Guys, Just Posting Some Photos Of A Cat 385C L working here in Denver for S. J Louis. The are installing some deep water pipes out east and are using this long armed beast. Enjoy..
What a beast , I would love to be operating that , great pics
Whats the outreach on that
Interesting pics... what a boom! A 345BL is the biggest I've operated/been around... I know that it's not THAT big, just breaking the 100k mark. But that thing is a beast!! I guess I'm not used to seeing buckets with 7 teeth and tracks with only 2 grousers per shoe. Our 345 has two buckets, one of which is equipped with teeth like yours. We use them in rocky soil and anywhere else that requires a little extra effort to penetrate. Nice machine, wish I could get a little stick time on something that size.:drinkup
Tis a sexy beast... but man that machine is gonna be slooooooow and gutless. We use the same reach stick on our 385's but a shorter boom and we can hardly get any power to the ground with any amount of reach. I showed a picture of that machine to one of our mechanics and he said we have one of those long booms sitting in our yard from our first 385. They bought the machine with it and it didn't have the power to muscle the 7yd buckets through the ground.
sorry but i would disagree with that. ya you have longer reach but it is for deep trenching your not going to use a mass excavator for deep trenching or pulling trench boxes, as for the power a 385 has plenty of it, i read alot on here about how slow and gutless big hoes are but the yardage being moved is what counts,not to mention the lift power of a big hoe.as always this is my opinion, and yes i run big ones and little ones.:drinkup
A bucket is dimensioned to a spesific stick and boom. U cant have a ME bucket fitted on that "long reach" boom and stick. If u want reach and depth u got to axcept a smaler bucket. It can bee the same volume, but cant be as wide as the ME ones.(to have "equal" break out/stick digging force) Same volume is pushing the limits, but it can be done. And will demand a experienced operator knowing what he is doing. A bether topic here is to go away from the q/c, or get a modell that builds less and is lighter. That will give u more power on the teeth. Physics rule here too.
i'm not sure of your point here? yes the ME would have a wider stick,but the machine pictured is a long reach with a wide bucket, i'm counting 7 teeth it must be doing the job i can see the manholes and pipe in the back ground ,i can see the hook on the bucket so i'd say this machine is up to snuff the way it sit's,it looks like they are in sandy clay soil.as for the operator problably exsperienced,i know the 385 and 375's i've ran there is more of a counter weight issue than a power issue.the co. i work for always has oversized buckets on any thing when they can.they would rather move the dirt than worry about a warranty issue.
I'm just saying that if u want the same guts out of it, with a long stick/boom, u need to have a narrow bucket. Thats the only way to get the same force pr tooth as with a shorter stick/boom/wide bucket. U can have a bucket with the same volume, and move the mass as a wide one, but then u need a special bucket.(deeper)
Did any see the Earthmovers mag this month,itgot a385c being towed by a 740 adt and a twin axle bogie under the excavator and the bucket in the dumper............. neat http://www.sleipner.fi/en/english_sleipner.html check out the video
I also run the little ones and the big ones. I have been in 7 different 385CL's, from our ME models to the ones we use for underground. Our machines all have 4 buckets each, a 7ft bucket for whaling dirt, a 60" tooth bucket for sewer, a 60" with a spoon for smaller sewer and watermain, and a 48" service bucket for catch basins and other needs. When we dig sewer and water, usually the first 7-8ft of the cut is done with the 7ft bucket, then you swing around grab the 60" dig the sewer, then swing around again and grab the spoon to dig the water, then repeat. We need the reach a lot, not so much with the big bucket, but definately with the smaller ones doing services. Our 385's have a major lack of power. When swinging the 7ft bucket pre trenching or even normal digging it never has enough power to pull the bucket through the ground to get it loaded up. With the long stick... you can never get it to full extend with any of the buckets on, in that last 18" of travel the cylinder runs out of power, so when digging if you need the extra reach for throwing to the pile, we will just pull the stick all the way in and throw the bucket out there. I always say slow and gutless because.... well they are. We have some 800C Deere's kickin around with the same configuration and they are faster, more powerful and a nicer machine to run than the 385's. I have a video of our 385 digging, when I make the thread about the videos I will link you to it. It's only with a 60" bucket and you can see the wrenching action in it.
well i'm not going to get in a deer,cat battle i guess the 385 and 375,s i've ran must have been power houses:beatsme
They are power houses....but they aren't what they used to be. I will admit our 385B is a nicer unit than our C's. And our 375... well it is probably good for something, but their pretty bagged out these days. Our 375's are houred out, even our 1 year old 85's are climbing into the 3000hr club. Our 800 Deere's are impressive, I love them. They have tracking power than the 385 could wish for. And they are good units.
i've ran the 385B not the 'C's our 375's our getting tired too,it seems the co. you work for is still buying the 385 if you have ran 7 385 c's,how come their not going with the 800 exclusively if they are that much better?the only deer excavator i,ve ran was a 750 i never have ran an 800, just curiouse.
