so say if i had a 90xt with the back chained down and it lifted 11,000 pounds, is that at the bucket pins or where is that at? so i drove a 90 xt bak in the day and was impressed with it. the question is is the 440 (series 3 of course) anything like the 90xt. i drove a 420 and was not impressed. when i drove the 90xt you could leave the machine idle and everything would still function pretty normally, including the 2 speed. i like the idea of running my machine at low rpms when im not working it hard. besides a jcb, the 440 is the only machine i would consider, i like the small size and the big performance. i believe the 440 has almost twice the bucket breakout as our s185. so wouldnt the back end constantly be coming off the ground? also the 440 claims to have almost just as much reach as our s185. is that true. i know they attach the boom at a high point, but everyone might be deceived into thinking you need a vertical lift, when really you can get just as much reach with your simple rugged reliable 440. also i wouldnt think pilot controls would be an option for me because i dont want the 85 hp roaring just so my controls worked right.
The 440S3 has the same power as the 90XT/450 but like you said is a smaller machine. I run the VTS on the 440S3 and it is a monster. I would say try one out. KSSS has more experience with the 440's and can file in more info for you.
The 450 is quite a bit different operationaly than is a 440. The 450 is several K heavier, faster cycle times, better balanced and is tailor made for heavy duty excavating work. The 440 while having the same power is lighter and doesn't put all that power to the ground as effectively as does the heavier 450. However like Stuve, I have VTS on my 440 as well. Now I can use all that power and I have added another 1600 pounds to the machine. It is an animal. The hydraulic performance is excellent on the 440. The 440 could be balanced a little better, adding a little more counterweight makes all the difference. The dealer here extends the rear bumper and adds more weight which helps when running larger buckets. I have had a lot of CASE skid steers since 94 and the 440 is hands down my favorite. CASE did a lot things right with this machine, especially if you need a lot power in a smaller package. If I only could have one machine it would be a 440. As far as radial verse vertical. The rule of thumb is if you spend most of your time between ground level and about the top the top of the cab than radial is for you. If you spend most of your time from cab height to max lift height than you probably need a vertical lift machine. I have no problem dumping in to my triaxle Mack with the 440. Its a little more difficult with the VTS since the front roller extends further out than the tires do. Not sure how the reach compares to the 185. As far as the back of the machine coming off the ground, it might if your lifting enough. The 440 is heavier than is the 185 so that plays as well. Like mentioned, if you can find a new 440-S3 to demo, I think you would be impressed with the machines capability, especially coming off a 185. The 420 S3 machine is a much better machine than is the original 420.
we would get a wheeled 440. you have 1600 pounds of weight?? doesnt that make it hard to take an incline? so you are saying we could get like 3000 lbs of lift out of that machine and still have a drivable machine? would we be able to get by having the smaller tires on like a 185 has (cuz thats what we would need)? do they have inset rims for these machines? is there much difference from a 430? we dump into high things constantly, but it seems that a case has way more reach on a radial than cat.
The 1600 pounds comes from the VTS and its per side so it adds about 3K in additional weight. The 440 will lift everything my 465 will lift with the VTS bolted on to it. The lifting power of the 440 is crazy. However with wheels you wont see that kind of lift capacity. I speced my 440 at 66" wide when I bought it. They might go down to 63" but I am not sure. I do know you can go down to 66" very easily. The only difference between the 430 and 440 is the addition of a turbo charger and more counter weight on the 440. The 430 has a ROC of 2000 while the 440 is 2200. I think your better off with the 12X16.5 tires but I suppose you could run the 10's on it if you needed to be that narrow. When you put that much machine on that small of tire, you lose floatation and you wear the tires out faster. If you needed more reach and wanted a vertical lift machine, the 445 S-3 is a very good machine.
so a 430 has the same hydraulic capacity as the 440? what about the 420? it seems to have a smaller wheelbase thats the only difference i noticed. the 445 is too big for us.
The 430 is less powerful and so its gpm especially with high flow are less. As far as breakout I believe they are the same. The 420 is less than a 430 in about every spec.