Howzit, undercarriage warriors. Ralph in Benoni and Justin in Cato Ridge here. Between us we’ve measured more than 1 200 sets of 20–45 tonne undercarriages in the last eight years, and we’ve got bad news and good news. Bad news: the average South African 40-tonner is throwing away R800 000–R1.4 million on undercarriage every 6 000–8 000 hours because of lazy habits and dealer scare tactics. Good news: the top 10 % of operators in this country are getting 11 000–15 000+ hours

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

Sawubona, boet! The Vikfin yard in Benoni is looking like a Komatsu Christmas tree right now. We’ve just put the finishing touches on stripping a proper high-hour Komatsu PC400-6, and the result is one of the fullest 40-tonne parts spreads we’ve had all year. The engine walked out the door within 48 hours (R128 000, thank you very much), and the main valve bank went to a mine in Mokopane yesterday, but literally everything else is still here, steam-cleaned, photographed, pric