Steve,

I pick up my KAMA 554 tractor with loader and now have it completely assembled. I am sending you all the pictures I have taken, Everything you have said has happened, Overall, I am have been very pleased with your quick response and how my project progressed.

I own a ¾ ton GMC diesel Pickup and an 18 foot flatbed trailer that has a GVW of 7800 pounds. I should have brought a larger trailer to pickup up my KAMA 554 tractor with loader.

The tractor arrived inside of two metal frame enclosures, that Bolted together. The loader, two small tires, the front seat, canopy and front ballast were strapped into the upper crate with a thick wire. The Rear tractor wheels were strapped on to the side of the lower crate.

The total package weight was 8157 pounds. The tractor was at a DHL Warehouse in Auburn, WA. I had to pay handling charges that totaled $352.63. Mostly storage fees, while the tractor was waiting to clear customs. I had called DHL and asked what sort of payment was required. The operator said that they would accept a personnel check. When I arrived, a note on the window said that they only accepted cashier checks, money orders or cash. I was worried, but the Operators were TERRIFIC, They took a personal check. and were extremely helpful in getting the tractor loaded. I needed to lighten the load. The warehouseman provided me bolt cutters, (I should have brought my own). I removed the two rear tires, the front Ballast and one small tire from the package. We had to use a forklift to put the rear tires and the front ballast into the pickup. The Rear tires are very heavy and also have ballast .

I decided to leave the seat, small tire and canopy in the upper crate, because they were all tied together. Some thing I now regret, I should have put them in the Pick up. Because of my high trailer wheel wells, the forklift operator had to load most of package forward of the well wells. ( Next time I will bring blocks to support the trailer tongue and reduce the stress on my hitch, the hitch is heavy duty, but, it showed lots of stress on it). The bottom of the crate has skids. The forklift went to the back of the trailer, and with my chains pulled the package over the center of the axles. I used three straps and two large chains to secure the load.

The trailer handled great all the way home, I didn't exceed 50 MPH, Nobody on the freeway seemed to complain about twenty miles out, I pulled into a rest stop to discover that the canopy was missing, It blew off some were on the busy I-5 freeway. I am really disappointed that we lost it, At the warehouse,It looked strongly attached. We are very lucky that we didn't cause an accident. At the rest stop. I moved all of the items in the front bucket to the Pickup. Making sure nothing else would disappear. It also helped balance the load.

The only other problem we noticed, was with the upper frame. It was bolted to the lower crate using 4 bolts. One bolt and three nuts had worked out and disappeared. Fortunately the strapping and 1 bolt, bolted together and 2 bolts acting as “pins” held every thing in place. But, I recommend that you check the bolts often and make sure they are tight.

It was a really rainy day every thing got wet. The tractor manual and the engine manual were safely protected in a zip lock plastic bag. The loader manual was in a red tool box and got very wet. A home hair dyer fixed the sticky wet manual.. If I knew where to originally find the manuals, I would have put them in the truck. There are no step by step instructions on how to assemble the tractor. There is a comprehensive manual with exploded views. It did not look very hard to put together. The manual has break in and starting instructions, and draining oil instructions after the break-in period, sounds easy but involved. The manual is little quirky to read, for example, It uses "prohibited" instead of "dangerous". I don't think some words are in their Chinese vocabulary, like the “anti” in “anti-freeze”. but I am getting ahead of my self.

I remove all the small parts from the crates and set them aside ready to go. Looks like my extra parts include a head gasket, Crank shaft bearings and few other things that, I have yet to figure out. I am very impressed with the tractor construction. It looks very well made and tough. So far, My friend and I have spent a total of about 8 man hours, for loading, strapping, and unpacking. This does not include driving time.

Before I started assembly, I had to figure out how to get the upper crate down. a fork lift would be the best solution. I didn't have one handy and I live 17 miles from town. I didn't want to drive to town remove the upper crate, go home assemble and remove the tractor and then go back and get the loader crate.

I had neighbor who come buy. We has a small tractor with hay forks, I planned to have him pull the top crate off the bottom. First I put a strap across the middle of the bottom crate so that the sides would not bow out and allow the upper crate fall on the tractor below.

