I'm shopping for a new 14 ton for septic and residential work. I've got prices from Cat, Liebherr, Komatsu, Volvo, Case, and Bobcat. I've ruled out Bobcat and Cat due to pricing/availability/dealer support. Neither can deliver a shovel this season. What sticks out though, is that the Case CX145D is over 65k less than Volvo/Liebherr, when comparing apples to apples. My initial bias puts me towards Liebherr and Volvo, but a Case being that much cheaper is impossible to ignore. Dealer support appears to be equal among those 3. Thoughts? Anyone run a modern Case?
I should note, I've demo'd the Liebherr. Nice cab, layout and serviceability all very nice. Very smooth, reasonably quiet. I played with the Case in the dealer lot, cab is nice, and well laid out, but not as large as the Liebherr. Seemed quieter than the Liebherr. Layout and serviceability is average, and you've got to climb up to check engine oil vs ground level checks. I'm waiting to arrange a formal demo once the snow goes away in a week or two. Volvo dealer doesn't have a 145 in stock at the moment, but is working on a demo.
For where we were, Volvo came up cheaper, keep in mind dealer support can be worth way more then 65k if your machine is down and out at the right time ours went down for 2 hours and we fixed the issue ourselves but by the time it was fixed there was over 10k in lost time after you look at rental costs, wages and loss of production. In the dirt world this is a reality so make sure your sure before you sign that check
Fair point - Case dealer built a brand new location 15 minutes from us 2 years ago. They claim to have 3 service trucks serving the city. Same dealership group also owns 7-8 other locations. So theres actually 2 more locations within an hour drive. Liebherr has no dealerships, but has 2 roving field techs in our area. Volvo has a dealership 15 minutes from us also, and a couple service trucks. All 3 are unknowns to us in terms of support and dealer service.
I think Case and Linkbelt are the same, and we have had great luck with them. We have 3 of the 145 spin ace. One with the long stick. I think they are 2015, 17, 19. All with thumbs, aux hydraulics, and front blades. The larger machines a great as well, a 235 spin ace, and 2 350X4. Another thing, I am always singing the praises of Volvo, but be really careful with your DEF. Clean clean clean. We buy in bulk, and pump it. The trucks, and anything in the yard is ok, but they were refilling jugs for the on site stuff, and there would always be issues with the Volvo stuff. As long as we use new sealed jugs, there are no issues, but once you start pumping out of the tank into old jugs, something always happens. We have 2 Volvo loaders with the DPF system. One has already been deleted, and after a rough winter with the other one, it is going to be done in the spring. DEF machines are fine as long as you use good DEF
I have two friends, both in the business of excavation, both small operations. Both bought 6 ton excavators two years ago, one also bought a 17 ton . He chose Volvo, cry once about price. The other opted for a New Holland. I have used it, sweet little machine! A boatload of people I know of have bought Kubota excavators, though the biggest I have seen & run is an 8 ton.
Link Belt is growing here again, dealers in STL KC & Columbia MO seem to be doing well. And I agree, appear to be CASE machines under different colors.
Good to know! Yes, Case and Linkbelt are identical on the larger machines. Both are made by Sumitomo (who owns Linkbelt brand) Yeah, we've learned the rules of DEF. We don't have a huge fleet, so we've been buying it by the jug from our fuel supplier. Jugs are only used once and tossed. No contamination yet, but even then, we've still had issues with trucks once the temp drops below -20.
I haven’t owned any Case machines. But JR Brison has been around a long time and for the most part I haven’t heard anything bad about their dealerships. I almost pulled the trigger on a case 8 ton a few years ago but found their 8 ton to be outdated and wanted something newer so I went with a next gen cat. I run mostly Deere equipment and Brandt has been decent.