Vermeer 650 POS

T

Treemike

I bought a new 650TX , and paid a premium price. This is the worst piece of equipment ever made! After a couple of weeks , with only about 10 hrs on it, the front pump fell off. After callin g and complaining, I bolted it back on myself. Well, a couple of weeks later, the muffler assembly cracked, had it repaired and it did it again. Come to find out, it did not have all the brackets to secure it as specified by the factory. A few months later, the bell housing cracked due to loose bolts that secure the pump, ultimately breaking the bolts off too.
After fixing that for a $900 labor bill, the tracks come apart and the idlers went out.
All this with only 440 hrs on machine. I finally got rid of this POS! The factory did not stand behind it at all.
If your thinking about a mini skid, don't even consider one of these.
 
I have had some of the same issues with mine (500 hours on in now). Soon after I got it, the very front part of the pump came apart, by the bracket, and leaked fluid every where...loose bolts. Negative battery cable broke. And just a little bit ago, the 2 bolts holding he pump to the bell housing loosen up (one fell completely out)...thankfully no damage. Most of these issues were caused by 2 things IMO. One, the engine shakes like crazy when idle is all the way down...so it rattles things loose, and broke the cable. Two, these bolt heads are in extremely tight spots and it is impossible the tighten down hard.

The only continual problem I have is a reoccurring like of hydraulic fluid at one of the control boxes. I personally haven't had a issue with Vermeer service or warranty.

I wouldn't give mine up. And would buy it again. Just like everything else it takes maintenance...now I just check the bolts some.
 
bummer man! we demoed that machine and really like it. (almost flipped it at the shop pushing it to far with a pine log, but what Vermeer doesn't know wont hurt em') We found the the s800tx was a better fit for what we did and needed. We love it man. We have a Ryan's grapple on it and its sweet. the bucket makes quick work of stump grinding clean up and topsoil. that being said there is only 52 hrs on it. We had excellent customer service from Vermeer Northeast i wonder if maybe machines are different depending on where you get them. shouldn't be but maybe. I'll watch for those things and maybe we'll take it a little easier on her. This sucks that happened and its a bummer they wont make it right. good luck with your troubles man

Kieran
 
We finally picked one of these up in dec as well but must be lucky with ours we ran it steady for 3 months and have not had any problems at all except knocking the track off occasionally and it has saved us a ton of work since icestorm,sorry to hear about yours I think you must have a terrible dealer who doesn't stand behind thre sale I would go over him someone will listen if you make enough noise
 
We have owned the 800tx now for 2 years 450 hrs just oil changes and lubes , 650tx for five months 100 hrs yes the muffler bracket broke but had it welded no cracks for two months . Before this we had the 600tx 5 years 1300 hrs replaced tracks three times idler wheels twice small bottom wheel bearings three times other than that you couldn't kill it ! I guess a closer inspection is in order to look for this other problems !
 
welltree said:
We finally picked one of these up in dec as well but must be lucky with ours we ran it steady for 3 months and have not had any problems at all except knocking the track off occasionally and it has saved us a ton of work since icestorm,sorry to hear about yours I think you must have a terrible dealer who doesn't stand behind thre sale I would go over him someone will listen if you make enough noise
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Same here! Mines been awesome, amazing in the snow and mud! Huge back and time saver!
 
KYAPLE said:
bummer man! we demoed that machine and really like it. (almost flipped it at the shop pushing it to far with a pine log, but what Vermeer doesn't know wont hurt em') We found the the s800tx was a better fit for what we did and needed. We love it man. We have a Ryan's grapple on it and its sweet. the bucket makes quick work of stump grinding clean up and topsoil. that being said there is only 52 hrs on it. We had excellent customer service from Vermeer Northeast i wonder if maybe machines are different depending on where you get them. shouldn't be but maybe. I'll watch for those things and maybe we'll take it a little easier on her. This sucks that happened and its a bummer they wont make it right. good luck with your troubles man

Kieran
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Love our Ryans Grapple on s800tx No problems yet 112 hours
 
climbhightree said:
I have had some of the same issues with mine (500 hours on in now). Soon after I got it, the very front part of the pump came apart, by the bracket, and leaked fluid every where...loose bolts. Negative battery cable broke. And just a little bit ago, the 2 bolts holding he pump to the bell housing loosen up (one fell completely out)...thankfully no damage. Most of these issues were caused by 2 things IMO. One, the engine shakes like crazy when idle is all the way down...so it rattles things loose, and broke the cable. Two, these bolt heads are in extremely tight spots and it is impossible the tighten down hard.

The only continual problem I have is a reoccurring like of hydraulic fluid at one of the control boxes. I personally haven't had a issue with Vermeer service or warranty.

I wouldn't give mine up. And would buy it again. Just like everything else it takes maintenance...now I just check the bolts some.
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Ok well only at 96 hours we had a huge leak like the one you mentioned! O ring from one of the bolts under the front left box .....so fixed it up, then Monday the pin that locks the grapple snapped at the tip !!! Man o man not impressed!!! Got the parts yesterday and was going to fix it this morning, came back this morning to the site we are working on, ( solar farm land clearing) mini was feeding the chipper, tank was empty! Huge puddle!!! So on the phone I get to Vermeer! Had a new unit with grapple in 3 hours until mine gets fixed! I paid a lot of $ for this machine and have treated it well, none of my guys abuse any of my equipment besides the daily obvious punishment the chippers and grinders get! They are good about it, told them I want it back the same condition as the new unit they dropped off or keep it! Ok that's my rant...... Up til now it's been awesome!
 
deevo said:
Ok well only at 96 hours we had a huge leak like the one you mentioned! O ring from one of the bolts under the front left box .....so fixed it up, then Monday the pin that locks the grapple snapped at the tip !!! Man o man not impressed!!! Got the parts yesterday and was going to fix it this morning, came back this morning to the site we are working on, ( solar farm land clearing) mini was feeding the chipper, tank was empty! Huge puddle!!! So on the phone I get to Vermeer! Had a new unit with grapple in 3 hours until mine gets fixed! I paid a lot of $ for this machine and have treated it well, none of my guys abuse any of my equipment besides the daily obvious punishment the chippers and grinders get! They are good about it, told them I want it back the same condition as the new unit they dropped off or keep it! Ok that's my rant...... Up til now it's been awesome!
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Those are problems mostly with the grapple. Get a BMG! The vermeer is a great machine IMHO, but they don't have the best grapple on the market by far.
 
You know, I worked on an 08 BC600 that had spun its bearings on the shaft because whoever put the thing together didn't torque the bearing collar plug bolts properly. Waisted a perfectly good shaft. I'm thinking Vermeer must have a couple knuckle heads working for them who don't know how to read a torque chart.
 
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