I then chained the upper crate to the tractor hay forks.

He then lifted the to upper crate high enough for me to put a 8 ft long round chain link fence post about ½ in the middle of the upper rack. I also put 1 temporary 4X4 block at the front edge of the crate. We then set the upper

crate down and then repositioned the the Hay forks, and securely chained the forks to the upper crate.

We then slowly pulled the upper crate forward, the round pipe rolled along the top between the upper and lower crate no friction on the lower crate. We pulled until the rear edge of the upper crate was resting on the front edge of the lower crate. My friend then gently lowered the front edge of the upper grate to the ground. We un-chained and repositioned the forks above the upper crate and chained the back of the upper crate to the tractor forks. I don't have picture of this. The length of the chain from the tractor forks to rear or the crate was about 6 feet. We were able to lifted the crate about 2 inches, and I drove the trailer holding the lower crate away. We then lowered the rear of the crate to the ground. We then disconnect the chain and with the forks pulled the loader out of the way

.

I then attached a masonry blade to an old skill saw and cut the sides away from the steel crates. 4 top corner cuts and 4 bottom corner cuts is all I needed, We then just pulled the sides apart breaking cross member welds.

The unloading of the upper crate and removing the sides of the metal enclosure took about 4 man hours. At this point I have about 12 man hours excluding driving time into the project.

I didn't know how much acid I needed for the battery it took 2 boxes 1 medium and 1 small.

I also put in about 3 gallons of 50/50 mix of antifreeze, into the radiator. The operations manual only talks about soft water and draining.

One surprise is that my Kama Pictures show the muffler pointing up. My muffler came routed underneath. I am a hay farmer. Because of fire hazard, I am going to have to have this modified at the local muffler shop. The pictures pickup a little rusting on the headers. Be assured that the Tractor is NEW and very pretty.

The red wire was unattached, not sure why, but I hooked it up.

The fenders and roll bars are connected via 4 large bolts on to a side. The system has 6 holes, so I bought 4 extra grade 9 bolts and added them to each side.

We then bolted the fenders and routed the wires to the the main connector.

We attached to the fender hydraulic lines for the backhoe, The type 1 hitch assembly and connected the PTO guard.

We attached the Hydraulic oil tank and the roll bar.

Using a 2 ½ ton floor jack and 2X6 and 4X4 blocks we jacked up the rear of the tractor. Three of us rolled the tires from the bed of the pickup across a ¾ piece of plywood blocked in the middle to the trailer and put it on the tractor axles. No lifting, we raised the tractor up and down until the holes lined up

You can see the angle of the front after the rear wheels were put on.

Jacking up the front and putting the front tires on was real easy.

Some how the steering wheel got put on while the front tires were being tightened.

The tractor started right up and I drove it off the Flatbed. Oil and diesel Fuel was already in the system.

At this point I have a total 33 man hours excluding driving time into the project.

I had to clean out the diesel fuel sediment bowl it was ½ full of crude. And I ran the engine with no load according to the operations manual. After that was done, I used my 3 point hitch and spare blocks to lift the front of the loader to it upright position, installed the inner pylons and drove into the hitch connections and was done.

I have a total of 35 man hours less driving into the project.

Cons: I was disappointed that the tractor did not have gas gauge or tachometer and the muffler is routed underneath the tractor. The operating controls could be better organized.

Pros: The tractor is very strong! It has very clean lines (looks good). It handles better than my old tractor. The KAMA is wider and longer, but the steering is sharper and I can get in and out of tighter spots. The front axle beam “rocks from side to side” it gives a smother ride. The front loader digs well. The tractor as good gear range, slow is slow (L1) and fast is reasonable (H4),

I took the fuel filter and Oil filter down to my local NAPA auto parts store and they could not find US equivalent. I experienced several minor defects. The parking brake link broke, which, I had a local machine shop make. The fuel tank hood weldment was slightly ajar and needs adjusting. The “engine control mechanism” (manual throttle) needed adjustment and should have a stop so you don't push it to far.

Overall I am very pleased with the tractor. The price I paid and what I got is a good value. I am going to buy a tachometer, I will find the filter equivalents, I am not sure how, to fix the gas gauge problem.