953B or 953C

[Johnny English]

We were recently looking at changing our 1972 941B for a 953C. We looked a 953C but a local dealer said not to entertain the C series as final drives were a common point of failure carrieing a big price tag to fix. Something to do with the final drives being directly linked to the hydraulic system and iron filings running round the whole machine recking everything in their path. He also informed us that the B series were arranged different and final drive failures were not as common. Is this the case or was he just scare mongering the C series? Is there any other common faults to either machine?

 

[Deere9670]

The 953C that I ran had a problem with the finals. It had multiple pieces of sprocket that went together like a puzzle to complete the circle. On this paticular machine....the bolts holding those sprocket pieces in would come loose and fall out often. Sometimes they would even break off. Not sure if the "B" series had a different style of sprocket though. Im not sure, but I think that the B series had a different engine as well. Overall, I have heard better of the B series, over the C series. Never ran a 953B though.

 

[pushcat]

The C series is twice the machine a B is. Yes, the hydraulic and hydrostatic drive system use the same oil, but each system has it's own filter plus a filter on the return in the tank. We've never had a lick of trouble with the final drives on any Caterpillar track loader I've ever been around, but I have heard that same story, just never seen it. It probably has happened, but it's very rare. Hands down I would go with the C, the bigger engine being one major reason.

 

[wormkiller]

I'm thinking either a B or C will be make a huge difference in production,especially coming from a 941. When I went from the 955s to a 953 it was so much easier to get the machine to do what i was thinking. One of the most dependable 953s my father owned was a B model, 5MK01xxx. No final problems, no trans issues and best of all no computer. The engine lost a crank bearing at 7500hrs. We had 3 953Cs, two 2ZN00xxx and a later 2ZN03xxx. The two earlier ones had several warranty issues with final drives and computers. None of our Cs stayed past 4000hrs for lack of work. With good mantinence and a good operator the 953B will cut the mustard.

 

[honest outlaw]

i'd take a b over a c any day slightly slower but much more durable:drinkup

 

[qball]

I'm thinking either a B or C will be make a huge difference in production,especially coming from a 941. When I went from the 955s to a 953 it was so much easier to get the machine to do what i was thinking. One of the most dependable 953s my father owned was a B model, 5MK01xxx. No final problems, no trans issues and best of all no computer. The engine lost a crank bearing at 7500hrs. We had 3 953Cs, two 2ZN00xxx and a later 2ZN03xxx. The two earlier ones had several warranty issues with final drives and computers. None of our Cs stayed past 4000hrs for lack of work. With good mantinence and a good operator the 953B will cut the mustard.

well, was i a good operator?
in my opinion, your fathers b was the best preforming and grading loader i ever ran. very comfy and quite easy to nap on.

 

[honest outlaw]

i believe the b and the c share the same motor. although i may be mistaken. they both do have the 3116 6 cylinder.:usa

 

[Deere9670]

The "C" that I ran had a 4-banger with a turbo in it. Good machine, just had u/c problems.

 

[66ken]

B series used a 3116 6 cylinder engine. The C series had a 3126 6 cylinder engine.

 

[Johnny English]

Which of the two machines pushes best, is the B still rated at 125hp same as the c or is it more or less than 125, have been on richie specs website, but there isn't a B series 953 on there just A and C series.

 

[Cat Wrench]

953B is a great machine.
They all use a mechanical 3116 period.
That engine properly maintained will go 12,000-16,000 hours.
The HPC is great and I have seen many with 25-30,000 hours on them.

953C used a mechanical 3116 in the earlier models and a 3126 in later models.
They never used a 4 cylinder in a C or a B they are all 6 cylinders.
Either engine is reliable with proper maintenance.
The hydraulic drive pumps however are only good for between 7500-12,000 hours.
They are cheaper to repair however than a 953B HPC.
There are 953C's with the system one undercarriage that most owners I know hate. They say the system one will not last as long as the standard old undercarriage. I have very little experience with system one.

For my money I would buy a 953B but I wouldn't be scared of a 953C but would prefer the earlier with a mechanical engine as they seem to have less injector problems than their electronic counterparts.

 

[lgammon]

we started with a 941b that we still have, then bought a 943, loved it still have it, and then added a 953b. all have been great machines, well the 941b has had 5 rebuild on the motor and 12 sets of tracks, we have had it since 76 when it was 2 years old. the 953b is a great machine it has around 5000 hrs on it and no problems other that the 4000 we spent getting the ac working....i think that we wouldn't have done if we would have known it was going to be that much.

 

[powerjoke]

The "C" that I ran had a 4-banger with a turbo in it. Good machine, just had u/c problems.

It wasnt a "C"or you cant count to 6 one way or the other lol

B's are cheap they're old (15y.o. at best) and slow. we havent had any troubles out of our 953C machines, but we have gotten rid of all the 953 and went to 963C and havent looked back since, a little bigger but on commercial jobs it dosent bother us.

with all that being said, the early "C" machines with the square back end wa quite troubled from what i understand but as soon as you get into the '99 round back machines reliablity was no longer a concern.

we have had a old 953 (21zXXX) with a bad final and a 963C (2DS) with a bad final and that is all final problems we've had thankfully

Pj

 

[inyati13]

To reiterate the point made by Pushcat. The statement that, "Something to do with the final drives being directly linked to the hydraulic system and iron filings running round the whole machine recking everything in their path.", needs to be understood. The dual-path, closed loop hydrostatic drive provides a direct connect from the tandem hydraulic pumps to the hydrostatic drives that power the track motors. These systems have dual filters one for left and right drive plus the filter for the remainder of the hydralic system. I don't thing you can look at it like filings are free to float around and wreck the whole machine. That is over stated.