If someone has ever handed you a R280 000 + VAT quote for a brand-new main hydraulic pump and told you “it’s the only safe option”, then congratulations: you’ve just been sold the most expensive myth in South African earthmoving. My name is Ralph – I run the Benoni yard in Gauteng and I’ve got a Komatsu K3V180 pump sitting on the bench right now that we pulled out of a PC400-6 two weeks ago. It’s cleaned, resealed, photographed from every angle and priced at R36 500 ex-VAT. T

Howzit, grease monkeys, site foremen and anyone who’s ever stared at a R280 000 quote for a new valve bank and felt physically sick. Ralph and Justin here from Vikfin – one of us is in Benoni stripping in the Gauteng dust, the other is in Cato Ridge doing the same under KZN humidity. Between us we’ve pulled more than 600 valve banks out of 20–45 tonne machines in the last ten years and sold every single one without owning a single test bench. We’re going to give you the full,