I have a question for the experienced artic truck guys out there. We are finally going to add some trucks to our fleet, and have been doing some comparisons between several different brand and size trucks. The CAT 730 and 725 seem to be very similar when looking at the specs side by side on Ritchiespecs. I understand that the bed size is the main difference, but the weight of the machines empty is almost within 1000 pounds of one another, which I assume could be the slightly larger bed. What are the other components that allow the 730 to be able to handle the extra payload, if any? I have been told that you can put running boards on the 25 ton and be able to haul the same amount as the 730, but Im not really interested in doing that if it leads to early component failure, since we plan to keep these trucks for years to come. But if there not any major differences, I can justify the 25's with running boards since they are close to a 60K drop in price for similar model and hour machines. Is there anything Im missing? Any info about your experiences with the two different trucks would be great. Thanks.
definatly not the same trucks , I was looking at the specs , different engines, different retarding systems , diff powertrain controls(730 has basically automatic traction control. locks diffs and axles on its own as needed ) maybe same basic chassis. I would find a compentant cat salesman and have him go over all the differences between the 2 models Im sure there is more ... and then weigh what the trucks have and can do vs what you need out of them for your applications
Where did you find the specs you were looking at? CAT website or somewhere else? I figured there were some major differences but did not see them from richiespecs. Thanks.
googled 730 vs 725 on google found a small sales flier on them , I dont believe richiespecs are always accurate best to go rite to the oem for specs
Ritchie specs are often inaccurate or incomplete. Try Googling "cat 725 specalog" - it ought to take you to a downloadable pdf of the complete spec sheet for the machine. You will find different document references for different vintage of models, so you have to figure our which is the one that applies to the model that you are considering in order to get the accurate information. On the last page of the pdf will be the date it was printed, or at least the year. I found three different files for 725's. Here is one for the latest 725C - http://s7d2.scene7.com/is/content/Caterpillar/C10081993 Repeat the process for the 730.