I am thinking about buying a new bobcat 442, has anyone had experience with one, any problems?
I know you are into Bobcat Machines but you may want to see what kind of price Brandt Tractor will give you on a Deere 80C. I looked at the spec's of the 442 it is a little heavier machine than the Deere. Hows the service from Surfwood Supply ? I looked at the engine used on the 442 its a Deutz thats oil cooled that might be a expensive repair down the road.
Bobcats are over priced... your best bet would be to go with johndeere, or one of the other manufactures.. but I suggest JD they seem to have a nice line up of smaller excavators.. The 80s are really nice machines. Lots of cab room, good power. I got a chance to run one as a demo.. was very pleased with it.
For the work I am doing I need the zero tail swing for this size machine. The swing boom is also good for digging next to walls for drain tile jobs. After running the 442 for the day it defiantly has more digging power and reach compared to a Hitachi 75 or Komatsu 60. I have had excellent service from surfwood supply and have bought all my machines from them. Pricing is comparable to Deere,Hitachi and the 442 has better resale. I looked at some used machines with low hours, but they were beat up and overpriced.
I was always impressed with the Bobcat, but the Takeuchi always seemed to win out on a pound per pound/ price. They don't have a Zero tail swing though. The Deere always seemed to be low rated for breakout and lift. Eitherway, service is key.
The problem for us Takeuchi dealer is in Alberta they are not easy for us B.C. residents to get machines let alone parts. The machines with dealers close are Terra Tech-Komatsu, Surfwood Supply-Bobcat, Brandt Tractor-Deere, Finnings-Cat. Right now Terra Tech (Komatsu) is pushing the best service they are the most people we see in this area in second running is Brandt Tractor (John Deere).
there are 3 different motors for the 442 only one is oil cooled i have around 6 442's in my fleet at any given time and we dont have any problems with them...ever
Out of curiosity, what are the other two motors used in the 442? I know Bobcat uses the Deutz (at least that's what's published). Does Schaeff/Terex use a different engine? Welcome to the site! (Do you own other Bobcat products?)
if im not mistakin the first one was a Deutz oil cooled, the second was a Perkins water cooled, and the latest is a Deutz water cooled i work a Bobcat dealer taking care of the retal fleet and also service work :thumbsup
The 442 I had was water-cooled. I did have a bobcat 721 with dutz oil cooled engine. That machine had over 10,000 hrs on the original engine with just minor repairs. It even started at 0 degrees Celsius with no glow plugs.