My boss bought a 3 spade tree digger to use with his 279D. I need 5 control circuits for the spade. 3 for spades, 1 for fare, and one for what I think is flow control. The 279D does not have the buttons on the right joystick. I think these are aux 4 and 5 but not 100% positive. If my research is correct, I need part number 479-6763. Would anything else need to be added to make this work? I would also need to add more pins to the 14 pin connector?
No you do not. Below is the wiring layout for that connector for all GTL-prefix machines with S/No from first built up to 2819, which includes yours. Your Part Number is not correct. 479-6763 is a complete joystick assembly. To add extra buttons all you need is a replacement handle, the joystick base remains the same. The handle that you require (trigger, thumbwheel roller, + 2 buttons) is a 273-9104. See below, again from the electrical schematic. It should be plug & play AFAIK but there is a chance that some settings in the software configuration may need to be changed. If so that will require Cat ET diagnostic software. Also attached some info on the controls that may be useful.
Thank you for the information. I will.get with the nearest car dealer (60 miles away it looks like) to see if any programming needs done when changing out the joystick handle. I looked around and it seems just the part will.be around $1000-1100. Do you know a link to the full owner/operator manual? May be good to have on file.
Cat is very proud of their joysticks, I replaced one on my C model skid steer last year at about $1200 . . .
The Cat Publication reference is SEBU9084. Here is a link to a genuine new OEM manual on CD from eBay
Are you talking about a complete joystick or just a handle.? The last handle I heard about was around $600 if my memory serves me right.
273-9104 is $1,139.24 plus the government extortion fee of 10% here locally.
In that case I stand corrected. Just for sh1ts & giggles, and to update the memopry bank, what is the price of a 460-5343 which is the complete joystick.? I'm thnikng about $3k.
Man I'm getting screwed.
$1688 plus extortion fee.
Our tax is 6%. I don't get out much - 10% seems really high! Other than the proximity to Peoria, I am surprised they are less expensive in Illinois.
Yeah sales tax here is stupid. Some muni's are as high as 11%. However our property taxes are very low.
Mine was the whole assembly. I was under the impression at the time that was the only way it was available, at least that is what Cat sold me. Mine is an older C series, so it could be different. The thumb wheel for the auxiliary failed on my machine.
That's pretty rich, we are 5.5%; which is rich enough, on top of everything else. Then you go buy a new truck or trailer and get hosed another 12%. If my math is right a new dump for 250k is going to run you another 55k in extortion . . .
I can assure you it's not. For the fully-electronic machines that started with the C-Series it matters not one jot what quantity of buttons/roller/trigger a joystick handle has, the base assembly for all of them is the same. See the example for the 279C mentioned above.
As always, Nige is right. I guess that serves me right for just calling Cat for the part. I asked the guy if parts were available individually, he says no, have to buy the whole thing. I bought 262-0262, ($1,377.88, right now. It was a shade under $1200 back in September) but just now looking it up, I could have bought 273-3091 ($626.14 right now).
All the parts places suck now. None of them could be bothered to look up a parts group and whether it could be split or not. When I was in Tennessee, we had a sales tax but I always used my bosses farm exemption number.
You guys quit your complaining!
We are about to be there also! With new tariff poltitcs. Thats what got you Canuks in to that mess. It’s a shame really. Because it’s a such a “third world economy” move . The countries economy is so weak that “budget sector” cannot be financed through taxes, so they finance it through customs tariffs, or/and through nationalizing natural resources extraction, and selling those resources abroad for super cheap.
Since Kramer was taken over by fineggan there really is no competition. Finnegan seems to just keep jacking the prices because they know we will just pay them and carry on.
Because you guys were conditioned to it for decades. It was always amazing how same stuff costs 2-3 times more over the border. When I lived in Seattle area - I was in to “Bring Cash” province 2-3 times a week. Loved $960 rides to Vancouver Island, at customers expense!
And another thing - if you find out what brand and model those handles are, I bet you can by them through hydraulic distributor for $150-200, or $300. That’s what I did for one of my customers, when The joystick handle on his Multitek got smashed. That price - it’s a “CAT” tax,
Dang. Interesting to see the difference even adjusted for currencies.
To some extent I am ok with paying a bit of a premium because of support and availability. The support doesn't seem nearly as good as it once was though.
Especially on warranty side. But for that I can’t really blame corporate fully - local dealers come up with lots of BS just to get out of doing warranty work. And don’t get me started on loose adapter/fittings problems! I’m in to dirty nasty work tomorrow, because of that, AGAIN!
Care to expound on that? My dealer has went over and above on warranty claims over the last 20 years from robbing parts off a new machine to keep us going to getting Cat to pay for a rental. They like warranty work since Cat pays for it.
Not the Thompson in Spanish Fort. Or they treat different customers differently. And BTW - I’m getting tired of receiving invoices from Birmingham office, for Tennessee Valley Authority parts. I mean - would it click anything in the parts guy head or accounts receivable person, how would you send an invoice to some “one man show” in Mobile county, who doesn’t even have charge account, for parts that was taken in Birmingham?! Instead of huge multi state corporation account, that is all over Northern Alabama, just because they have same abbreviation in the name?!?! One dimwit clicked on the wrong customer in the list, the other turned off the brain when processing the charge. And it is seventh time it’s happened. And I can’t remove my name out of their list completely. They don’t treat smaller customers good. Maybe only bigger ones, or the ones with whom service department people have good personal relationship.
Warranty work pays whole lot less, and it might take many months for dealer to get paid. Tons of paperwork. What my customers had problems with - the darned D3 line, usual “ever loose” adapters and hose fitting, kept chewing up the O-rings. So Tompson came up with BS “we warranty the fitting - but not the O-ring on it”!!! Like O-ring is not part of adapter or fittings. Also lying about bunch of TSB or whatever Cat calls recalls. The thing is - I’m a member here, and also on a few mechanics groups on Facebook, who told me that there’s bunch of those TSBs active. But they are very happy to take service call, and charge customers for them. Cat - are the only equipment I ended up working on, that was still under warranty. I only was a “second opinion” guy in Takeuchi case, but those replaced those engines very fast and very quite - I guess they don’t want to trigger nationwide recall campaign.
Well thats too bad you've had less than pleasant experiences. I am a small customer to Thompson however they have treated us very well over the years. My salesman says different on warranty work, oh well.
Which one is yours?
Thank you all for the help. We decided to modify the frame of the tree spade so it would fit another cat skid steer we had access to. Now to figure out the hydraulics on it. But that will be a new thread. But, how do you get the pins out of the quick attach electrical plug? Thanks
Google "Deutsch DT removal tool"
There are also plenty of videos on YouTube showing that type of toole used for Deutsch connector servicing.