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Kawasaki Loaders?

Copenhagen

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jun 12, 2006
Messages
230
Location
Colorado
Anyone have any experience with them?

I was looking at Wackers new WL 35 mini loader the other day and the dealer had a few brand new Kawasakis sitting on his lot. He is going to bring the 4 yarder out for me to demo next week.

He said that Kawasaki has been manufacturing loaders longer than anyone. I then asked him why I never see any working. He said it was due to poor marketing on their part.:beatsme
 

pwrstroke6john

Well-Known Member
Joined
Aug 4, 2007
Messages
233
Location
Texas
I have never ran one, but there loaders that I have seen at auctions seemed to be nice machines. I pretty sure they offer joystick steering on alot of there machines too.
 

SunServicesLLC

Well-Known Member
Joined
Dec 15, 2005
Messages
67
Location
MD/VA
ive got 2000 65 ZIV and i haven't had any problems, other than fixing little things that were broken when i got it. Filter sets weren't that pricey either. Has done everything asked of it thus far. mine has a jrb qc with forks and 2 1/2 yd bucket
 

dirthog

Senior Member
Joined
Jan 13, 2006
Messages
393
Location
central pa
Occupation
heavy equipment mechanic
Kawasaki loaders

we have sold and serviced them for the last 15 ys or so and they are great machines we have a couple of the 95 models out that have almost 20,000 hr and very little repairs to them. It's a good thing too as the customer is not known for taking care of his equipment. The mines around here are realiseing just how good of a machine they have even suprised most of us in the service dept too with there rugedness.
 

John H

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jan 22, 2007
Messages
170
Location
Mass
Occupation
Arborist, Equipment operator
I have run a 65z and a 75z and liked them very much. A friend of mine worked in a pit close by and tried one the same size as a 988. He liked it a lot. Out all new loaders they tried cat was 1st and Kawaski 2nd.

John
 

Squizzy246B

Administrator
Joined
Sep 9, 2005
Messages
3,388
Location
Perth, Western Australia
Occupation
Digger Driver
Similar story down ere, the dealer has got with the program and they are selling well...I have run a 65 and a 95, seem OK, I'd like to see some more room in the cab.
 

John C.

Senior Member
Joined
Jun 11, 2007
Messages
12,865
Location
Northwest
Occupation
Machinery & Equipment Appraiser
Don't know about new ones but have looked at older machines. They seem to get high hours without many problems and were not very complicated to fix.

The one I looked at were 980 and 988 size. Had Cummins engines and two speed transmissions. They were owned by large companies and I believe were purchased for leverage on other Cat machines.
 

itsgottobegreen

Well-Known Member
Joined
Nov 1, 2005
Messages
180
Location
Maryland
ive got 2000 65 ZIV and i haven't had any problems, other than fixing little things that were broken when i got it. Filter sets weren't that pricey either. Has done everything asked of it thus far. mine has a jrb qc with forks and 2 1/2 yd bucket

Yea brian your 65 is a sweet machine. I used it for 5 minutes to pick up steve's 16' protech to put on a trailer. It was weird for me being a twin stick, as all the other loaders I have ran had a single stick. Mike has a 60 and a 65 (ur machines twin) kawi and swears by them. I just wish we could get some snow. I am dying to see the 60 kawi, 65 kawi, 65 kawi and 66 ford all pushing snow.
 

Serv

Senior Member
Joined
Oct 28, 2006
Messages
265
Location
Laredo TX
All the cement guys around here that always bought new Cats for their sand and gravel operations are now sporting new Kawasaki's. I also know a guy with a much older Kawasaki that has had great luck with it for the last several years. It looks like hell but has never had any catastrophic failure that I know of.
 

PETE379

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jan 10, 2008
Messages
138
Location
Long Island, New York
Occupation
Manage and oversee daily operations, also process
I have a 80Z on demo right now, We've run Cat 950's over 20 years now. We have a new H series thats nothing but problems. The Kawi is like Cat 10years ago, not that thats a bad thing. Sitting in the seat is like operating a 950F. it looks and feels just like it. The other nice thing about the Kawi is it will not spin the tires, you can practicly drive up a pile of wet leaves no problem and the turning radius is over 2 feet shorter than the cat and komatsu. I agree the cab could be bigger, but is does cost about 35000 less than a 950H. One disadvantage is once you get used to the tilt hood on the Cat G and H series, the old school hood configuration is definatley less mechanic frindley.
 

SunServicesLLC

Well-Known Member
Joined
Dec 15, 2005
Messages
67
Location
MD/VA
Hey Will, tell steve thanks for letting me run it at the mall on thurs nite. Got most of my repairs done today should be ready for sat/sun
Brian
 

Dozerboy

Senior Member
Joined
Jan 18, 2006
Messages
2,232
Location
TX
Occupation
Operator
I like them the one of the big things for us was the shorter turning radius.
 

southernman13

Senior Member
Joined
May 13, 2008
Messages
1,114
Location
Florida,Ga,Tn
Occupation
Retired
i was looking at 65Z-5 as well, the guy said it out performs his 544G. it has 9000 ish hrs and he said no major repairs at all
 

bstiles

Member
Joined
May 8, 2008
Messages
10
Location
Cincinnati, OH
Occupation
Heavy equipment field mechanic
Im used to working with the larger loaders, 80's and up. They are good loaders, with few problems, and the ones that they have are the same all the time, steering pumps, condensor fans, and unloader valves. We have a ton of these loaders out on sites, with very few calls, some of these machines have over 30000 hrs. on them!
 

JimInOz

Senior Member
Joined
Apr 15, 2008
Messages
508
Location
Victoria, Australia
Kawasaki 50 & 80

I just found 2 new brochures ,from the 90s.
The 80 is powered by a Nissan NE6TO4 (D.i & Turbo) & is 185 FWHP .
GP bucket is 2.4 to 3.3 M2,depending on type.
I've never heard a bad word about them.
 

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