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top five ctl's

shawnied

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Mar 8, 2015
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4
Location
maywood
have a case 1845 for years wanting to get more horsepower 80-90. am considering used machines 2010 and older and under 1200 hours hopefully. would like opinions on top five choices thanks
 

movindirt

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Sep 5, 2013
Messages
672
Location
under a shady tree
Takeuchi TL 140/TL 240 would be good machines to look at, of course if you already had a Case and were happy with them you could look at like a 440CT.
 

Shimmy1

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Aug 14, 2014
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4,257
Location
North Dakota
We have a Bobcat T770. They came out in 2011. If you're stuck on a 2010 model, I would go for a Cat 299C.
 

ABruso

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Feb 22, 2014
Messages
40
Location
Massachusetts
Occupation
Compost Owner/Operator
John Deere CT 332. Very powerful machine, very stable, great visibility. So far pretty reliable, I've brought it form 2000 to 3000 hours in the last year. Expect to change a drive motor every once and a while. ~5000$ I changed one at 2000 hours. Since then I made the mistake of bringing 1 inch gravel to my site. That stuff gets in between the drive motor and the frame and just gets crushed! It pains me to hear my motor crushing gravel, but the motor took it no problem for weeks. I am very impressed. Also these machines are cheap used for some reason. I spent 22k for a 2007 from the dealer. Maybe I haven't discovered that reason yet. But it is a very strong machine, and I am happy.
 

Canuck Digger

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Dec 24, 2012
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263
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Mission, BC, Canada
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Business Owner, Equipment Operator, Fishing Guide
TK, Kubota, Case,

The biggest issue with the JD's do seem to be the drive motors. They just don't last. Reason why they're so "cheap" used is because they don't make big hours w/o major repairs/maint. which are a small fortune...........
 

CM1995

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Jan 21, 2007
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13,246
Location
Alabama
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Running what I brung and taking what I win
I'll be looking to replace a T250 in the next year or so and won't be going with Bobcat for dealer and parts support issues. The T250 has been a good machine, had a few of them but can't wait on a part for 3 days while the machine is down.

The three I would consider is Cat, Tak and Kubota. Locally the Kubota dealer is a very small operation compared to the Cat and Tak dealer and that gives me some concern for product support and parts availability.

Have not run any of these brands newer machines so when it comes time to purchase it will be a demo bonanza.:D
 

Brad SEIN

Active Member
Joined
Feb 14, 2015
Messages
34
Location
SE Indiana
With ctl's you really need to consider parts and service availability. Especially if you are buying used. They are all very capable machines in the right hands. They can also destroy themselves in the wrong hands. They all will break down, a good dealer can make a huge difference in how you fare with a machine.
I have 3 Bobcats now (2 770's, 1 870) and have had decent luck with them. Main thing is I have a great dealer within 15 minutes that has the service and parts thing figured out.
The T-300 and 320's were solid machines as long as final drive oil was changed religiously. The Taks have always been solid, seems like any vintage of those were solid.
 

Shimmy1

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Aug 14, 2014
Messages
4,257
Location
North Dakota
With ctl's you really need to consider parts and service availability. Especially if you are buying used. They are all very capable machines in the right hands. They can also destroy themselves in the wrong hands. They all will break down, a good dealer can make a huge difference in how you fare with a machine.
I have 3 Bobcats now (2 770's, 1 870) and have had decent luck with them. Main thing is I have a great dealer within 15 minutes that has the service and parts thing figured out.
The T-300 and 320's were solid machines as long as final drive oil was changed religiously. The Taks have always been solid, seems like any vintage of those were solid.
We bought a 770 last winter. Really am enjoying the machine. Any advice what to keep an eye on? Only thing I kind of wonder about is the number of moving parts in regards to the floating bottom rollers. Does it need to be kept clean? How many hours have you put on one? How tight do the pins and bushings in the loader stay?
 

Brad SEIN

Active Member
Joined
Feb 14, 2015
Messages
34
Location
SE Indiana
Shimmy,

We are putting 800 to 1000 hours per year on them. I am using the lease program and rolling them every 3 years to keep them under warranty. I couldn't beat the depreciation putting that many hours on them with the straight purchase. Bobcat has unlimited hours on the lease.
The use is varied from the tiling crew to the dirt crew. I have never had any undercarriage problems at all, and they are in the mud a lot. I have had a couple of drive motors replaced, always past 2000 hours. I had a controller for the regen system burn up, that was a $5000 part, why I won't own tier 4 ctl's out of warranty.
The pins and bushings will hold out if you grease religiously. We do it every tank of fuel, which can be quite often depending on application.
Overall good machines, we use them as dozers and have lots of attachments, so they get worked pretty hard.
 

KSSS

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Joined
Feb 27, 2005
Messages
4,316
Location
Idaho
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excavation
Shimmy,


The use is varied from the tiling crew to the dirt crew. I have never had any undercarriage problems at all, and they are in the mud a lot. I have had a couple of drive motors replaced, always past 2000 hours. I had a controller for the regen system burn up, that was a $5000 part, why I won't own tier 4 ctl's out of warranty.
The pins and bushings will hold out if you grease religiously. We do it every tank of fuel, which can be quite often depending on application.
Overall good machines, we use them as dozers and have lots of attachments, so they get worked pretty hard.


