An agent for a scrap buyer here, also sells Chinese 4 wheel motor bikes, so back when scrap was worth something, we did a deal on our scrap for a little 4 wheeler and some cash. We had a Yamaha 4 wheeler that we had worn out, so we thought we would try one of these Chinese ones. When we first got it, the carby kept leaking all of the petrol out on to the ground, so we got that fixed, but after that, I don't think it would have done twenty kilometres and three of the four front wheel bearings totally collapsed. When that happened, we just parked it, but the other day while it was wet, the boys got it out and pulled the front wheels off. The bearings are just a normal sealed ball bearing that presses in each side of the hub, the mind boggles, that they fell to pieces so quick. I bought some new ones from our bearing supplier, so we will see how they go, they are probably 'Made in China', too. The steering and suspension joints are all sloppy and the rack on the back has broken because the tube steel it is made of, is so thin and like I said, I doubt that it would have travelled twenty kilometres. It is just a case of, you get what you pay for.
Quite a few companies are importing Chinese wheel loaders into Australia now. One of them is called a Ranger loader and it is manufactured by the Shandong Lingong Construction Machinery Co. Ltd. A group of business men formed a company and are importing and selling these machines through the agricultural dealer network around the country. This machine isn't a bad looking machine and we were wondering whether one would be all right for a stockpile machine in our yard. A fairly large dealer, not that far from us sells them, so after sales service should not be a problem, but it is all the little things. I have been told that none of the hydraulic hose fittings are compatible with any of the common fittings and as it has been said here before, how good is the quality of the steel used in these machines, I keep thinking of our motor bike experience. A mate of mine was telling me yesterday that another Chinese brand wheel loader sold here, has been having over heating problems and one that he was looking at, the fins in the core of the radiator were starting corrode, as if a poorer quality copper had been used and it was still a new machine. Once you do buy one of these machines, it will loose nearly all of it's value, because it will be very hard to sell secondhand, so I think you have to be prepared to drive it till it drops. At this stage, I think we will opt for a secondhand Komatsu.
Japan went through the same thing, the quality of their early equipment was questionable, but it improved as time went on. We bought a Furukawa loader quite a few years ago and it gave us 11,000 hours of trouble free service, it was one of the best machines we have ever owned. It seems that a lot of the major manufacturers are becoming or are already involved in China, so I think in time we will see some very good machinery come out of there, but as the quality improves, so will the price.
Rn'R.
