So, the question becomes what do you get for all your hard earned money, when you buy the Carson LR634? A pretty nice machine, actually! I've been looking over the parts and checking out the chassis. It's heavy, that's for sure. I removed the big counterweight in the rear of the chassis, just because I found I am going need to do a little touch up welding on my chassis. I don't know if it was just my luck to get one that had a few defective welds, or if they are all like this. Hit and miss? But it's not a very big deal for me to take care of the problem areas. I may even add a few extra beads, just for piece of mind.
The main frame chassis is pretty nice. Looks to be laser cut steel, with tab in slot construction, and some very fine welds to hold it all together. Now for the bad..... On my chassis, there were a few places where the welds were slightly misaligned with the joints, or completely missed altogether. I am pretty pleased with the construction otherwise. It's very solid, heavy, and strong, despite a few missed weld joints.
This joint is the one that bothers me most. I could feel this part of the chassis flexing, when holding it in my hands and lightly twisting the frame where the loader arms will be. You can see the weld is to the right of the joint, missing it completely. I'm guessing the parts were not in the jig properly, so when the torch made a pass, it went right by it. I'll get this welded together properly, and I'll probably hit all the tabs in their slots too. That way I know this thing will never come apart!
This one is not nearly as bad. The majority of the joint is fine. The welder just missed a short section here. For a mass produced model, that is probably welded with an automated system, a few defects are bound to pop up once in a while. It did slip past QC though! Still, I can't complain. It's a much more affordable model, produced for the common folk masses, and it's still awesome.
