250 hours on a CASE TR320
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I thought I would give account of ownership on my TR320 I got this Spring. I have 250 hours on it.
The warranty work to date on the machine. 1. A sensor that when triggered tells you to change the hydraulic filter via light on the console. 2. A handle was replaced due to wire chaffing.
I wanted to wait for a couple hundred hours before posting my thoughts on this machine. I think by doing that it gives a more accurate account of the more subjective views of the machine.
PERFORMANCE: Push power/engine response. Seldom can you pull the engine down, when you do its recovery is immediate. I really like this engine. I was a 4.5 fan and still am but the 3.2 in this machine does everything I have asked it to do with better economy. The machine will lose traction before the engine will pull down considerably. I am considering adding the 200 pounds of counter weight to it, that is an option I did not get. The only hold back to even greater push power is weight. The bucket breakout is good. The lift circuit I would like to see improved. I am told they have a fix for that. I have not taken it in to address that. Its lift capacity is ok, but if I would doing a lot of heavy pallet work, I would want the update. Ride Control continues to be an essential option for me. After 250 hours, the operators continue to be amazed at how much work this machine will do. With comments like "I love that machine". That says a lot to me.
CONTROL SYSTEM: The E/H system on this machine, especially since they gave us the ability to set the sensitivity and speed to our liking, is fantastic. Other than the wire chaffing in the handle I have had no problems with it. Its responsive and less fatiguing after a day than standard servo. They did a great job on it. CAT by comparison still has a shutter issue that is very irritating at least to me. This machine has displayed no such gremlins. The response is immediate (unless you set it to have a delay) and precise. I like the tension in the control handles. Enough so that you dont inadvertantly move the lever but not so much that its fatiguing to run.
CAB COMFORT: HVAC is about as good as you can hope for. Even in the 90 plus degree weather the AC can keep the cab very cool and in a lot of cases I turn the AC down. The cab filter does a good job of keeping the dirt out. Very little dust gets in the cab. The air seat is nice. The layout of the controls is totally adjustable but its not as user friendly to adjust as in other machines like the CAT. However once you set it to your liking, its comfortable. Handles are nice. I would rather have the ride control activation be a trigger like it used to be rather than a button on the side of the handle. Plenty of room in the cab, its reasonably quiet. Visibility to the rear is better than you would expect it to be. The towers cause some blind spots but after rock raking around sprinkler heads, the vision to the ground is surprisingly good around the tracks. The front visibility to the right is a little limited depending on the bucket size due to the small glass piece on the front, next to the door. Its most noticable when grading around concrete. Smaller buckets required me to sit more forward in the seat. I am currently running a Bradco 84" low profile extended lip bucket with this bucket I can see the edge through the side glass instead of the front. Front visibility to the left is fine. Easy to see cutting edge from a comfortable position in the cab. This ability has as much to do with bucket design as cab design. The cab overall (subjective) is excellent. This was by far CASE's biggest shortfall in previous machines. I think they have turned it into a real strength.
SERVICEABILITY: Big improvement over the 400 series. Everythying is easy to get at and its easy to change filters. They removed the zerk up by the top of the tilt cylinders do you dont get grease where you put your hands. The one area I am not happy with is access to cleaning the radiator. This requires removing to 14mm bolts. The top radiator hose does not allow enough flexability to pull it back far enough. I will need to make some mods to correct this when I start mulching with this machine.
HYDRAULIC PERFORMANCE: This machine is equipped with the high performance high flow. I have yet to use it due to not having a demo door for this machine as so I can run the mulcher. That will have to wait for a separate evaluation. The standard aux. hyd makes great flow. This machine does something that has not been possible any other machine I have owned. I can keep the aux on like when running a FFC Preparator (rock rake) and the flow continues regardless of what I do with the lift or tilt curcuits. I really like that, before if you adjusted either of those circuits the flow would be cut or reduced to the aux hyd. That is no longer the case with the Alpha series machines. NICE! I like having the roller activation on the flow control at times, but for some applications I would rather have a button. I keep locking the activation in the detent by mistake. Sucks when running a grapple bucket, thats my own issue I am sure.
Some things I am not pleased with. The Console. It has a lot of capability (machine settings, job clock, monitor different engine functions) but its not user friendly. The console needs to go, use one that doesnt require breaking out the manual when you want to use it. The small buttons on the console also suck. CASE must have bought a container full of these when they brought out the 400 series. They sucked then and they suck now. I have largely got used to using them, but I am still not happy about it. I would rather see switches like CAT uses in their cab. This is a must. Make presets available so that different operators can use their own preferences when running the machine. Also make it easy to make those selections. This will require a different console. This one is already packed with too many options to use effectively.
The radiator I already mentioned.
I would like to see the terminals come back on the remote battery connections like the 400 series had.
Overall I am happy with what this machine brings to the table. We are more productive and profitable having this machine and thats really why you upgrade machines. I am pleased with what CASE has done with the Alphas. It is not perfect, but its well done.
