JCB 801.4 are rubbish

[Kev]

Had a customers 1 tonne mini in today for repair .. the boom wouldnt lift .. 2 Year old machine with 200 hours on the clock suspected spool failure or ram problem..sure enough .. ram had seperated internally .. meant to take some photos

Turns out the seal pack had seperated from the rod end, but there isnt anything in there to keep the seal pack on except a nut tightened against the pack, with no retainer what so ever, How utterly shit is that ?

[Garry]

I was never a fan of their gear .. strangley some bits are well designed though Ive always felt

[nick]

never heard a truer statement.simply horrible.jcb only sell loads of em cos the hire companys buy em
nick........

[mogman]

Had a customers 1 tonne mini in today for repair .. the boom wouldnt lift .. 2 Year old machine with 200 hours on the clock suspected spool failure or ram problem..sure enough .. ram had seperated internally .. meant to take some photos

Turns out the seal pack had seperated from the rod end, but there isnt anything in there to keep the seal pack on except a nut tightened against the pack, with no retainer what so ever, How utterly shit is that ?

Welcome to the world of JCB to be fair a lot of manufactures do it JCB used to put a hardend pin under one of the wear sleves to stop the block from coming off

[Muz]

IMHO Volvo are just as bad ... Ive pulled a few manufacturers rams apart,.. only the jap ones are made like they are buit to last, with seal packs twice as thick as the likes of JCB or Volvo .. unfortunately these are the things you dont see when they are all shiny on the stand at a local show with an eager sales guys waiting to do a deal

Its the same old story .. engineering strength engineered out .. in order to make a profit

[JD450A]

I grew up with storys of JCB Hydradiggers and Loadall 65 Rams being made workable again after farmers with sledgehammers had tried to straiten them (not kidding there) Nowerdays I dare say JCB are perhaps the last marque I would look at buying from if I had the money, the best thing about the JCB 8014 I was driving on my apprentership was the slew speed, the engine was crammed in, the diesel filler was a shite design for filling with cans, the dipstick was long enough for a sword swallower to be happy and the toolbox was designed to hold 1 greasegun and a full can of grease.... Give me a Takeuchi or a Kubota anyday.

[nick]

muz.dont know how you can compare jcb with volvo.volvos are great machines and the bigger 360s are amongst the best.the smaller ones are just as good.ive had 2 ec15 models and id buy another.had 2 broken dippers(these were made in china and was a problem for volvo) on the second one but replaced by volvo foc.very reliable and well built.these smaller machines work on or over the limit all the while and thrive on it.the volvo service is outstanding too.volvo wont walk away from problems
nick.........

[Muz]

muz.dont know how you can compare jcb with volvo.volvos are great machines and the bigger 360s are amongst the best.the smaller ones are just as good..

I was more referring to rams,.. Ive pulled apart quite a few Volvo ones and JCB and they are both pretty poor compared to some Jap ones Ive worked on. Also the chroming on EC15 rams has been very poor at times and has rusted through or pitted easily, although I rate the machine highly, Ive had all versions of them since the Pel Job Days and they are probably my favourite 1 tonner to be honest

the volvo service is outstanding too.volvo wont walk away from problems....

When I was buying EC15's,25's,30's,35's,45's wholesale they were pretty good, but as my purchasing tailed off, so did their backup. Part of the problem was that their service engineers had to spread their abilities over a huge range of products, and simply didnt have the knowledge to fix quite a lot of their stuff. If it wasnt for a guy called Steve Morris .. their tech guru ... I'd probably have fallen out with them a long time ago.

Their EC70's cost me a good few clients with the troubles I had with them .. they were a pile of crap after 2 years or so, boy could I tell you a few stories about fixing those guys !!

Give me a Takeuchi or a Kubota anyday.

I couldn't agree more on that one .. unfortunately Takeuchi's back up isnt the best .. but then youre not likely to need it much

[JD450A]

We've never needed takeuchis back up. And there parts are expensive... However they do sell workshop manuals.

Thus when our little toy needed new brass wear plates we just sent off to rexquote to mill us out some. Saved several hundred £.

[Muz]

Takeuchi's back up isnt the best .. but then youre not likely to need it much

We've never needed takeuchis back up.

Like I said

I was asked to be one of their dealers once