Linkbelt Excavators any good?

I have no experience with linkbelt before. I have stumbled across a 1998 Linkbelt 3400 Quantum excavator that’s in my price range and appears to be in fairly good shape. The owners are retiring, and they just finished their last job with it.

my question to you all is the linkbelt build, is it quality or is it a gremlin machine with common problems. Who makes them? I know there are common builders for excavators/parts that can be swapped between brands.

If i remember right, during that period, sumitomo made their excavators, and also made excavators for Case and jcb and maybe others.

That machine looks pretty clean and appears to have been well cared for. I think I read on here that Linkbelts use bigger pins that some other models Sumitomo builds.

I have not really kept up with excavators since about 2000. However, I did buy 5 excavators back in the 1991-2000 time period. I bought 4 Hitachi excavators, then the boss thought was should not put all of our apples into one basket. So, for the 5th machine, in 2000, I bought a Linkbelt, built by Sumitomo. That was a bad mistake, and only the excellent dealer we had kept this deal from turning into a fiasco of lost time at the mine site. The Hitachi's ran like the energizer Bunny, never had a problem and ran year after year. The Linkbelt, went down almost immediately, and was down on a regular basis every week or so with some type of gremlin/problem. My theory was, and still is, that the Hitachi machines I bought, were only medium size machines in the Hitachi lineup. Meanwhile, the Linkbelt was the largest machine they made at that time. I don't think Linkbelt has kept up with Hitachi/Cat/Deere as the years have gone by. That may be a fine machine, but it would make me pretty nervous to have to rely on a Linkbelt machine, even today.

Those Quantum's are good machines, like any machine that old they are only as good as they were maintained. The only issue you will find with parts for it is price.

Thanks for the replies, I appreciate it. my thoughts were it seemed clean as well the side is 6,000kg lighter then my 973c. So moving it won’t be a pain.

I purchased two in 89 or 90... We couldn't keep the throttle advance motor in one of them and they were like 600 bucks a copy. Got tired of buying them and replaced it with a lever and cable. No real issue after that in the four years they were around.

If that machine was maintained on the inside like it looks like it was on the outside, that might be a nice find. You don't see machines that old in that kind of shape very often. I had the CASE version of the LS Linkbelt (Quantum). I struggled with some hyd. overheating issues. The LX series (CX in CASE verbiage) I think was a substantial upgrade over this one. As it was described to me they changed the pump configurations in the LX/CX series over the LS. I guess you have to keep in mind its 30 years old. As far as Link Belt not keeping up with others in the industry, I think that is totally incorrect. I have run the X3 and X4 machines I don't think they give up anything to anyone as far as performance.

The troubleshooting of the electronics were crap. The gauges never worked properly and you could never trust what they were saying. They apparently fixed the throttle motor issues on the Quantum line. Most of my customers felt they were a nickel and dime machine. Small things like heater motors, switches and relays were always a problem. Proper grounding of certain circuits was also an issue. If you put an electrically controlled auxiliary attachment on you absolutely have to put a diode across the solenoid coils that run that circuit. The machine's computer has no provision for stray currents caused by collapsing magnetic fields in the coils. The hydraulic systems were pretty convoluted but worked so you didn't often have those weird gremlins like uneven travel or the stick didn't have any power all of a sudden. Structurally, they are as tough as anything on the market. Early on there were problems with welding on the booms. We found worm holes under the chicken feet on the boom cylinder rod boss weldments. The cabs felt cheap with all the plastic. The seats were made for small asian men and generally fell apart fast for anyone over 200 pounds. Parts and service support is generally below the big three depending on the size and sales area of the dealer.
I always felt that they were a step down in price and quality to the Cat, Komatsu and Hitachi lines. Even so they could be run at least as long and many times more profitably in the hands of the right operators. You don't see them as fleets of machines owned by big companies who shift operators around all the time. You can see one or two of them in fleets used as negotiating leverage for better prices on the big three.
Good Luck!

The machine won’t be getting used every day. Just like my track loader. My father had a farming accident and broke his neck. So I have taken 6 months off work to take care of the farm and help my parents. Looking for alternative ways to make some income in my free time.

maybe see 100 hours a year of operating time. Like my track loader.

the price on the machine is $30,000, has all new pins and bushings as well. So they say everything is tight.

I guess it comes down to price and hours/condition. How many hours ?

It says right above $30,000. Curious to know total hours on it? Sure looks like a well kept machine though.

$30,000 Canadian, which is very affordable for something in the condition. Everything around me is $70,000+ for a machine this size.

I haven’t got the hours, but I’m going to be taking a look at it when it comes back from the job they just did. So it’s still working, they are semi retiring and moving units that don’t get used often.

Then you have to wonder if there is a reason it is being sold for so much less money. Maybe Shimmy knows a little more about them.

Found this regarding the 3400 Quantum.

https://www.heavyequipmentforums.com/threads/broken-circle-on-link-belt-stroker.23046/#post-290496

Auction results on Ritchie and the internet shows prices selling for around $30,000. They could’ve went off that.just went through my classifieds and everything equivalent in size, but big name like cat and komatsu are $65-$75.

Not sure about that year, but we have 3 145, a 235, and 2 350s all bought new since 2015. So far so good. I think the are still the same as a case, a couple guys here have the 14 ton case and they look identical to the 145s

Welder Dave said:

Found this regarding the 3400 Quantum.

https://www.heavyequipmentforums.com/threads/broken-circle-on-link-belt-stroker.23046/#post-290496

Click to expand...

that’s a scary post. I don’t know what kind of work they were doing but all I would be doing is soft dirt work. Maybe a little concrete/asphalt removal but nothing like rock.

A 3400 log processor can't be compared to an excavator. The applications are nothing alike.

Go take a look at and make your decision from what you see. If you don't know what to look for, find someone who does. There is also a wealth of info on this web site that you can research before you go look. The price they are asking is about the floor price for all excavators in an orderly liquidation. Just remember, there will be things wrong that you will probably have to fix. Use those items you find as leverage to negotiate your price.
Good Luck!

Looks like they're still made by sumitomo. Case too.