Feed motor fell off chipper today

Normally, yes, but like most manufacturers, you can order it in a bunch of custom colors. We bought this one site unseen as the dealer didn't have it in stock. They found what we wanted, power and option wise, at a dealer in Baltimore. He comes back towing this yellow one to which we just shrugged and said "Oh, um, ok!"
 
Those feedwheel shafts break there all of the time. We're making 3 of them tomorrow morning to get stocked back up. That little nub has to take all of the torque from the motor as well as all of the weight of the motor bounding down the road. I think we're in the $320 range for just a new shaft if you have a good welder to put it in for you. We also offer the bearings and anything else you would need.
 
OK, Morbark has agreed to cover the parts (new bottom feedwheel/shaft, and the bearings it mounts in) but wants us to cover shipping and 4 hours labor to install. We'll see what we can do about that...
Going to take a few days for the parts to get here from Michigan, so we have time to argue.
 
I had a m18 that did that. Contacted Morbark and they wouldn't do crap. Machine had 1400 hours. Columbus equipment installed and welded a new shift in the roller $4200 later we were working again. The shaft appeared to be cast. Good luck
 
Didn't seem like we were going to get any more credit from Morbark, and after reading Scotty's story above, the boss settled for their offer. Cost us $503 but we got the new feedwheel and bearings, plus an updated hydraulic module to the autofeed system which solved our intermittent overfeeding problem we've never been able to resolve. (Autofeed kicks in and the feedwheels stop, but the drum continues to suck the log thru between the stopped feedwheels until it stalls the machine. Apparently we only had 200 pounds of down pressure instead of the 500 it was designed for.) Morbark had a TSB out about the overfeed issue a while ago, but we were never informed. We've complained to the dealer before, but somehow they never connected that problem to the TSB. Go figure! So now that we have it back and it works better than it ever had, it's a lot easier to swallow the $500 price.
 
So, probably should have seen this coming.... but today the TOP feedwheel shaft broke. :muyenojado:
Obviously from the same bad batch of steel. Dropped it off at dealer and pretty much said "Have Morbark fix this"
 
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Morbark says it's going to take the factory 3 weeks just to manufacture another top feedwheel. Do they really not have any in stock, or are they building chippers so fast that 100% of the feedwheel inventory is already spoken for?
 
Jeff said:
Morbark says it's going to take the factory 3 weeks just to manufacture another top feedwheel. Do they really not have any in stock, or are they building chippers so fast that 100% of the feedwheel inventory is already spoken for?
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I hope morbark is giving you a loaner in the interim.
 
I don't know what their current build schedule is, but a 'good company', a 'support our customers company' would have the next feed wheel for you - or pull one for you.

Talk to corporate if you haven't already. And let them know you post on TreeBuzz and we are interested in how you're treated on this.

No loaner chipper, shop a different brand next time. Steel sourcing was their issue not yours.
 
merle_nelson said:
a 'good company' would have the next feed wheel for you
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I agree completely! Pulling the next feedwheel off the assembly line wouldn't impact them that much, but... their choice. We learned years ago that no chipper = no work, so we've got more chippers than needed, just for these occasions. Therefore, being without this particular machine for a month really doesn't affect us too much, and as such, we didn't even flinch. Whatever, just fix it.....

Unfortunately, Morbark is still a better chipper than the other brands, so shopping a different brand next time would hurt us more than it would hurt them.
 
Total bummer. Imagine yourself as a small small business owner with only one chipper. I'd crack a bottle of rye and turn on some Hank Williams.
 
merle_nelson said:
If you are a small business is a Morbark with these metal issues the chipper to meet your needs?....
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One would think corporate would realize that and do something about it, but I feel like there is no loyalty now-a-days, in either direction: consumer to corporate, or corporate to consumer. They're all more interested in profits this year than making a customer for life out of any of us.

Edit: Marvin pruners went way above and beyond the necessary a few years ago to make sure I was happy. They won me for life!
 
Jeff, maybe give things a chance. You just proved there is loyalty. Marvin "won you for life." Also you pointed out that some companies are doing what it takes - Marvin in your example.

Service is 'The New, New Thing." A lot of companies are realizing that in an age of no service, excellent service can capture a lot of market share. I think if actual numbers were laid out on a table arb supply companies would be aghast at what they lost to TreeStuff taking great care of its customers.

I have heard of when Morbark Corporate went out of its way to take care of a customer that they learned was neglected by a dealer. I suspect that dealer had a lot of encouragement to up his game too.
In that instance, that it was openly being discussed on the forum seemed to matter to Morbark too.

You have already pointed out your loyalty to Morbark chippers. Now give them the chance to earn it by backing up a product that should not fail in normal use like that, and when it does should not leave a company with one chipper, or 10. down for excessive periods of time.

I'm glad you won't suffer a lot of loss waiting on parts. I wonder if Morbark Corp0rate cares what all of us smaller outfits feel about their product and performance.
 
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