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I thought I would give account of ownership on my TR320 I got this Spring. I have 250 hours on it.
The warranty work to date on the machine. 1. A sensor that when triggered tells you to change the hydraulic filter via light on the console. 2. A handle was replaced due to wire chaffing.
I wanted to wait for a couple hundred hours before posting my thoughts on this machine. I think by doing that it gives a more accurate account of the more subjective views of the machine.
PERFORMANCE: Push power/engine response. Seldom can you pull the engine down, when you do its recovery is immediate. I really like this engine. I was a 4.5 fan and still am but the 3.2 in this machine does everything I have asked it to do with better economy. The machine will lose traction before the engine will pull down considerably. I am considering adding the 200 pounds of counter weight to it, that is an option I did not get. The only hold back to even greater push power is weight. The bucket breakout is good. The lift circuit I would like to see improved. I am told they have a fix for that. I have not taken it in to address that. Its lift capacity is ok, but if I would doing a lot of heavy pallet work, I would want the update. Ride Control continues to be an essential option for me. After 250 hours, the operators continue to be amazed at how much work this machine will do. With comments like "I love that machine". That says a lot to me.
CONTROL SYSTEM: The E/H system on this machine, especially since they gave us the ability to set the sensitivity and speed to our liking, is fantastic. Other than the wire chaffing in the handle I have had no problems with it. Its responsive and less fatiguing after a day than standard servo. They did a great job on it. CAT by comparison still has a shutter issue that is very irritating at least to me. This machine has displayed no such gremlins. The response is immediate (unless you set it to have a delay) and precise. I like the tension in the control handles. Enough so that you dont inadvertantly move the lever but not so much that its fatiguing to run.
CAB COMFORT: HVAC is about as good as you can hope for. Even in the 90 plus degree weather the AC can keep the cab very cool and in a lot of cases I turn the AC down. The cab filter does a good job of keeping the dirt out. Very little dust gets in the cab. The air seat is nice. The layout of the controls is totally adjustable but its not as user friendly to adjust as in other machines like the CAT. However once you set it to your liking, its comfortable. Handles are nice. I would rather have the ride control activation be a trigger like it used to be rather than a button on the side of the handle. Plenty of room in the cab, its reasonably quiet. Visibility to the rear is better than you would expect it to be. The towers cause some blind spots but after rock raking around sprinkler heads, the vision to the ground is surprisingly good around the tracks. The front visibility to the right is a little limited depending on the bucket size due to the small glass piece on the front, next to the door. Its most noticable when grading around concrete. Smaller buckets required me to sit more forward in the seat. I am currently running a Bradco 84" low profile extended lip bucket with this bucket I can see the edge through the side glass instead of the front. Front visibility to the left is fine. Easy to see cutting edge from a comfortable position in the cab. This ability has as much to do with bucket design as cab design. The cab overall (subjective) is excellent. This was by far CASE's biggest shortfall in previous machines. I think they have turned it into a real strength.
SERVICEABILITY: Big improvement over the 400 series. Everythying is easy to get at and its easy to change filters. They removed the zerk up by the top of the tilt cylinders do you dont get grease where you put your hands. The one area I am not happy with is access to cleaning the radiator. This requires removing to 14mm bolts. The top radiator hose does not allow enough flexability to pull it back far enough. I will need to make some mods to correct this when I start mulching with this machine.
HYDRAULIC PERFORMANCE: This machine is equipped with the high performance high flow. I have yet to use it due to not having a demo door for this machine as so I can run the mulcher. That will have to wait for a separate evaluation. The standard aux. hyd makes great flow. This machine does something that has not been possible any other machine I have owned. I can keep the aux on like when running a FFC Preparator (rock rake) and the flow continues regardless of what I do with the lift or tilt curcuits. I really like that, before if you adjusted either of those circuits the flow would be cut or reduced to the aux hyd. That is no longer the case with the Alpha series machines. NICE! I like having the roller activation on the flow control at times, but for some applications I would rather have a button. I keep locking the activation in the detent by mistake. Sucks when running a grapple bucket, thats my own issue I am sure.
Some things I am not pleased with. The Console. It has a lot of capability (machine settings, job clock, monitor different engine functions) but its not user friendly. The console needs to go, use one that doesnt require breaking out the manual when you want to use it. The small buttons on the console also suck. CASE must have bought a container full of these when they brought out the 400 series. They sucked then and they suck now. I have largely got used to using them, but I am still not happy about it. I would rather see switches like CAT uses in their cab. This is a must. Make presets available so that different operators can use their own preferences when running the machine. Also make it easy to make those selections. This will require a different console. This one is already packed with too many options to use effectively.
The radiator I already mentioned.
I would like to see the terminals come back on the remote battery connections like the 400 series had.
Overall I am happy with what this machine brings to the table. We are more productive and profitable having this machine and thats really why you upgrade machines. I am pleased with what CASE has done with the Alphas. It is not perfect, but its well done.