Woods equipment; a cautionary tale.

[Steve in VA]

I have 3 pieces of Woods; a 6' finish mower, a 6' tiller, and a 7' blade. The simplest was the problem. The blade was bought new November 2006 and only lightly used. So lightly that the paint is still on the blade. I estimate 2 to 3 dozen times grading gravel on the drive and twice moving snow.

So 2 weeks ago while moving gravel the blade collapses; the pivot assembly has come apart. I order a new part [>250$] and take the blade off. That's when I see that the problem is that the original weld made no penetration where the pivot tube meets the frame. OK, well Woods didn't intend this but then I shouldn't carry the total cost either. I send pictures and drop the part off so the regional guy can lay hands on it. I tell them I don't want a free part. I don't even expect cash. I'm happy with SOME consideration in the form of credits I can use for later Woods part like bearings, belts, and seals.

Nope, the blade is 5 years old and 'sorry' I'm left holding the bag. Now welds aren't like tomatos and just 'go bad'.

So here's is my cautionary tale. Based on my experience if you decide to pay a bit more to buy Woods quality then the odds are you will be pleased. BUT, if you end up with a problem then don't expect much. In fact, don't expect anything at all. I marvel that I can count 3 blades passed down through the ages that are fully functional; but not this one. Five years old you know. Can't expect them to last forever can you?

Just my 2 cents worth. I feel much better now.

 

[bjb in TX from Ne]

The weld you described could be on ANY piece of equipment from any manufacture. The fact it lasted 5 years with some heavy use (pushing snow is heavy use even a few times). The fact it didn't break the first time you used it means it had some strength. Subsequent uses slowly fatigued the part until failure. No manufacturing process is perfect and inspectors aren't 100% accurate.

 

[Steve in VA]

I don't dispute a single point you've made. I still maintain that Wood's makes good, sturdy equipment. But, when one slips through the cracks I am surprized that they assume no responsibility. I would have been perfectly happy with 20$ worth of credit. Something. Anything. Nothing? That struck me as disapointing.

 

[S.Crum]

Mom bought a NEW 93' Cadillac SDV in August of 1993. In July of 1995 it was eating rear tires at the rate of new to unsafe every 3500 miles. The Cadillac dealer offered to fix the blown out air ride system for $1,250. I said 2 years and 8,700 miles of Mom driving, Cadillac should fix it for no cost. After getting nowhere with the dealer or the regional rep, Cadillac motor division sent Mom a letter stating that even though it was in essense a poor design. Cadillac Motor division would not discuss the matter further.
Fords have populated the driveway since then.

 

[TomH in PA]

Seems "penny wise and pound foolish" to me. Especially since they'll put a piece of equipment like that on sale for $$$ off at the end of the season. Why not $50 of parts credit to a good customer?

 

[the tractor vet]

I remember back many years ago when a friend of mine took on a new SHORT line of equipment . His first load from them was blades and brush hogs and post hole drills . I was down there working on some tractors for him when the first two semi loads arrived . while they were unloading the brush hogs two of them the welds holding the frame work came off the decks when lifted . Pour welds on all of them once we got looking at them . And the welds on the blades were no better. after a heated phone call to this company they had a co. rep there the next day looking this stuff over . They had just gone to robotic welding and them ROBOTS could not weld . Instead of hauling the whole load back i got the job of grinding out all the welds and rewelding everything . good for me not so good for them. They had gone from hand mig welding to flux core robotic and all the welds had porosity big time with no penetration . There is a trailer Mfg. close to me that i would never buy one of there trailers because of there welding .

 

[retired farmer]

I always thought WOODS was a cheap line of equipment. I used to have a rear blade that had WOODS stamped on it. Bought it new and it didn't last too long before the welds broke and the blade bent. Didn't use it hard either.

