Heli told me that they make their own transmission and HC and others do not use the same transmission as Heli. Lets face it, all manufacturers have problems at some stage so I would not label HC as a no good brand based on porous castings a few years ago.
I remember about 2005 / 2006, a bunch of new JCB backhoes came to my country, all (approx 10) had front axle problems, so does that make JCB a bad product? The newest Catrerpillar Backhoes (428E) has some brakes issues, that does not make the equipment junk.
There is a company here that has been using 3 - 4 HC 2.5 TON lpg units, most of the units are the current R Series with 3,000 hour plus on them and the company has had no major issues and less than a handful of minor ones.
The company is quite happy and is willing to buy HC again.
My views are based on fact, while I am still concerned about the brand and their transmissions, I would not categorize them as junk.
I would like to see or hear about some units is a heavy application and how well the stand up

Ryan