Looking at buying a mid 90s dresser 200. It has several leaks around the foot pedals and joystick. Are there seals available and how difficult is it to fix? Owner also said to run the throttle 3/4 to full to prevent issues with the hydrostatic drive. Is this accurate?
I've never had a 200 dresser, but running a hydro machine at 3/4 throttle is not right.
I test drove it and kept it just alittle above idle and it seemed to work fine., but he insisted that it needed to be ran at 1/2 or 3/4 throttle to keep it from going bad?
Ok, I read this wrong. It should be ran at about full throttle, I'm suprised it did anything at less than 3/4. I wouldn't be to worried about those seals, like I said I've never owned a 200, but I expect you wouldn't have any trouble getting them. What part of the state are you in?
Try running a zero turn mower at 1/2 throttle. You'll be 3 days doing a 30 minute job. Engineers design these things to run at full governed RPM. This helps with cooling as well. At lower rpms the pumps can't put out proper pressures .
The 200s would operate smooth at a lower rpm unlike a Cat loader that will not hardly do anything at low rpm. I can assure it was not designed to operate that way under loads or for extended periods for the reasons that dickjr stated above. As I said in your other thread these machines operated very well but most of these machines had hydro-static drive problems and could be very unreliable, most likely the reason Dresser discontinued the machine. There are very few of these machines around but I did see this one on a job a while back.
I really do appreciate all the replies. I think the parts finding are the biggest concern now. Hate to say it but I just don't know what i'm looking at and don't want to buy a big yard ornament. Thanks again
Before you buy it talk to berry tractor and or Road builders equipment in Springfield about parts availability. They should be helpful if anyone can be.
The IH, Dreeser, Dressta thing. The short story, the machine/brand started out as the I-H (International Harvester) brand, then it became Dresser. Somewhere along the line Komatsu purchased the brand, mainly to help with entering the market here in the USA to compete with established brands, Cat, Deere, etc. At some point Dresser became Dressta. By now Komatsu had established themselves with their own product and no longer needed Dresser/Dressta. They've since moved to distance themselves from the brand as Dressta is now it's own entity company here in the US. However, there is an agreement between Komatsu and Dressta to continue to support the product with parts via the Komatsu dealers. How long this agreement will last I don't know, but at some point Komatsu will be shed of Dressta entirely and support must come from Dressta in Katy Texas. The question then will become if Dressta can last sharing market share with Cat, Deere, Case, etc.