i've been in the market for an excavator for a few years, bid on a few at auctions, won a bid but never met reserve and now privately i located another and it got me thinking. For those who own excavators and operate, what weight class is the most universal? Whats your favorite? Currently i own a 973c track loader 60,000 pounds. and that is my maximum i can haul on my trailer before needing permits. I won a bid on a deere 270clc but the reserve wasnt met so never got that one. But i'm looking at a 200clc and i'm kind of concerned it may not be big enough. Machine has 14k hours, digging bucket, clean up bucket, wrist bucket. hydraulic thumb as well. Brand doesnt matter to me as i have dealers for most brands. Whats your favourite weight class? Why?
I'd need to know what you would usually do with it to answer intelligently, and then that is not a sure thing
Farm/general excavating, burying rock piles, digging dugouts, loading manure into trucks, drainage.
A 20 ton is big enough a 25 would be faster beyond that your going to get above 60000
A 200 size is nice, typically 10.5 feet wide so you hang signs but still light enough for your setup. Unless it is really big stumping or boulders, a 200 will do most anything I ask of it. my personal faves are 120~160's, as they get work done but are not over width or not much over width. If you plan on burning fires, bigger is better. Been there and got some serious 'sunburn' with too small a machine.
Typically i let the land owner decide to burn or not. I do my pushing right now with my 973c track loader and usually theres not hardly dirty in the actual trees, so t burns well and hardly anything to need to burry so i've just spread around the ash and everything in the low spots. We dont have very big trees around me. Or big boulders. But we do have frost, 6' of it at least. The rock piles are large. So the hole needing to be dug would have to be deep and quite large to keep everything below the frost line. Thank you for your reply thats the type of answer i was looking for, smaller machine for convenience. So a 20 ton machine can pretty much do anything a 25 ton can it would just take a little longer?
I vote for a 200 class. We have one and we have a 290 Volvo as well. To me it basically takes the same rig and effort to move anything over a large minix so why not get the 200. Plus 120-160 fetch a premium price as well. I like the smaller 160 ish hoes but they just don’t make as much sense to me. On the 200 w 14k that’s a lot of hrs. It’s gonna need a pump if it hasn’t been changed. That’s a big expense. I’d find out as much as u could and maybe have a dealer inspect it. Could be money well spent. Been there done that lol
Yes, the 25 will reach a little deeper, a little farther with a big rock, etc. The big step is from the 120~150 size to the 200ś. As an operator that is when it just works at a different level of production. IMO I get that feel change again when I climb in a 400~450 from the 200~300ś. You can still sneak around with a 200 somewhat too. The wider rigs don´t fit into some tight spots.
I have a 130 size zero swing at 8ft 8 in on 24inch pads with a blade and it is a horse but it fits into places that almost need a mini ex Would a 20 ton do the majority of my work yes about 70 percent or less our 314 took a long time to find us before we bought one I will get a 25 ton when we step up in machine because that's the maximum I can haul on any lowboy I have but that 314 does what a 20 ton does but it just take about 25 percent or more longer So if your never needing reduced foot print or swing get a 20 ton unless you find a deal on a twenty five ton