Hi, I am looking to buy a 12-14T track digger for general farm land reclamation work mostly, and will also be operating a saw hedgecutter with it. I am based in Ireland and am looking at machines between 2006 to about 2010. I have a hitachi ex120-1 which has given very little trouble except for the rusty cab which is common with them. I have looked at Hitachi zaxis 130's, JCB JS130's, CAT 312c and Volvo ec140b's mostly. I know Hitachi are a well regarded machine and are popular in my area. they are more expensive and the main thing i don't like about them is they tend to still show signs of rust around the cab and hinges which I don't like on machines which are only 7-8 years old and are well minded. i don't know too much about the other 3 makes but i they seem to be better constructed with no evidence of rust on any of them. The CAT and volvo seem like well finished machines with lots of driver comfort and nice machines to handle/operate. they are rare enough in my area but people seem to regard them as good machines with the volvo being noted for low fuel consumption. The JCB's are more common in my area and seem to be a decent machine and value for money. I am not interested in a JCB prior to 2008 as they are over 15ton and too heavy for my job, the 13T machines after 08 have a common rail engine which alot of people are still nervous about, but i am tempted as you can buy them right. i saw a 2011 machine with 3000hrs selling for €2000 less than a 2008 zaxis with 5000hrs. both very clean and well looked after. My feeling is that the Hitachi is the best for resale value and parts are plentiful and a good machine. I would appreciate any opinions or hearing about any past experience. I am mainly interested in how reliable and user friendly the machines are. Thanks.
Welcome to the Forums eddie1986!:drinkup I've never owned nor operated a Hitachi but there are plenty of folks who love them. My experience is with Cat. I've owned 2 - 315CL's, a 325DL, a 321CLCR and currently have a 321DLCR. The Cat's have been good hoes, reliable hard working machines but they do like their fuel. Hitachi's and Deere are not very common in my area as the dealership presence isn't as big as Cat or Komatsu - those are the two main players here. The local dealership and support is just as important as the machine IMO. A great machine will need parts and service during it's lifetime and that's where the local support is critical. One also has to factor in resale value and local popularity of a certain brand. Take for instance JCB in my area, the brand and dealer presence are nearly non-existent. They may make great machines but I'd be a fool to buy one because they are not popular nor have a support network locally. For the reasons stated above, I would look hard at a Hitachi.
Dear , Eddie , we use ZX110 and ZX130 in our self drive hire company , they are excellent machines , i would'nt change them for any other brand
You mentioned that you were going to operate a saw hedgecutter with the machine. How much hydraulic flow and pressure does that require? On Hitachi's, & I think many others, the auxiliary circuit always operates secondary to the needs of the rest of the machine. That means if you are drawing say 25+ gpm for the cutter and you use any other function (boom,stick,track) it will take the oil first and may rob from the aux circuit. It makes no difference if you have two pumps. I fought this w/ a 08 Hitachi 160L-3 and a 35gpm/4Kpsi mower. The only way I could get the aux circuit to get all the oil it needed all the time was to buy an $8-10K priority control valve which makes the aux circuit priority and machine operations second. Too much money so I didn't do it. It was a safety thing in the stock design so you would never lose the machine operations under a load. I was told the new machines had a option in the computer to provide for the aux circuit out of the second pump. If you're concerned, I'd test the machine with the saw first to make sure it works like you want it. The salesman will tell you anything to get it sold and I went through several service techs before I found this out.
Hi Paul, Thanks for the reply. I am not surprised to hear this, I definitely think are a very good machine, but you have to pay big money for a good one and even at that it is hard to get a very clean one in Ireland anyway.
Thank you CM 1995. I know the importance of parts cover and service back up which is one reason why i was thinking of staying Hitachi, it is difficult to find a good clean machine though and you have to pay big for them too. Considering a volvo ec140blc 2007 at the moment. it is in excellent condition very well looked after but with 8000 hrs. I'm not sure how reliable they are though i have heard they are good machines. I know that parts etc. can be got here but are more expensive than some others. It is much cheaper to buy than a similar hitachi though.
Hi bdward, Thanks for the reply. i am not sure of the flows required for the saw but the guy we are buying it from runs a small company dealing in hydraulic repairs etc. He manufactures the saws himself and will be setting up the machine for the saw (once we buy one). He has already set up machines in this way. As far as I know the way it will work will be from the aux line similar to a rock breaker. He will fit a valve to the digger to change the oil flow so when the saw is operating the tracks cannot operate. the saw will be controlled by the pedal in the cab and as you say if you operate any other machine functions such as slew etc it will take oil from the saw, to combat this you will have to use the aux pedal like a throttle so as you slew you press harder on the pedal. when you need to track the machine you flick the solenoid valve switch which stops the flow to the saw and then you can operate the tracks. the momentum of the saw will keep it spinning. It will take some practice to master it I expect. I think in order to have constant flow to the saw and full function of the machine you would need an independent supply of oil, i know some people fit donkey engines and hydraulic pumps to machines to achieve this for certain applications. I don't think it is necessary for the saw as you will not need to track and cut at the same time and I don't expect to be working the saw on the machine full time anyway.
Hi Eddie, we have hitachis ourselves and find them reliable and would never change but with that said a friend of mine in Cork bought a brand new Volvo 140 a few year back and put 6000 hours on it and all he ever did was service it and a quick hitch hose. I think the Volvos might be a bit underrated i drove one a while back heaps of power and very smooth too. Best of luck whatever way you go
It depends. I am a fan of volvo, but not a huge fan of the b series volvos. We really like our JCB machines, so I would definitley take a hard look at them. Hitachi makes an excellent excavator as well. Have you considered Case?
Thanks for the reply. I agree that Hitachi are very good, hard to fault them. it is hard to get a good zaxis 130, at the moment anyway, and they are the dearest machines around too. thanks for the input on the volvo, we are considering an 07 ec140b at the moment. Very clean and well looked after and nearly 10K off the price of a similar zaxis.
Hi JGibson, What jcb's do you run? the main reason we have steered away from the jcb is because the 130 pre 08 was over 15ton and is too heavy for what we want, and the 13 ton after 08 has the common rail engine which we didn't want to go for at the moment anyway. What do you not like about the Volvo b series? we are considering an 07 ec140 blc at the moment.I haven't really looked at case mainly as i haven't come across any for sale, have heard they are fairly good though. Thanks for the reply.