I've been looking at used Cat 304, 304E & 304E CR mini excavators for our farm. Found several that have 2600 hrs. or less that I'd be ok with. One major difference is enclosed cab vs. open station. I'm inclined to get the open station because we don't use this type equipment all that often & I figure that the A/C would just be another maintenance expense/headache. One that I found seemed kinda odd in that it had an enclosed cab but has never had HVAC. Why would Cat manufacture a cab unit with no A/C?? If anyone has thoughts on these models I'd appreciate any input. Gary
Doesn't sound right to me. Throw a serial number at us and we can check how it left the factory. Those E-series A/C units didn't have great air filtration. When set to suck the air from outside the cab I don't think it has a filter at all. Evaporator usually blocks up with crud, heater taps fail. All easy fixes if it's picked up early enough. Preventative maintenance was to zip tie the linkage in the "recirculation" position so the operator couldn't move it. All depends how much you like the outdoors I guess.
Ser. # CAT0304CFENW00526 Thanks Chrisso. This machine is in the South East US, which you may know is usually very hot; so I was surprised to see this cab unit with no HVAC. According to the owner it was built this way but you never know. Gary
I work in S. Georgia in my CAT 320...if the AC does not work the machine is out of service. A cab in GA or LA must be air conditioned as far as I am concerned. Working with the door open and the front window open is not enough ventilation...still way too hot. Plus, the cab keeps dust out...lots of that generated down here.
Same goes down here. Machine wouldn't pass a basic risk assessment required on any construction site without A/C. I won't know either unfortunately. That machine is an ISJ (Inside Japan) machine, aka Grey Market machine, meaning it was built for the Japanese market and never intended for export. If you buy it you'll need to get hold of an equivalent S/N to buy parts for it. It's all doable, just will be slightly more panful getting the right parts for it.
Chrisso, thanks for looking into it. I'm going to stay away from this one. Also, a few days ago I talked to a friend locally who said it might be a gray market machine as well. This is probably why this machine has such a low asking price. Gary