Gday all im considering buying a backhoe in the next few months and am torn on what sort of machine to get. Im tossing up between a JCB 3CX, Case 580 ST and a Cat 432E. I'm looking at a used machine with between 1000-3000 hours. I'm currently using cat 432E which is a bloody good machine and have also used a JCB 3cx a bit also not a bad machine also. I prefer the cat of the JCB but I haven't used the case 580st at all which is where you fine gentlemen and may be ladies come in. Any advice on the case would be mush appreciated good and bad feed back to please. Cheers
Doing mainly sub division work !!
Seems like you are quite content with the Cat, I find Cat has a lot of moving parts on loader and JCB parts expensive and long time coming. I worked for a Case dealer as a service manager and found that the 590SM was a pretty good unit. You must consider other things like parts and service availability to your area. You have run the Cat and the JCB, can you rent a Case to try? anyways that is my two cents CDN.
Cheers for the advice mate. We have dealer and parts for all those brands close to home. Great suggestion hiring a case I didn't even consider that
Why not a Deere? They have the majority of market share when it comes to the backhoe market. You can't drive by one rental company that doesn't have a JD backhoe on the yard for rent. I my opinion.....each company has the one or two products that they excel with and when I think Cat, I don't think backhoes.
You hardly see John deere around here. Case hoes are everywhere. Every once in a while a job or a cat. My old 580sk has been an excellent machine and with some care it'll be good for the rest of my life.
All things mechanical wear or break. I made my choice based on the dealer. Case dealer recently closed, Cat dealer out of the way, Deere dealer close and people there were helpful with other equipment. My BH is a Deere.