Bobcat s330
Well-Known Member
Thats the problem with those machine i know people that where replacing that undercarriage at 700-800 hrs costing them thousands. How much did your buddy go for? Well your best bet is to go with a rigid undercarriage
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Cat 287
- Thread starter JDecker
- Start date
Thats the problem with those machine i know people that where replacing that undercarriage at 700-800 hrs costing them thousands. How much did your buddy go for? Well your best bet is to go with a rigid undercarriage
He is upgrading to aluminum wheels with recessed grease fittings. I think he is up to $6000 plus or minus. The mechanic is helping for free, he has been down since february with not enough dough to fix it. I sent CAT a letter today, I will keep you posted on my results.
Bobcat s330
Well-Known Member
Hand and foot control t190 never gave me any problems its 100 times stronger then the 257b.
I have found the T-190's to be underpowered, too little breakout, constantly going over relief, loud. The T-190's I have run have all been near new machines. The last I ran was an 06 all with AHC. I think it is one of the worst machines in their lineup. The larger machines I don't have as much heartache over from a performance standpoint (there are still the BC specific issues I don't care for but at least you can get something done with the larger machines. You seldom see the T-190 on the BC lot here anymore. Maybe its the elevation, but I hear others complain over the performance of the machine as well. They do seem to have a powerful lift curcuit, probably its best redeeming feature in my opinion.
Seems to be rash of those lately on here. A friend of mine has a 226B with 300 hrs and it almost smoked the motor, CAT had to pull it and it required extensive work. It was out of warranty and CAT first said they were not going to cover it. He informed them that he would let everyone one that he knows what a POS the machine and the dealer was. They fixed it for free. According to other threads on here it costs 10K for a new motor, no small issue. You would be better off to junk it.
It is pretty sad that an 06 CAT 257B with only 500 owner operator hours, clean and serviced machine can be out of service so easily. They have a service letter that went out only to the dealers about a bad head gasket design. If you have the dealer service the machine they would have fixed it for you free. But as it is a diesel, service is limited to fluid and filter changes. Why haul a machine an hour each way when that is such an easy service. Had there been a recall notice about the gasket I definitely would bring it back. It looks like I have an expensive planter for the yard. The salesman says he will give me $5000 for a trade in. A new machine is $59000 plus tax. If my math is right and I get 500 hours on a new machine it will cost me $120 per hour not including fuel or operator to run. I don't know what planet he is from but that machine doesn't bring that kind of money, unless there is something I am missing....
Welcome to the harsh reality that is Cat SSL/MTL ownership. You pay WAY too much to buy them, and take it in the shorts at trade time with their pizz poor resale. $59,000 for a 257????? That is just plain insane. You could buy a different color that will hold up much better that is LOADED to the hilt with twice the capacity for that much. I will never understand how they sell machines. In this case, it appears that it's not with their great customer service....
therealjohnboy
Well-Known Member
KSSS off topic but i see in list of your equipment you own a Case 440 skid are you happy with it??? As I am looking to buy a 440 CT and am curious if there are any issues I need to know about?
Cheers John
Cheers John
The $59k was for the bigger machine. Cat is stepping up for me by covering half the cost of the motor, I am thrilled that I won't have to go to battle with them as I was gearing up to do. Now I can focus on work instead. I tested a Takeuchi, this looks like a bullet proof machine built to work. It feels a bit primitive compared to the Cat, but I think everything else will too. The Cat is a treat to operate, just not as long lasting. Johnboy test a Takeuchi to compare if you can.
CAT, NH, ASV and Case all had the same issue with head gaskets on the turbo charged 2.2L engines. Case and NH had the Shibura engine and the CAT and ASV engine is a Perkins copycat of the Shibura. The issue has been fixed for quite a while already with the introduction of a different head gasket they came out with. Case changed engines for more displacement. The naturally aspirated 2.2L engines never had a problem.
It could not have been fixed for too long since these are recent model B series machines that are blowing engines.
On the 440. I have the VTS on mine. I have about 1500 hours on it, very reliable. That machine has an incredible amount of power, especially considering its size. When you track it or buy the CT version you can really get a lot of work out of it. I have had about 14 CASE skid skid steers over the years, and the 440 is at the top of my all time favorites. I have never owned the CT version so I cant speak on it from an owner standpoint. They are far and away the most popular CASE tracked machines in this area. I have noticed that guys burn the tracks on them fast. I think that is due to inexperienced operators and the fact that the machine has so much grunt that spinning the tracks is maybe too easy. Hard to beat a 440.
miner
New Member
I am thinking about buying a CAT 277c with mulching head, after reading these posts I ammore confused than ever, nay more ideas?
Demo all of them that you are interested in and ask your dealer for the names of a few customers that he has sold the same machines to.
catmtl
Member
none of the highflow machines i have been dealing with provide adiquate flow to run mulcher heads. not enough power, they tend to overheat. If I were buying a machine for mulching I would go supertrak. I did a demo on a SUPERTRAK SK 140 early this year. what a beast. http://www.supertrak.com/
Tiger41
Member
Great machines. I need to start my own thread so I need to post three times this is the third time so maybe I can post.