Im looking at buying either a CAT 345 with a purpose to rip out rock with a ripper attachment. Question is - does anybody have experience if a 345 is capable of ripping out rock without wrecking itself in the process - no granite just ordainary blue quarry rock here in Ireland. I would be attaching a quick hitch so that I can swap to the rock bucket for scooping it up after ripping.:beatsme
the comapny i used to work for , ran alot of 330s on there pipe crews mainly cats but some deere, and a volvo or two, but each crew had a ripper that went along with them for rock, frost, etc... i thought it worked pretty good, as long as you werent prying side to side with it. a 345 should be a pretty good match, i remember one job we had alot of blue and brown shale and where they didnt drill and shoot we ripped with the 330 and the ripper, and small bucket where we were putting pipe in the ground. i dont believe you will have a problem with the combonation that your describing. as you will find it easier to rip or pull rock with a smaller bucket, or a ripper compared to a larger bucket, espcially if you have a quick coupler on it , some people have the tendancy to pull rock with a bigger bucket, and they tend to use one side or the other and it puts alot of pressure on the quick coupler and pins therefore ruining ther quick coupler and/ or buckets. Jordan
Cheers Jordan - I have a 325c with ripper and it does rip but has limitations! Ideal world I'd go for a 365 but the price jump from a 345 would buy me a nice dump truck as well. Thanks m8
haha yea i hear ya on that! those 365's get a little pricey! i cant remember the manufacture of the ripper, but i wish i could convince my new boss to but a couple, when put on the right machine they sure can do some damage. will the 345 be primarley in a quarry, or pipe/site work, setting? Jordan
Ripper For 354 Hey newjcb123uk! If you decide to move forward with the 345 purchase and a Ripper Attachment, you should look at a company out of Spain called MTG. You can find them at www.metalogenia.com . These guys used to be Esco's Partner in Europe but they've gone their seperate ways. The Tooth Point Profiles that MTG offers puts the OEM's to shame! The wear life on MTG products is also pretty wild. CAT & Komatsu don't seem to put alot of effort into their Ripper Tooth Designs and, consequently, after ripping for 10 minutes it's like trying to dig with a boxing glove! Check these guys out!
just a lil over kill
No such thing as overkill!
THat looks like it could do some serious damage!!! Love the power in it.
Why Not use.... Can you use one of these instead? Cat 330cl and 345bl:cool2
I love the Tim Alan way of looking at it I just the other day saw this PC1250 working with a ripper attachment and couldn't believe it... The project is a pipeline project that involves a lot of hard rock under the roadway in Riverside county ... I'll try to get some pics of it working with the attachment if I'm up that way in the next few day's