I am going to be purchasing an excavator this next week and was looking for some last minute user opinions. The unit will be used on my personal property to start, installing new septic, building large boulder walls/landscaping features, general earth moving, and road building/grading (large residential driveway). It will then be used by my business for septic and excavation. I have operated and probably have the most mini-Ex experience with Bobcat E42s, and Kubota U-48s and didn't feel a big draw toward one or the other. The Bobcats felt a bit more powerful and the Kubota's had slightly snappier hydraulic function. I am looking at a New Bobcat E48 Platinum and a Kubota KX040 or U series. And then wavering on stepping up into a Kubota U55, a Cat 305CR or Bobcat E60. I am on the Oregon coast and Caterpillar, Bobcat and Kubota seem to have fairly good service availability with Bobcat and Kubota seeming a bit more accommodating. Any experiences or feedback would be much appreciated.
Well I'm a Cat guy that owns a 305ECR so of course I am going to say the Cat. Kubota is a solid brand along with Tak. Divorced Bobcat years ago and one of the best things I ever did. Since you will be using the machine in your business what are your towing options? Owned a Bobcat 334 for many years (bought new) and it was a good machine. However the larger 5 ton sized machine is alot more versatile for what we do than a 3.5-4T machine. Cat has re-designed there mini line and now the 305 is pushing 11-12K lbs which pretty much puts it in CDL territory to move and the 304 was not bumped up to the old 305 size which sucks. Not sure what I'll do when it's time to upgrade our 2018 305. Oh yeah I moved this over to the compact excavator forum.
I've currently got a new Kubota U48-5 on a rental purchase option and have put about 40hrs on it and so far I'm very impressed. I've spent a lot of time running Kubota KX040-4, U35-4 as well as Tak TB260 and some on Bobcat E32 and E42. This U48-5 isn't quite as strong as the 6-ton machines and doesn't lift as much (obviously) but is very smooth and stable. It doesn't do as much rocking back and forth as the U35 and KX040 when digging. Also I like that you can run either the U48-5 bucket (Same size as the 4-ton but beefier) or the 6-ton buckets for more volume. With the larger 36" bucket I can load my tandem dump truck in 7 min which I thought was really good. I'm trying to find one size machine to do everything from trenching in tight areas to light land clearing and larger excavation jobs. I really like the 6-ton machines, but so far the 5-ton size seems to be the best compromise.
Thanks for the feedback! I just finished with a U48 rental and it was a pretty good unit. The local Peterson offered to bring out a new Cat 305 for trial, so looking forward to this before making a decision.
I'll be interested to hear how they compare, I just saw one of the new 305's today for the first time. Never have run any but the new 303.5-306 look like nicer units than what Cat previously offered.
Any updates? Did you demo the new 305? Kicking around the idea of upgrading our 305E.
Yes, demoed the 305 and ended up purchasing it. Its a great machine. For background, I do not have other CAT mini excavator experience and limited mini ex experience in general. I've operated and have more familiarity with larger CAT, John Deere and Hitachi excavators. I had good experiences with the Bobcats (E42 & E35) and the Kubota U48 I have frequently rented here locally as well, but liked the overall package of the 305 best for me. The 305 has a lot of options that may or may not be of value to everyone. One is the cruise control. I can see if you were mowing long strips (roadways, etc.) this option would be nice; however, its one I will likely use very little. The stick steer is really nice and in my opinion adds considerable value to the machine for grading, site cleanup, trench backfilling, etc. I also like the pin grabber and the ability to adjust the hydraulic speed for each stick/bucket/swing. As I previously mentioned, to me, the Bobcats felt like they had a bit more lifting power and the Kubotas had a little bit more hydraulic speed. The CAT 305 exceeds both on hydraulic speed and so far seems to lift plenty. Since this is a little larger of a machine than the ones I have rented, I was thinking it would be a little more stable with suspended loads; however, it seems a little less stable everywhere but over the blade. Keep in mind I do not have any counterweight and I only have approx. 15 hours on it thus far. I may get the counterweight in the future, but for now I like the fact that it has zero tail swing/or very little if any. And another thing I did like about the 305 is that although its a step up in size over the 304, you get a considerable amount of performance (on paper) for a unit that is more compact in a lot of ways (cab height, tail swing, width I believe). And what sealed the deal for me was my local Peterson CAT service. They were the only dealer to offer to bring a unit out to demo and were very accommodating.
that usually does it. They know how to make a sale.
Good deal. The stick steer option and adding a pin grabber are two things I'd like to upgrade over our 305E. Might have missed it - did you get an enclosed cab?
We have a Cat 304.5 at work and it excels at digging and placing items. I've done demolition work with it too. My only complaint is when running a hydraulic tool it starves pressure from the boom and dipper, you have to depower the attachment to reposition. I have a brush head and it's annoying. I don't know if any manufacturers offer a second pump for attachments but it would make life much better in that case.
Cat mini ex's have always struggled with that. Maybe with the new series they have addressed it. Some OEM's have multiple pumps. I had an IHI years ago that had 4 pumps. It seems the trend is one or two pumps now but some OEM's have been able to figure out how to share flows better than others.