2003 Komatsu PC150LC-6K

[braeburn]

Looking at this used excavator. Serial #starts with a K and its LC-6K

U/C looks good from what I've seen. 5600Hrs, Hydraulic Q/C, Hydraulic Thumb, 36" bucket good condition, sheet metal condition is good as is cab. I know this will have Cummins 4BT 4 cylinder turbo and there have always been comments about cooling but the CAT machine I own gets hot here in the south. I ran a brand new CAT 299 the other day with a mulching head and it reached high hydraulic temp 3 times in a 1/2 day so things are not always rosy on the new stuff.

No leaks and will get a fluid exchange.

I will third party have it inspected.

My question is this....were all PC150 machines made in Great Britain or were some made in the US? The serial plate denotes country of origin as GB.

I've talked with my Komatsu dealer and he indicated that it should have parts available and pulled up the serial # in the computer and asked me if I wanted him to look for anything. The Service Manager stated that he only remembers working on one or two in the past 10 years.

Anyone have thoughts on parts availability? I would think it would be fine but you never know.

Finally, anyone with ownership experience or operation experience on one of these...comment in.


I have a grey market CAT 312B that my Komatsu dealer worked on and got parts but the local CAT dealer wanted to be difficult but in the end we got parts.

 

[John C.]

I don't know of any Komatsu excavators of that vintage that were made in the US. I've only seen a couple of European machines here on the west coast and the only difference I remember was the ignition key. As long as you have a parts book for that machine you should be OK for parts. If you have a number they will usually be able to get a part. Check that though by asking for a cab shell, boom cylinder parts and an engine wiring harness. Make sure the engine has the US EPA label somewhere that is readable.

The only other issue that I remember was that the Cummins engine was a down grade from a six cylinder Komatsu engine when they went from the Dash 5 to the Dash 6 models. The engine has nowhere near the same torque characteristics and all that I dealt with had to have the fuel pumps recalibrated to the max to get the machine to perform. Ask your inspector to do cycle times on the boom up in the high mode. It should be around four seconds.