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Link-Belt 3900 opinions

Hotwheels81

Active Member
Joined
Mar 3, 2010
Messages
28
Location
Up north, eh!
Looking at a larger digging contract in the near future where i am required to pull approx 1000yrds a day of mixed semi compact dirt/clay out of the ground and load out on hiway gravel trucks, i have a zx120 to assist but am obviously in need of something a bit larger.

There is a Link-belt 3900 Quantum for sale at a reasonable price local to me i would be interested in or a JD330lc thats twice the price and about $7000 in transport fees plus also a EX270-5 thats about as much as the JD is with trucking but much closer to my area.

I have limited knowledge of link-belt machines aside from a few friends who have used smaller ones on demo and they tell me to avoid them, does anyone have info/experiance with all of the above?
 

Greg

Senior Member
Joined
Jan 28, 2008
Messages
1,175
Location
Wi
Occupation
Excavating Contractor
For what it is worth, a Link Belt is the same machine as a Kobelco or a Case.
 

John C.

Senior Member
Joined
Jun 11, 2007
Messages
12,865
Location
Northwest
Occupation
Machinery & Equipment Appraiser
I've done my share but can't place a 3900 model machine. As I recall they were 2650, 2700, 3400, 4300 and 5800 in the C, C2 and Quantum series machines. It is possible the LX series machines have a 3900 but I don't recall ever seeing one.

The Link-Belt is manufactured by Sumitomo and has no relation to Kobelco machines. The odd thing is that Case owns Link-Belt and markets both the Kobelco and Sumitomo lines.

Drive train wise there is not a lot of difference between the Sumitomo and the Cat machines. However everything else is way different and way cheaper. The electronics package had little diagnostics and had plenty of wiring problems. The interiors of the cabs were cheap and built to get expensive fast. There are quite a few Link-Belts in the northwest that have lasted a long time. Their reputation though is a machine that will nickel and dime you to distraction. If you are looking at a used machine you will see that most of the creature comforts haven't worked in a very long time.
 

tylermckee

Senior Member
Joined
Jan 9, 2006
Messages
768
Location
washington
I put some hours on an old 5800, that had seen better days. none of the electric stuff worked, just had a manual throttle cable. Was slow, loud, just plain wore out. Most of it depends on how well it was taken care of. I run a hyundai ex (doesnt get much cheaper) with over 5000 hours, and if you didnt see the meter you wouldnt think it had more than 1,000. Everything works as factory, and hasnt needed anything more than a hose or two. while at the same time ran rentals with under 3,000 and you would swear they had 10,000!

Anyways a quick lookover and you should be able to tell if its worth owning or not, And if you want to get a little cheaper, i dont know what your working conditions are but you should be able to load 1,000 yards a day with a 200 sized machine, even a 160 can do that. You could at least get a little bit nicer machine for your money, easier to move too.
 

Hotwheels81

Active Member
Joined
Mar 3, 2010
Messages
28
Location
Up north, eh!
The first job im looking at is a 1 acre pad i need to excavate 10' down then refill and pack/preload 15' above grade... The logic behind a big machine is i can hot load the gravel trucks straight from the hole alot easier then a smaller machine can, i loaded out about 2000yrds from a site a couple months back with the 120 and found it to be a royal PITA to load from flat ground, my "trainee" bought 2 new side boards for the gravel truck in 1 week :)
 

TD-5

Well-Known Member
Joined
Feb 26, 2009
Messages
77
Location
Britsh Columbia Canada
The 3900 Quantum seems to be a bit of a rarity. That one in Chase is the only one Ive seen for sale around the Northwest. There is some sales history on that particular machine on Ritchie Bros Auction results. I believe the 3900 was the equivilent of the Case 9045B. Maybe give the guys at Parker Pacific(inland Kenworth) in Kamloops a call & pick their brains.
 

AssetManagement

New Member
Joined
Jun 12, 2013
Messages
1
Location
Stanley, ND
Occupation
Marketer
Hello Sir,
I know this was 2.5 years ago but do you remember what the 1999 Link-Belt 3900 was selling for?

I have a 1997 Link-Belt 3900 and am looking to determine a Fair Market Value that I can advertise it for.

Thank you in advance for your time,
Ben Kaplan
 

Dean Lee

New Member
Joined
Apr 28, 2021
Messages
1
Location
Danville, Ky
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