Wheeled excavators.

[Eric]

At our mine we used to use this old thing for all our digging. What an incredible waste of time this thing was. We now have a 345C L. This will go to salvage soon. I never liked this machine. What are your opinions of these machines?

 

[ben46a]

There good for running around doing light ditchwork or breaking rock, but thats it.

 

[AtlasRob]

Ducks

At our mine we used to use this old thing for all our digging. What an incredible waste of time this thing was. We now have a 345C L. This will go to salvage soon. I never liked this machine. What are your opinions of these machines?

Do you mean the C@T in general ? or do you mean rubber ducks in general.
One mans waste of time is another mans livin

 

[mikef87]

I have a Cat M322C rubber tired machine and a Volvo EW55B mini wheeled machine. They both go out on rental almost every day of the year. They are nice for working in the city, I've used them on site jobs, but we got a few flat tires and you can't really climb over stuff like you can with the track machines.

 

[bobcat ron]

I ran a new Volvo EW180 last year for 3 months straight, I actually cried real tears the day it was given back to the dealer, the only problem it ever had was the transfer case over filled with oil and the internal brake got stuck for 2 kms back to my place.

I used it for general excavation and ditch cleaning primarily, the VA boom was such a dream to use, it made getting into tight spots easier and balanced the excavator to the point where the stabilizers weren't needed. But it's off road abilities were obviously bad, all that weight on 8 tires, but it did pretty good. Any one who makes a living off those rubber tired units get mad props from me! :notworthy

 

[Eric]

That machine specifically, is what I meant. We never understood why they bought that to work in a mine. Good call by the managers!! On streets I bet it would be OK. This wheelie was incredibly slow going down the road, too.

 

[mikef87]

That machine specifically, is what I meant. We never understood why they bought that to work in a mine. Good call by the managers!! On streets I bet it would be OK. This wheelie was incredibly slow going down the road, too.

The new ones do around 20 mph.

 

[XL4300X]

The company I work for has plenty of the wheel machines, Volvo 180's, Cat 318's, Gradall 3300 & 4300, Hyndai. They are a must for street work in my opinion. They are a different animal than the track ones and lots of excavator operators don't like them. If you can run one of these, than you can run anything.

 

[bobcat ron]

The old Cat wheeled ones were junk, but the new C and D models are real Caddies.

 

[mikef87]

The old Cat wheeled ones were junk, but the new C and D models are real Caddies.

I had a Hitachi 220 wheeled machine on rent and a John Deere 180C on rent. Both machines were 10 times better than my Cat. I think the next wheeled machine will be a John Deere.

 

[mxsledder]

Lets see some pics of that 345.I just love those machines.

 

[Eric]

Here ya go. Was putting in a submersable pump.

 

[N.CarolinaDozer]

Here's one of our Volvo EW170's. I ran a 318 for a couple of weeks, filling behind curbs, and along sidewalks, after they paved, at the wal-mart we did last year. I love to run them!:thumbsup

 

[trainwreck]

we have a cat 318 on rubber, it makes more money for the company than any other single excavator in the fleet. and we now have a hitachi 210 that makes us a ton of money. both of our have a railroad wheel on them and all they do is rail work. anything from picking up old ties and rail to ditch cleaning and mowing.sometime we even do tie changing jobs with the 318, the guy who runs it most of the time can do about 150 ties in 9 hours.

just the other day the 318 hit 10,000 hours and still run great

 

[bobcat ron]

I want your job then.

 

[lumber61]

The biggest advantage of these tire excavators is you don't have put the on a trailer..killing two birds with one stone....and a flat tire is a lot easier to change than a track assembly

 

[AtlasRob]

Ducks

I have to agree a wheelie, duck, whatever, is an aquired taste as an operator.
I decided that was the niche in the market that would give me a livin and so far it has worked out well. I will never be a millionaire as an owner op,:beatsme but as previously stated in another thread I enjoy operating and dont want to be an owner with 6 as I would spend all my time doing everyhing except operating, including pulling my hair out, getting stressed and firing people
As for offroad, its suprising where you can get, its a case of thinking and looking a lot more carefully compared to being on tracks, obviously soft ground is a problem. :drinkup

 

[bobcat ron]

I'm really twisting my brother's jimmies to get one for this years ditching season, our local Municipality is constantly asking for one in the 18-20 ton class again, and I promised no more sass mouthing jobs I hate if he buys one, new or used, but it's gotta have a VA boom and a blade.

 

[385Diggin' Doug]

We use or 318's {6} quite a bit.They come in handy for our water main and service work.They are all equipped w/ twist buckets.This comes in handy when hot rockin' the trenches and spurs.

 

[Tegian]

You need to equip a wheeled excavator properly to get its full potential. Rototilt (With a grapple) is a must and a dumptrailer is useful/needed.