We have three Cat skid steers. A 246B and two 262b's. I am looking at purchasing another used one. I know a little about the b series but what is the difference between the series? I am considering a very low hour 262 that is ten years old, a 242b with 1500 hours, and a 262C with about 800 hours. Suggestions or recommendations on what each new series offers for improvements.
New to the Cat scene, but recently purchased two 242B3s and a 262C. If I could take the feel and response of the pilot controls and put them into the C's EH controls we would all be happy campers around here. The C is by far the nicer skid steer except for the most important part, the controls. It doesn't let you do what you want, only what it wants to do. we are supposed to be getting a software update for it that came out last summer to help the controls response. We will see if that helps. We do have AMICS on the machine. With the sensitivity all the way down it actually seems to react a little quicker because the further and faster you throw the stick, the slower it responds so having the sensitivity turned down actually helps. Aside from the control issue, which I have yet to form a 100% opinion on until we get the update, The C series is a nice improvement in many ways. The Cab and boom are the main things I notice. Much much better visibility, really was surprised how good it actually was, easier ingress/egress as the door is very large and the seat and floor are elevated much higher so instead of climbing way up, then plopping back down into a whole, you climb up and stay up i think this also helps alot with the visibility. The Cab is very quiet and keeps the dirt out well on ours. Pull-n-go door handles always make life easier. The creeper gear actually does come in handy from time to time. The step to turn around on before entering cab is much larger, the controls move with the air ride seat and can adjust for different arm lengths The bolts for tipping the cab are a little easier to get at. However, I will say if you are a bigger person, there isnt much room. There is enough leg room and headroom for tall people but the armrests don't accomodate wider rear ends and the lap bars don't like big legs. For some reason to me the pins seem really low to the ground. To put any of our buckets flat on the ground with the boom bottomed out, the front end always seems to be in the air. The hydraulic tank fill kind of sucks. They say you can top off the system at the cooler, but to fill much more than a couple quarts to put it in the tank. They put the tank fill under the cab though, requiring you to flip the cab. However I have skinny arms and long fingers and can wiggle my way in there to get the cap off and use a 5 gallon pail pump with a j end on it to reach in there without flipping cab. I would suggest driving and playing with a C first to see if you like it. I think you would get used to the delay of the controls if you had all C's. But having to go back and forth like we do makes it hard.
EH? AMICS? Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk 2
sorry. EH= Electro-Hydraulic Controls. Fly-by-wire. Sticks simply control functions through wires. Almost every brand has these either standard or optional. Most offer a pattern changer to go from ISO-H. AMICS= Advanced Machine Information and Control System. It allows you to adjust sensitivity of the controls , gives you a creeper speed that you can adjust the speed for, digital RPM gauge, analog Coolant and Hydraulic Temp gauges and allows for other add-ons such as laser leveling.