Anyone spend any time in a D series CASE 145 or the LinkBelt equivalent, particularly with a thumb and coupler on it. I am curious how stable it is, speed, and bucket breakout? I am waiting on a demo, but I thought I would tap into the collective experience on here for some thoughts on the machine. I currently have a CX160, the 145 specs very close on paper, but in a more compact package. I appreciate any insight.
I rented a 145 for a month for a sewer job. It did well. We used an 6x16 trench box and a 8x8x8 manhole box and it did fine lifting those. I didn't do a lot of real digging, but the swing speed and bucket curl seemed fine. I don't think it will have the same ass as a 160 but the compact footprint was really nice.
I appreciate the information. I would give up some reach (the machine I am looking at has a 9'10" arm) and a little bucket capacity, surprisingly not as much as I thought. The compact footprint is what I am after, being able to use it for more projects than I can the conventional 160.