Ain't those twin tiger teeth on upside down?
We buy 385's for the simple reason that we are a Caterpillar company. Finning makes us a steal of a deal on equipment. Our 800's and 750's are bought from ritchie brothers because they were cheap, and they don't mainline very much. They are side hoe's, for craning pipe and sanding. We dig with the 385's because their the biggest and thats how our company rolls. We actually have 14 385's, 1 B and 13C's, with 2 more C's sitting at Finning. Most of our fleet is Cat, and a lot of our operators are brainwashed that if it doesn't say Caterpillar it isnt worth owning. The 750's are a nice machine, I liked the one I ran for a bit last year. It's a bit of a weird situation for us, not many companies have 375's, 385's, 750/800 Deere's, 750/800 Komatsu's and a dozen or so 245's still kickin. I spend more time in 75ton excavators and up than I do in small ones. All I know is the Komatsu 800's are definately not the ride I want to be sitting in.
Hello, newbie to forums here. If you haven't come across this person's set of videos on YouTube yet for the 385C LME, they are well worth watching! http://ca.youtube.com/user/vantagetes I'm not in the industry, but just a fan of big iron. I'm not quite sure what the difference is between the 385C L & the 385C LME. Either way, she sure is one cool beast!
The letter following the model # (in this case 385) is the series (B, C, D now I believe). L stands for long reach, ME for mass excavting, others include LRD for long-reach demolition and LC for long undercarriage.
LOL funny you mention that. Apparently I'm a terrible operator because some dude works for a big company and they move alot of dirt. For the full story check out the "working in a pond" one haha. The L is for long carriage the ME is for Mass Excavation which is basically just a shorter boom and stick (made for mad power/loading trucks vs reach).
Look like a good 85 operator as far as I'm concerned. About the only thing I could see to hold against you is that whole working/living in cowtown.....everybody knows the Edmonton operators get all the ladies (even if they do have that funny twitch:falldownlaugh).
Yeah I dunno what that guy is smoking. I think the best part is he's saying he's done all this stuff but he doesn't have any videos. Anyone can run their mouth and say "oh I can do that so much better" but until I see it I'm kinda doubtful. As for you! I think the dirty Edmonton air has gotten to your brain, I'd pick cowtown over that god forsaken place anyday =p Even if it is like half the cost to live there *shakes fist*
Ha ha god forsaken place... spoken like a true southern albertan. And up here we don't call it dirty air... we call it scented. Just haven't found a good scent yet. How is your housing market goin? We have had a brutal slowdown this year. Last year on one jobsite we serviced 1200 lots in the south end of the city, our largest subdivision this year was 300 lots, and it just got postponed until next spring.
Still going strong. We bought a couple of cheap Komatsu wiggle wagons from Edmonton a little while ago and I expect we will be picking up some more "gently used" gear in the next bit lol. Top Notch is getting sold but not due to the market. The owner died and the three daughters decided to sell out and take the quick cash rather then let the company run itself and cash the big fat cheques each week. I hope we buy their 1250 Komatsu or that 1100 hitachi. I'd run that =D
i haven't ran a cat hoe since the old 350's..strictly komatsu now..how does the 385 compare to the komatsu 800?
Sorry sir I have not had the opportunity to get on a Komatsu 800. Burnout says he doesn't like em tho.
The 800 Komatsu's aren't near as nice as the 385's. Ours all overheat like crazy, our 750 Komatsu isn't too bad, just old and wore out. We parked our 110 Hitachi this year and bought 2 more PC1250's, was a bad year to do it. One is over at SMS with major downtime, another is parked and the other is just killing time on a job we could have used a 245 on.
Just found your other mention of this and searched it out Yes I saw that article, incredible what that company is doing on a nightshift, well half a shift really For those not in the know a company is rebuilding a European runway. After last flight lands they take possession, breakout and remove the concrete, place new cabling ducts, lay the new tarmac ( levelled with a dozer ) top of with paving machine for finish, new lights installed and open ready for morning flights. :cool2
2 Cat 385C L (ME) from germany, very nice and powerful machines!:drinkup