980g

[coalburner]

Hi everyone,

Here is our 1996 980G. It just got back from the shop getting the hydraulics and bucket rebuilt. The bucket got a new cutting edge, and heal plates, not to mention we cut 8" off the bottom and top to get the capacity down. It was sized for coal but not Oklahoma coal which is very heavy and overloaded the machine. Probably should have done a power train rebuild but it got a new motor just after the warrantee went out.

Coalburner,

[2004F550]

looks good, love these 980's

[Countryboy]

We got 4 "Gs" and 2 "Fs" at the quarry. I love the "Gs", the "Fs" have been ragged out so I try to stay off them.

[CascadeScaper]

980F would be nice, our local pit has a 988B that needs a little TLC. Tranny is going out, brakes don't hardly work, and it's louder than hell. Somehow it's still fun to load in a truck with that machine.

[Tigerotor77W]

Looks good. How was the reliability on the 980G?

[Countryboy]

The ones we have are pretty reliable. The do have some unscheduled downtime but they are run 24/7 so its to be expected.

[coalburner]

Motor lost a cylinder just after warranty, our money to rebuild motor and fix a known cat problem
Oil filled bucket pins failed early and were converted over to grease pins, still didn’t help they failed every 2500 hours
Radiator fan hydraulic pump failure
A/C condenser located in a spot that plugs and over pressurizes. Needs Freon three times a summer
Every electronic part on the dash has failed
Forward reverse switch failed
Bucket control levers wore out @ 8000 hours
Every part on the hydraulic system has been replaced some several times
The oversized bucket blows the side walls out on the tires @ 50% tread
Alternator bracket broke
Motor mounts oil soaked
Left steering cylinder bad, can leak
Motor had bad oil leak pulled the end apart and found the cam retainer cracked
Had to add 5K pounds of counter weight to keep back end down when the bucket was dumping

This was one of the first “G” series loaders and cat has fixed most all of the problems for the new 980s but I feel we have paid dearly for a dealer mistake on the over sized bucket and a rushed into service G series loader.

Would I buy a Cat again? Yes but it would never be a new series machine

[Countryboy]

I have to agree on the oversize bucket. We have standard buckets on ours and can easily pick the back end off the ground. A little more counterweight would help.

As far as all your problems, I should clarify my last post. The 4 980Gs that we have are from all different years. The oldest being 6 years and the newest being 8 months. The oldest one did give alot of problems in the beginning but most have been put to rest with upgrades. The newest one we have (8 months) lost a main bearing at 200 hours but was warrantied by Cat with a new motor. The old motor went back to Cat to see where quality control failed. Other than that, it been a good loader.