 

[Anonymous-0]

It doesn't appear that anyone inspected the welds on this blade. At least not anyone that knows what they're doing or what to look for. I disagree that welds like that could be found on any piece of equipment. Yes, things can break, but often times in a production environment on less critical applications, poor workmanship is overlooked and sent out the door. There are some manufacturing processes that are near perfect. There are also several methods of testing to ensure the soundness of welds.

I wouldn't consider moving snow heavy duty use. Even on a skid steer, a snow bucket is referred to as a snow and light material bucket. If a blade is rated for a certain H.P., I would think that as long as you are using it properly, it should hold up to the occasional tire spinning from a tractor in the H.P. range it is rated for.

 

[WV2CYL]

One thought that crossed my mind is that to acknowledge any kind of problem could have left them open for lawsuits and such. There is the ever cya and never own up to anything due to the legal system we all endure.

 

[showcrop]

I'm wondering how bjb can tell from steves description that the weld is actually good or how steve can say that there is no penetration. I'm not much of a welder but I know that I need penetration for it to hold. I'm not asking for micrometer measurements, but are you guys side by side together looking at it?

 

[paul]

s itake care with my stuff, it lasted several years, but the welds that broke were poor, very poor, only 20% actually holding anything.

Took it to the local welder, cost %50, and it won't come apart there any more. Cheaper than fussing with the company that didn't weld it right the first time, and it's a strong rake, just a poor weld.

Why would you order a $250 piece to fix a blade that couldn't cost too much more than that to start with? Local welding shop does well with such things, get to be friends with one.

--->Paul

 

[paul]

I typed more than that?????

What I said was I got a landscape rake, no-name, that I used lightly, take care of my stuff treat right, and it busted in a few years too, welds on the front of the blade support were only 20% if that.

Local welder fixed it up solid for $50,I wouldn't boter trying to order a part from the oem for close to the cost of a whole blade.

Agree with your point tho, bad weld is a bad weld, but the other side - lot of cheats out there try to get warrenty work on stuff that was their own abuse & fault, company gotta draw a line somwhere & well that's how it goes.

--->Paul

 

[bjb in TX from Ne]

He said he used it off and on for 5 years. If it truely had no penetration, the weld would have broke the first time he put any load on it at all...

 

[Mike M]

I was at a woods dealer in Ohio,Mast Tractor Sales, and right on the lot brand new blades looked like the dealer added heavy gussets where the beam meets the tube. What caught my eye is they didn't touch up the paint ?

You may want to google these people and call them and ask what these models were and why they do this.

 

[JML755]

Company I just left made automation equipment. Our welders were top-notch. Lot of it had to be inspected by 3rd party prior to ship. Our stuff was used in auto assembly plants 16-20 hrs /day for years on end. It was not unusual to see a weld break after 4-5 yrs of equipment use. The customer was usually p.o.ed but in some cases it was due to operator abuse and sometimes it was due to the original design being inadequate in some area. Most of the equipment was custom and many times there was no luxury to improve the design on succcessive models. Sometimes we would build a new one to accommodate new product and incorporate any design changes as a result of the "lessons learned" from previous equipment.

My point is that Woods is building a product, a rather simple product at that. The basic design has not changed for years. I'm assuming that they've got jigs and templates to aid in manufacturing. They've built thousands of copies of it. I'm sure they've got stacks of blades, tubes, supports, etc. all precisely cut and bent ready to be assembled by WELDING! So one would expect that the biggest variable in the mfg process (welds) would get particular scrutiny before it ships. And their welders ought to be top-notch.

I'm not impressed with any implement company whose welds fail in ordinary use. If one fails due to unexpected forces being applied (hitting a hidden immovable object), I can understand that. But to have poor welds out of the gate as some posters have experienced? Or Steve's 5 yrs of very, very light use? No excuse for that.

 

[Steve in VA]

Let me see if I can load 2 pitures that may help out. I believe it lasted as long as it did because of the overlap with the plate. I don't see any penetration to the tube.