I think that the cost of keeping these machines under warranty needs to just be factored into the purchase of the machine. If you plan on keeping the machine for 5 years and it costs 8K to maintain a bumper to bumper warranty on it than you just factor that into the purchase of the machine. It sucks to have to do that but all that technology that makes these latest generations of CTLS and high end SSL so productive has no limit on what it can cost to maintain them. The costs of can quickly get out of hand, makes it difficult to plan for maintenance costs when a simple controller can cost $5k for example. At least you know that, for the most part, you have fixed maintenance cost while the machine is covered under warranty.
 

pafarmer

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Feb 4, 2010
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883
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Somewhere in the woods !
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Land clearing, demo, site prep etc. Ex Pro Motocro
I have owned every brand out there at one time or another. The most important aspect of a purchase such as this would be strong dealer support after the sale. We run only CAT equipment now after a few decades with Bobcat. The CAT dealer appreciates my business and takes amazing care of us all year long. We get parts delivered to our shop within 24 hours of ordering and they do what they say and say what they do...If I had pick the top three CTL's I would have to say , CAT,
Kubota and TAK...we put a couple thousand hours on per season per machine and CAT reliability is hard to beat in my humble opinion. We run the 299 XHP and 289D in the CTL line plus a bunch of bigger CAT iron...good luck, demo before you buy and go with a dealer that can and will support your needs after the sale...
 

NCPIPELINE

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Mar 8, 2012
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444
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Raleigh, NC
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The Fixer
I couldn't agree more with PAFARMER. CAT's strong parts/customer service is what we needed. Our 299 is a work house and I have never given it a job it couldn't handle.
 

ABruso

Active Member
Joined
Feb 22, 2014
Messages
40
Location
Massachusetts
Occupation
Compost Owner/Operator
TK, Kubota, Case,

The biggest issue with the JD's do seem to be the drive motors. They just don't last. Reason why they're so "cheap" used is because they don't make big hours w/o major repairs/maint. which are a small fortune...........

What do you think is typical lifespan of a drive motor? Brad SEIN just said at least 2000 hours.
 

JNB

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Feb 13, 2012
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823
Location
North Texas
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Flyin' low and rollin' slow...
What do you think is typical lifespan of a drive motor? Brad SEIN just said at least 2000 hours.

Maybe not. My Case ate two before 800 hrs. That could have been attributed to the previous owner's lack of maintenance, but the manual says to change the fluid at 500 hrs and at that point one of the drive motors was already history. I'm a little gun shy so I check the fluid level a lot and change it at no more than 200 hrs. In fact, I changed it yesterday. One had nice clean looking fluid and the other was a bit darker. You can guess which one won't last. Case, Cat and JD use Bonfiglioli drive motors. If only for that one reason...I put them in the same category. My next ctl will be a Kubota or Tak.
 

ABruso

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Feb 22, 2014
Messages
40
Location
Massachusetts
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Compost Owner/Operator
Maybe not. My Case ate two before 800 hrs. That could have been attributed to the previous owner's lack of maintenance, but the manual says to change the fluid at 500 hrs and at that point one of the drive motors was already history. I'm a little gun shy so I check the fluid level a lot and change it at no more than 200 hrs. In fact, I changed it yesterday. One had nice clean looking fluid and the other was a bit darker. You can guess which one won't last. Case, Cat and JD use Bonfiglioli drive motors. If only for that one reason...I put them in the same category. My next ctl will be a Kubota or Tak.


Just curious... How does worn old gear oil damage the seals. When mine went on the JD 332, it was the rear seal of the gearbox, where the track cog/gearbox spins against the hydraulic motor. I think its a metal on metal seal?
 

JNB

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Feb 13, 2012
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823
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North Texas
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Flyin' low and rollin' slow...
Just curious... How does worn old gear oil damage the seals. When mine went on the JD 332, it was the rear seal of the gearbox, where the track cog/gearbox spins against the hydraulic motor. I think its a metal on metal seal?

Just like yours...Bonfiglioloi's "Lifetime" duoseals were the problem with both of mine. My theory is that the seal heats up and whatever contaminants are on it can get sucked into the final drive case when it cools and compromise the gear oil. Changing out the duoseal requires removing the drive motor from the final drive, which requires a complete disassembly of the final drive from the outside cover, including all of the gears etc. Case wouldn't "rebuild" mine and JD didn't want anything to do with it. The CAT shop said they could, but that the cost would be equal to or greater than purchasing a rebuilt unit so they just replace the entire unit. All that for a $100 seal.
 

Canuck Digger

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Dec 24, 2012
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263
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Mission, BC, Canada
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Business Owner, Equipment Operator, Fishing Guide
The number of hrs. a drive motor will last varies a lot. Mine packed it in at 1350 hours on a CT322. To make things worse is it was a bearing that went so it made a huge mess throughout the whole hydraulic system and took 1 pump with it. Some machines are more prone than others.............
 

CM1995

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Jan 21, 2007
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13,246
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Alabama
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Running what I brung and taking what I win
My Cat salesman has a 279 that he's ready to send out for a demo, I haven't set it up yet..:cool2
 

JDOFMEMI

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Jan 3, 2007
Messages
3,074
Location
SoCal
My Cat salesman has a 279 that he's ready to send out for a demo, I haven't set it up yet..:cool2


What would be the reason for the radial lift 279 instead of a vertical lift 289 CM?

For what I do, I would hate to go backwards to a radial machine when I have had a vertical one for so long, and see many advantages with what I do to the machine.
My 287 is still going strong at 4,000 hrs, though it creaks and groans a bit and shows a few signs of being operated pretty much constantly beyond rated capacity.

You are on the right track to go Cat, and leave Bob out of it, regardless of which one you settle on.
 
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