One of the first wheel loaders Dongfeng sold in Serbia is still going strong after five years and nearly 13,000 hours.

The 856 wheel loader is laboring away loading sand for the Gradient Company which runs a river bank quarry near Belgrade. There are days it runs 20 hours per day during the busy season, but never less than eight hours per day when it’s less frantic. And because the quarry is so busy, the machine does not get a lot of service care. The operator admits that regular maintenance is hard to come by.

Gradient purchased the 856 in 2006 and then bought two more in 2007. The company chose Dongfeng as a partner due to its competitive pricing, dealer service and strong reputation of the Dongfeng brand locally.

Dongfeng service engineer Yang Maosen calls on the quarry. He visited the customer recently and found the machine is showing no major problems besides the usual wear on the engine, a bit higher oil consumption, and some electronic parts being replaced.

The customer reports that in all, the machine has not been demanding. Yang has visited Gradient three times to provide maintenance guidance and failure diagnoses. The Serbian Dongfeng dealer comes to perform maintenance according to Dongfeng’s service standards.

The first visit by Yang was made during the warranty period mainly to help the customer with operating issues and to provide guidance for daily maintenance. Yang made his second visit when the machine worked 5,000 hours. The electronics system was checked and repaired. The latest visit was made when machine worked at 13,000 hours. Yang mainly gave them maintenance suggestions for the engine & cylinders.

“The customer is very happy with the wheel loader and the service support provided by Dongfeng,” said Yang.  This is just another example of how Dongfeng machines are easy to own and operate, standing up to the tough operating environments our customers face, notes Yang.“