Most commonly purchased equiptment

[Dirtguru]

Since this board has members from all over the country I was wondering what equipment manufacturers are the most popular in various parts of the country and why?
Here in the pacific northwest Cat equiptment is the most common with the big union and heavy highway contractors. Equiptment used by small to medium sized contractors and forestry/logging varies widely with most of the major manufacturers represented.
Dozers: 75% Cat, 20% lightweight Deere
Excavators: hard to say, Cat is common but lots of Deere, Komatsu, Link Belt, Kobelco and Hitachi. There are a number of specialty manufacturers that modify excavators specifically for forestry and forest roadbuilding. Komatsu, Kobelco and Link Belt mostly but others can be had as well.
Backhoe: Cat with Deere and Case a close second.
Loader: midsize Deere most common with water and sewer guys, Cat in the gravel pits.
Grader: Cat hands down.
Scraper: Cat with a few Deere paddles and Terex twins thrown in.
Off Road Dumps: Volvo
On Highway Dumps and Lowboy Tractors: Oregon is Peterbuilt country, anything else is not even considered a truck. Truth is in my business any truck with a box, 6 brakes and 10 good tires will do.
Mini Exc: My Komatsu rep says he sells more mini's than anybody but I rarely see two mini's of the same color in a day around here. Lots of strange used grey market mini's as well.
Skidsteer: Bobcat and Case but Cat is pushing their models really hard.
By contrast is my brothers part of the country, specifically Durango Colorado. The excavation business there consists mainly of oil and gas pipeline construction and residential foundation excavation. Cat equipment is by far the most common even among owner operators which represent 60% of the customers in that area. Deere being a distant second and a few Kobelco and Case excavators.

A Chapman

[glsahl]

Here Cat is losing ground to Kawasaki and Linkbelt,Hitachi and Kobelco are gaining popularity as well.Deere and Cat are still on top of the backhoe market,though JCB and New Holland are making a stand,Case still has die hard fans,but I don't see them gaining new followers.
The on road truck market is a pretty good mix,most companies have close relationships with a particular dealer,and the dealers are careful to nurture them.Sterling is being seen alot more,and seem to be bringing Freightliner along with them.Pete,KW,and Navistar have a hardcore following.
Vermeer and Tesmec (now sold by the local Cat dealer) are the most common trenchers,there are still a few Trencor,and Capitol users.New comer,TrenchTech is actively trying to get a piece of the Vegas valley pie.

[Steve Frazier]

I'm located in the Hudson Valley of NY, about 70 miles north of NYC. I've been thinking about this thread and how it would also depend on the time period we talk about. I'll give current listings in this post, maybe a little reflecting later on.

Backhoes:
I think I see more Cats now than any other brand. John Deere and Case are about equal, then New Holland with a few JCBs and Fermacs thrown in. I just saw my first Komatsu last month.

Excavators:
I think equal numbers of Cat, Deere and Komatsu.

Dozers:
This would depend on the size. Large Dozers are nearly all Cat here, but mid size machines are also John Deere and Komatsu.

Wheel Loaders:
Municipalities tend to use Deere, most of my other exposure to them is in quarries. One uses all Cats, another Michigan, another Kawasaki, and yet another has Volvos. I know three contractors who all have two each, one has Michigans, the others have Cats.

Graders:
Cats and Deere.

Scrapers:
We don't get many scraper jobs around here, but the one that went on here the past two years is using old Cats.

Off Road Dumps:
Volvo, Komatsu, Cat in that order.

Highway trucks:
I'm located near a major Northeast trucking hub and as a result nearly evry truck manufacturer has a local dealer. We see everything here, but International is probably most common. Volvo has been taking a larger share of the market lately, but Peterbuilt and KW are well represented too. You name it, it's got a dump body on it!

Skid Steer:
Probably Bobcat is most popular followed closely by equal numbers of Cat, Case and New Holland.

You may have noticed Caterpillar is most popular in a number of catagories here. This is due to having a local dealer who has a full service yard. There's a huge service area, a seperate machine shop and a fleet of on site repair/service trucks. They guarentee overnight delivery of non-stocked parts and the sales force really takes care of business!

[BRL]

I'm about 2.5 hours south of Steve, so his post looks real close to what I see around here. Here are the differences:

Back hoes: Case with Deere & Cat far behind with some JCB etc present.

Loaders: Mostly Cat, then roughly equal on the big names after that.

Off road dumps: just reverse the order lol Cat, Komatsu then Volvo

Mini X: Bobcat, Komatsu, then many others

Skidders: Bobcat, New Holland, then Cat, then Case & the rest

Highway trucks: I assume I am close enough to the hub Steve mentions. There are so many around here it is way too difficult to pick any brands that stand out over the others.

I also have a Cat dealer like the one he has close by. And there must be a similar type of Case dealer close with the overwhelming amount of back hoes they have around here.

[Blademan]

We're located on the eastern side of the Rockies , about 300 miles north of the Montana/US boader . Our terrain varies from flat prairie to steep and difficult rock . Equipment varies greatly too , with Caterpillar winning in just about every catagory now . I'd say this is how it breaks down :

Back hoes : lots of Cat and Hitachi . But everything in between too . Even saw a Sumitomo last week . Also , the last ten years or so have seen a lot of big John Deere stuff too ; the 750 or 800 seem most popular .

Graders : this one is won mostly by Cat , although most municiples or counties seem to really like Champions for maintenance or high speed snow removal . Cat is the tool of choice though for road builders/earthmovers . Hard to beat a 140 or 160 H for building concrete berms or roads .

Dozers : again , Cat wins this one , although I do still see the odd Deere or Komatsu .

Skid steers : seems the big two are most popular . Bobcat , Case have sold a lot of machines around here in the last 15 years or so , but Cat is making huge inroads into this market , and they seem to be on fire as of late .

Scrapers : Cat is most dominate , although some smaller outfits still have a green machine ( Terex , like the ts-14 ) bombing around . Only once about ten years ago did I see old International scrapers , and I'm thinking it's safe to say they probably done't even make those anymore . I do see the odd 762 Deere elevating scraper now and then ( company I work for has a couple of these ) .

Loaders : mostly cat or Deere . The odd Volvo , but getting rarer .

Lets see , also off highway trucks would be Cat and Deere . On highway would be Kenworth , Western Star , Petes , Sterling , International , Mack is popular too .


It's fun to watch how many new models of everything are coming out . I mean , it took Bobcat twenty years just to catch up with the hand controls , and now in the last few years with pilot control like Cats , it seems technology is finally starting to take us to new limits . Although , after operating several generations of improvements to equipment , that old adage sneeks up more and more often , " they don't make them like they used to " . Sometimes I wish they'd ask a operator or two about what they think is a good change rather then listening to designers and engineers or marketers . Take a scraper for example . They could make a swivelling seat , or one that is angled sideways since you spend most of your time looking back . :rolleyes: :Banghead Oh well , change is as good as a holiday , they say . And I always look forward to trying out new stuff . :D


Rob