Hi all. I unfortunately had my caterpillar 320cs damaged in a fire. All pipes hydraulics n engine. I was wondering what the cost of repair would be and any advise on what a hydraulic main pump and complete engine.would cost. It's a European model with the Mitsubishi s6k turbo engine. Thanks.
Sell it for scrap. You can't even fathom the cost and time it would take
I don't mind the time. I can do it slowly when I'm free. What bothers me is if I can get the parts I require n the price for them. I have no clue because the dealer is quoting me ridiculous prices. Oh I'm in east Africa by the way so parts ain't easy to get.
Fire damaged components get no core credit back so you would be buying everything new unless you found a shop willing to rebuild a fire damaged pump and engine and all bets are off on them. You could buy 2-3 decent Cat 320C for what you will put into this one. Sorry but it doesn’t look good
I'm just trying to save you a lot of heartache and expense. You can repair the damage you can see, its the damage you cant see that will bite you in the ass. Its unlikely you will find anyone with fire damage experience here that will disagree. Yeah, I know it sucks, but it is what it is.
Sell it for scrap.. its not worth repairing..{Push it in a hole & cover it up} U might save some components off of it like injectors, inj pump, hydro. pumps. maybe some rams & hoses if any are still intact.. U can recoup some money selling those parts & sell the rest at the scrap yard.
The hydraulic pumps will be buggered, the cases worp the heat and cooling so nothing will aline. How or what caused the fire? That will determine what is salvageable.
Buy the same make and model. Salvage what you can for parts as time goes on. With the time you saved, relax by the campfire with a cold beer.
The fire was unfortunate. The parts prices are for the most part sinful. The problem with your situation for us on this board is your location and our lack of knowledge concerning all that you have to work with. We don't know your economy so can't comment on costs. We don't know your abilities nor your tooling. I'm not the doomsayer about the damage caused to hydraulic components by fire that you are hearing from some on here. I've rebuilt swing motors, pumps and final drives from burned machines with no problems.
Well it's third world man; it's Africa so rebuilding a hydraulic pump is out of the question. What do you think a similar model excavator would cost me in usd. We usually import all machinery here. I bought this one in Belgium Europe n got it shipped here. I mean if the price is right I don't mind shipping one here or getting a similar one then using 2 to make one or simply just scrapping it. An alternative is buying cheap parts from China.. but you all know how that goes.
It caught fire while shut off and parked. Was working in a forest area so suspect arson man. The pipes r burnt the cabin is completely torched too. The engine I could get.... what worries me is the hydraulic pump --- and there's nobody in east Africa let alone kenya who can even remotely build that pump
I appreciate man. And yeah you right... it's the unseen that causes grief; I'm trying to get some insurance refund off of it; above all its seeing the machine in that condition that hurts me cost bro.
The one guy that did rebuild a burnt machine got banned didn't he? And that machine was a nightmare from what I remember reading.
Damn son; it's worse for me too coz I hire out equipment. Imagine the pain of a machine on site and having constant breakdowns
That looks like a pretty bad burn. Even so, you may get more usable parts off of that than most of us would bother with in our countries with our labor rates, etc. Buying another one of the same model is the best way to make use of it. Or list the parts for sale. Cat parts will have value, anywhere, eventually. I can't imagine any situation where it would make sense to rebuild something like that.
That looks as though the whole machine has gone, although I'd like to see it from the front left (cab) side before saying it was a total loss. As others have suggested, see what you can get from the insurance and put that towards a replacement machine. Looking at is this way there must be a shed-load of machines in Europe that don't comply with latest Euro emissions regulations that people are looking to make money on by shipping them to countries like Kenya that don't have such regs. Why not see what's out there before deciding which way to go..?
It looks like the fire was hottest in the area of the pumps and engine. If it was arson, they likely knew enough where to cause the most damage or got lucky. I remember years ago seeing an article where Mechanics Illustrated priced out a Honda dirt bike XR250 or so. They bought each part separately to see what it would cost. It was like 4 times the cost of buying the bike new, plus the cost of assembling it. I think this is much the same situation only about 10 times more complicated. Pass on this rebuild project.