products pretty clearly in the past and again in this thread. If people can't or won't get past my use of a slang name and take my statements as being my honest opinions about those products, so be it. I have no plans for change to accomodate people who wish to read while wearing 'blinders'.
You can call Caterpillar whatever you like. It is highly unlikely that you will change MY opinion of their products, their service and parts back-up or their marketing machine.
Quote from your first post in this thread:
"The truth of it is this:
CAT is a marketing company
KOMATSU is an engineering company"
Unquote.
For mine, both of the above statements are true - - - as far as they go. If in saying this, you are inferring that Caterpillar is not an engineering company and 'Kummagutsa' is not a marketing company, then I'd suggest that you are not stating the whole story. Caterpillar has consistently over-engineered its products in relation to their power for almost their entire existence. That has been a point that many competitors have used against them over the years. Those competitors have built machines with higher power-to-weight ratios and claimed higher efficiency. Most of them have not been able to demonstrate superior reliability and equivalent service life. 'Kummagutsa' has probably come closer than most to achieving this.
Caterpillar has also been fairly industrious in its testing programs for a very long time now - not saying that 'Kummagutsa' isn't. Not only do Cat have their own proving grounds but they also send new products and models out to selected users for on-the-job testing in ways that Cat testers and engineers would have difficulty duplicating. I suspect that your favourite manufacturer does likewise.
Quote:
"If "Joe Schmo" says that "Acme" is a bad product, people don't give it much thought. If your Grand Daddy says "Acme" is a bad product, you tend to believe him even if he's wrong. See what I'm saying?"
Unquote.
I beg to differ, at least in my own case. Regardless of who said or posted what, I have this rather odd habit of making up my own mind about most things. I suspect that there might be a few other people on this forum who take a similar approach to life and what they see and hear.
Hoping this answers some of your concerns.