Hello HEF Members, I recently purchased a CAT 325 NextGen excavator. When I was ordering I specifically asked for a CAT pin grabber coupler. My rationale was 2-fold. My personal experience has shown me how reliable these things are. I have one on my '03 CAT 315 CL excavator and it has about 9,000 hours on it now. It has not given me any trouble until just recently which required rebuild of the cylinder. I have used it during severe applications including hammering, crusher bucket operations (tool weighs 5k#), excavation in shot rock/bedrock conditions, along with general digging as well. I also have a close friend who has been using them on larger applications (CAT 330, 336, and 345 excavators) and he specializes in hammering, etc. as well. Over the years he has been using them I have witnessed the the performance that he has experienced as well. Recently he has told me that CAT has changed their coupler design, and that he no longer uses the CAT couplers due to them being susceptible to breakage. I was hoping that the change in coupler, and any subsequent issues would be in the larger excavator class that he uses and not the medium size that I use. After taking delivery of the 325 last week I have noticed that the coupler has changed just as he had said. My friend has told me that CAT couplers used to be made by Miller, and that he unloaded any newer style CAT coupler and has replaced them with Millers. Can anyone here verify this claim? When I bought my Deere 245G (back in 2017) it came with a JRB coupler. Even at that time he told me that I should have gotten the Miller but the JRB looked almost exactly like the CAT pin grabber that came on my '03 315 CAT. It was a little bit different in that it had another (2nd) locking mechanism for the front pin and not just the back pin. Now that I have searched Miller pin grabbers it appears that JRB and miller have partnered up somehow as the JRB is exactly the same as the Miller, save for the name. Without even knowing it, it looks like I did get the miller on the 245G and, so far, it has also held up well in those same applications (for 2,400 hours). All that being said, I'm asking HEF members: Who made CAT pin grabbers until this recent change? Who makes them now? If any member has had any issues with the newer CAT pin grabber couplers? Would I be smart to replace the coupler? If so, which brand (Miller, Rockland, JRB, Whomever used to make CAT couplers)?
On top of what I heard from my friend....Yesterday we had our post delivery orientation (from the dealer) for the 325. I had been having trouble getting the coupler to work so I asked the trainer to show me how the coupler worked (thinking I must have been doing something wrong). He couldn't get it to work right either. After plenty of messing with it the coupler made a pretty loud "POP" noise and then the wedge started to disengage. Then, after he re-engaged the bucket, the warning alarm wouldn't shut off (even though it looked fully engaged) until he shut the machine off. Sheesh! That didn't give me much to feel confident about. The coupler is also stamped with the infamous "MADE IN CHINA" note as well!
We've broken every one here. Geith, JRB, Cat (all 3 versions), JB Hendrix, Werk-brau. Come to think of it, we haven't broken a Strickland, yet. The Miller BUG, ie. the first generation Cat pin grabber, would "football" the cylinder and/or destroy the seals in the solenoid valve. The 2nd generation will shear the saddle bolts and/or sheer the saddle pins. Sometimes when the saddle bolts break, the cylinder would crush its external piping against the arm boss. Both versions require the fittings to be sheared to "more easily" replace a damaged hose. And they too can destroy the solenoid seals. The 3rd iteration requires one link pin to be removed and the coupler swung down simply to remove the access covers, to tighten the loose hose connections, and replace the O-rings. JB Hendrix couplers would fail the cylinder check valve or have early rod scoring. The JRB ones would shear the roll pin retaining the jaw pivot pin. The Geith would shear the limit bolts through the springs. Werk-brau jaws wear out prematurely, albeit they were one size only pin grabbers, not multi-fit. As for the cab buzzer staying on, that has zero to do with the coupler make or version. The buzzer stays on until the ECM sees a rise in curl pressure, or it runs on a timer after reactivating. It has zero to do with the actual position of the coupler jaws. The "pop" and then release typically only happens on certain pin spreads. The Miller BUG had Cat instructions to shorten the gravity lock bar. Not sure on the 3rd generation Cat couplers as to how the safety works.
Heymccall, very impressive coupler resume! My first Strickland coupler on my new Taki 257 was bad from the factory. How it got past the PDI from Taki and the dealer I will never know, took me 1 min. to realize that it was jacked up. Once they could point the finger at Strickland as the issue (cylinder would not retract fully). Strickland sent a new cylinder out and all is good so far.
I forgot to mention that the manual states that the CAT coupler should not be used for high vibration applications. I guess that rules out the hammer, the crusher bucket, and the ho-pac. Thanks for posting. You certainly don't paint a very pretty picture. If I may.... What is your application? Size of carrier? Soil conditions? Tools being used on the coupler? How many hours are you getting from them prior to failure? Are you running Strikland couplers in your fleet now? What coupler would you recommend for my application (hard rock excavation, 5,500# hammer, crusher bucket, ho-pac)? My 315CL coupler is from '03. Which generation of CAT coupler would that be? Maybe I was just lucky. I had no issues for about 9,000 hours and then the cylinder stopped working. On the bigger hoes we re running a 5,500# Toku breaker. This is on the upper end for the class of carrier we are using. The 245G weighs in at 60k#. The 325 is about 64k#. Toku said they recommend a 4,000# hammer for the 245. CAT said we could go bigger but they also recommend a 4,000# tool. Since we are running a larger hammer than that I would think the stresses are a bit more severe, which, in turn, can make coupler reliability even more critical.
Caterpillar 1st gen, Miller bug, has gravity (and spring pack) lock bar inboard. 2nd gen has safety latch over stick pin, and the cylinder is on rockers with saddles retained by Allen headed bolts. 3rd gen has safety latch and two steel plates concealing the cylinder when viewed from the top.
My '03 CAT 315CL has the first Gen coupler. The 325 came with 3rd Gen. If you have time to type, I'd love to see your answers to my other questions.