I am seriously thinking about purchasing a 316E Cat excavator. Does anyone on here have one or operated one and how do you like it? Also, how does it compare to other excavators you have operated? Thanks for any help.
Long story short, my 321 is still in the shop waiting on warranty repairs for failed duo-cone seals on the finals. Local Cat PSR and salesmen got on the horn with Cat corp and got me a rental machine while my machine is waiting on parts. The rental store had a 316E available and we took it. Used it to clean a pond and stump an acre or so of land. At first I was skeptical as I don't like the look of the E series, the ass is too big. However, I was impressed with the machine. Strong for it's size and very quick, almost scary quick. The cab is huge - nice and spacious. There is no visibility to the right or rear, however there is plenty of room to service the machine due to the large rear doors. This machine had a back up camera but was removed by a previous renter, so couldn't use that function. For what's it's worth, here's the pics and commentary - Overall we liked the machine.
If you accept rear view - high "ass" - it will be functional and a quick machine.
Nice machine but a little unbalanced. I would look at a Link Belt 160X3, Volvo EC160DL or a Deere 160GLC first though
Thanks for the responses. We are now seriously looking at a Volvo 160D with a blade. We have a 140B in the fleet with 7000 hours and it has been bullet proof.
I really like the new Es. Strong and fast. They seem to be doing fine other wise. Ya the view is limited, but its not to bad and I think they all come with back up camera. Don't smash one of those big doors $4500... from cat.
I have been running a brand new 316 for about 6 months now and can't say enough good things about it, huge cab, decent power for size , high cycle rates , easy on fuel, all around nice piece of iron. I highly recommend you demo one....
Any updates on the E series? We are looking at one, its a ‘12 with around 3k hrs. Hows the re-gen system holding up? Thanks
Well, I hope they’re holding up! We ended up going for it. The dealer location and parts availability drove the decision home.
I hope it is a good machine, one of my main customers took delivery of a 316E Friday, we are installing the thumb and coupler as the machine did not have them. I didn't think the 316E had DEF fluid.
I'm excited to try it out, will be a few months before we can unfortunately. No, there is no DEF fluid, just a re-gen soot measuring thing. Curious to see how that works. The sight visibility is absolutely terrible, unfortunately I think our guys are gonna bang up the huge panels rather quick I thought it had a rear view camera, but its just a empty hole where you can put one.