I'm not posting this to start a war whatsoever. I'm in the market for a larger excavator for strictly demolition use. I've used a volvo ec 360 b and a cat 320 cl for lots of demolition use. Both worked well but the cat was very loose in the bucket pins at only 3000 hours. What's everyone's take on what excavator is best suited for the severe nature of heavy demolition projects? And is there any brands to stay away from with this type of work? Thanks in advance
you say larger excavator, I would suggest a CAT 375 (their old #) there is a demo contractor here that has 10 that have held up very well to the attachments (BIG hammers, munchers, shears & grapples) normal wear & tear but they are built heavy enough to take the abuse & hold up very well.. (I do all the repairs on them)
Wasnt there a thread about roadbuilders a few weeks back? I think one of those would be choice.
Since a lot of demo work is above the operator, a dedicated machine for demo should be configured for that work as well. Now forestry knucklebooms are designed for working above the height of the tracks, they are well guarded. Good fire suppression. 48" bypass grapples with rotators are common. A lot have a heel boom that if you grabbed ahold of an ibeam with would extend reach. Whats your thoughts? http://media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/fd/2c/e1/fd2ce1e4608cbb90e66eafa4855c0908.jpg
What kind of buildings will you be knocking down with this excavator, MXSLEDDER?
Not a Komatsu. They are nice hoes but IMO their over engineered hyd system can be a real PITA. You tend to bust a lot of hoses in demo increasing the chance of contamination. That caused us a lot of hell with them.
Hello MXSLEDDER have you looked at hitachi? i think they might be a deer in your neck of the woods. we have supplied a lot of guys in australia who do Demo work with grabs and a lot of them have been hitachi excavators. what type of demo work are you doing mate?