It's been discussed, and buried, for several years about the high percentage of...well; let's call it less expensive, steel in their products. That was one of the first things that came up when the whole "heavy" thing was a selling point for Kioti. Lesser quality steel is cheaper to buy and you have to use more of it to gain a similar amount of strength as higher quality steel. Several over thar seem to want to believe that there are no differences in steel. In other words, several there think that steel is steel; there are no differences in strength.
Unfortunately I think it will not only show up in the loader, but in several other areas over the years as the tractors age. One very important factor with steel is how well it resists stress cracks and how the alloy resists the crack from becoming a fracture. Many people know that I looked at several different brands of tractors last year. When doing any type of research on the steel and metal provider and the alloy of steel used, I noticed the same "code" word in the sales pitch. It made me think of cattle. Can you guess the word? Anyway, there are several brands that brag about the weight of their tractor. As noted in several previous threads, the least expensive tractor I know of (I won't list it, but it is not Kioti) is one of the heaviest tractors. Besides the issue of 'is there enough additional steel there to make up for the inherent weakness of the alloy of steel used', is the issue of is there enough hp to move the tractor effectively. Again, this is another issue that is quickly swept under the rug at certain places.
Opinions are opinions, but facts are facts. When I buy a particular grade of welding rod, it has particular properties and strengths. The same goes for steel. Do you know how many grades of aluminum and stainless there are? Just because something is made of stainless or made of aluminum, don't assume that they are always equal. For example, if you get a magnet to stick to a chunk of stainless steel, it generally is a poor quality of stainless. Yes, it is still stainless steel, but it is most likely an inferior grade. I'm no expert in metallurgy, but since my father has been a welder and ironworker for around 45 years, I've grown up around the terminology and have learned that not all things are equal.
Back to your question, Kioti will have to do something about their loader. It most likely was drawn up on a quality CAD program and properly designed. However, someone along the line figured that they could save tens of thousands of dollars if they bought steel from supplier "X" rather than supplier "Y". The problem is that the CAD program and design was created using the specs of the steel product from supplier "X". When the supplier was substituted to supplier "Y", all seemed fine until these issues began to surface. Believe me, this will not be the last issue with this manufacturer as well as several other manufacturers. In the world of steel suppliers, there are many very upset, and unemployed, steel workers and manufacturers because of the lower price of steel that comes out of China. Don't get me wrong and think that all steel coming out of China is of poor quality, but don't be fooled into thinking that they cannot make a product that appears fine but has had many corners cut in the manufacturing process. If you do some Google and Ask and Yahoo searches on steel and metallurgy, you will find years and year’s worth of reading on the subject. Remember, if you can save a few hundred dollars in the cost of steel in the manufacturing of a tractor; just think how much that translates out to on tens of thousands of units.
In the end, it's up to the consumers to make the choices. Some will be "good enough" and there will be no issues. Others will begin to fail right away, like the Kioti loaders. Still others yet will take a few years for the fatigue factor to set in before they begin to fail. It will be interesting. Since I'm no expert in metallurgy and have no desire to spend 4 years of my life learning about such, I will tend to stick with what I consider more of a sure bet. Oh well, it will be interesting over the next few years...