Hey all, I am in need of renting an ADT for a month or two and was wondering what people's experience has been with the different brands. Are there any to avoid at all costs?
I wouldn't be as much concerned about brands as I would be about the Dealer or Rental House. What are rental cost, What is guaranteed availability, How long can you be broken down before you have a replacement on site, contracts will vary. You can do some research on fuel consumption, cycle times Etc. but the dealer is the key to a succesfull rental. I haven't been in it for a few years, but Terex had a bad rap for a while on poor dealer support. The other thing is site evaluation, do you need a 25 ton or a 40 ton truck, Ground conditions are important, soft ground with no base or manuverability on a smaller site might be better with a lighter truck, hard ground, longer haul might mean a larger truck. Anyway the dealer is your main concern, check references, a good dealer will give you several.
oldseabee, I hear you about dealer support, however, I have several reputable dealer choices in this instance with good product lines. I was just curious b/c as you mentioned, I've heard bad stories about both terex and Moxy's. Thanks for your input.
Oldseabee hit it square on the head. Since you are renting your rental house or dealer is really the deciding factor regardless of brand. If you happen to get a lemon, just send it back. Rental price, truck selection (size), reliability and service are the most important, not necessarily in any order. My experience has been with Cat 725's, owned one for 3 years and leased another for 2 years. They were good trucks and the dealer has the best service around. The 725's do have a problem with the main wiring harness that connects from the engine compartment to the cab. I replaced 3 in the 3 years of running them, 2 on the old truck and 1 on the newer leased one. Other than that and normal wear items they performed satisfactory. Ditto on staying away from the Terex's. I have not ran them but know of contractors that did and they had multiple problems with computers and cooling systems. I haven't tried a Volvo but would have if our local dealer was large enough to handle the support. I can't recall even seeing a Moxy on a site.
As far as I know both Terex and Moxy use ZF transmissions that did give trouble a few years ago. Not sure what they use now, I'm pretty sure Moxey still does. I worked for Volvo for a number of years and they do have a pretty good truck, but again it's the Dealer.
PM Sent
The rule on articulated trucks is if you have to use them you should be firing your engineer. The are all expensive to run, hard to keep running and doubly expensive to repair. Renting is the only way to go. As others have said, the support by the rental house will determine the success of your project. Good Luck!
I disagree with that. The two 725's I ran were quite profitable. Loading with a 325 hoe, two trucks, we were moving on average, 3K yards a day of rock and dirt. The haul was averaging 900 yards round trip. Other than the above mentioned wiring harnesses, 2 injectors, 2 tires lost to punctures in the sidewall and a rubber suspension block on the old truck, that was it as far as major purchases. These trucks worked from the clearing and grubbing stage to topsoiling slopes. I have hauled brush, pipe, manholes and stone to areas of a project that would have taken a track loader 4 times as long to walk it. They also work well as a mobile stone box and carryall when you have that retention pond that has to be put in before clearing, on the opposite side of the project from the road access and of course down in the steepest gully on the job. I bought a '01 725 in 2005 with 3K or so hours on it for $135K. I sold it in 2008 with 5.5K hours for $95K. I didn't keep up with the CY's that truck moved but there were many months in a row it moved 1K CY a day or more. The newer truck was sent back after its lease was up with 3k hours on it. However I do think rental is a better option unless you have a steady workload, which is difficult in this economy. For me and the projects I have worked on, they have served me well.
I disagree with that too. Our 740's and 385's are worth their weight in gold. The scrapers crews take the "easy" dirt and when it gets too wet or too hard (rock) call in the truck crews. Our company only got into off-road trucks about 10 years ago. They used to move everything with the 631's and 641's. I am very happy I missed those days. Off-road trucks make us money.
I forgot about longer hauls. The longer the haul the more money the trucks will make you.
I have worked on many ADT. A few 725's, 735's but mainly 740's. They were either from our rental fleet or customers. most had issues with the A-frame pins but these are covered by cat and get updated parts and most had wheel seal leaks, also still covered and get an updated fix. These trucks are a big improvement over the D350's. They were a nightmare to fix.
We have a Terex 2766C and it has been nothing but a pleasure to own. No major problems at all, just the typical stuff.
Cat and Komatsu are mainly used around here, but if dealer support is repuitable, Volvo builds a remarkable haul truck.
I like volvo d models are pretty simple and lots of power. less computer to deal with.
The kind that bend in the middle are good to avoid as a start........
ointlaugh Muff, have you made any progress on this? Which ADTs are you currently looking at?
Volvo makes a really nice machine, but too expensive for us to consider buying. Cat 740s is the backbone of our fleet but their trannys tend to overheat and torque out when constantly slogging through wet ground. My big pet peeve is the mirrors absolutely suck. Komatsu trucks can go pretty much anywhere but don't seem to hold as much due to the shape of their box (they say it's the same size) and are hogs on fuel. Excellent mirrors and nice cab. Their power windows always crap out, but as a rental this doesnt matter. We did light one on fire just last week and I have to say, anything that can burn your eyebrows off from 400m away is mighty impressive. All things aside the HM400 would be my choice. JD trucks have some nice features (auto load counter, distance etc) but a retarded box design. It's tall and narrow which makes it a complete pain to try to load with a larger bucket, and the only way to load it smoothly without hitting the box is at 90*, rather than further back at 30* like I prefer (faster). This reason alone makes me hate on them something fierce. Oh and we split two in half.
AmerIndep, Current;y looking at the Cat's and Komatsu's simly due to proximity to dealer. Probably need one 35 ton truck for a couple of months. My application will not be as rigourous as a contractor that runs 8-10 hours a day, everyday, so I'm thinking that any truck will really serve my purposes jjust fine.