what brand excavators are the fastest? (hyd speed) What brand is the slowest?
in the 130-140 class Kobelco is fastest by far. I would say cat slowest.I have ran them all in that class
The kobelco SR150 Bladerunner I've been running is very quick...I also think the Deere/Hitachi and newer Komatsus are fast too.
the Deeres are quick, especially with their throttle control thing they have in the smaller hoes...Volvo is decent to, but I would classify Volvo more as in the moderate range for really mini hoes i would say Kubota ranks up there too
hyundai the fastest and doosan the slowest.
There are going to be so many different replys that its probably not worth posting this but I would say out of all the machines I've been on Volvo has the best cycle time to me. But then again I have not been on all the 50 different brands of excavators.
http://www.homedepot.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?storeId=10051&langId=-1&catalogId=10053&productId=100466209&categoryID=500147 Fastest cycle times of them all. 2-3seconds for a full scoop with 90 degree turn. Lower maintenance cost, fits every operate (whether they believe it or not), can be used in a variety of materials and conditions without special attachments.
As far as speed AND smoothness, I'm sold on Komatsu. Hyundai are pretty fast, but jerky, the Cats I've been on were smooth but slower as have been the Hitachi's. I havn't been on a Kobelco in about 8 yrs, so can't really say about them. I do know that a Komatsu will last forever with just the minimum amount of maintenence. We have a 1991 Pc 300-5, that we bought in 2004. It now has 21,000 hours on it. It looks a little beat up, but will fire up anytime, and is still pretty quick. And still has tons of power (it'll pick up rocks bigger than it will handle weight wise). We also have a new pc200-8 (got it in march), and it's the quickest, smoothest machine I've ever ran. Seems to have the most power of the ones I've tried in that class also.
Have to agree with all this. The Komatsu hydraulic system is excellent. It can really make a hero out of a zero. I still don't understand why some guys group all Japanese machines together....lack of experience I guess? A Hyundai is a throw away machine, look at the motor vehicles that they produce. Just the fact that they MAKE motor vehicles tells the story. They don't belong in the conversation with Cat or Komatsu. Cat and Komatsu make heavy industrial equipment: they are serious. They don't make TV's, toasters, cars, vibrators, sawzalls, dishwashers or carburetors for a '74 240Z.
The Hyundai's I've been around have seemed like CHEAP Korean copys of Japanese machines. I ran a 450 Hyundai for a while, it was less than 6 months old (in 2005), and although it had a 60" bucket on it, I could actually load trucks as fast with my old 300 Komatsu with a 44" bucket because of the cycle times. The thing was just amazingly slow, and seemed the hydraulics were weak to me. You could stall the crowd out real easily. Not near as much room to stretch out in the cabs of the Hyundai's either.
Hyundai are or were the last time I heard the biggest ship builder in the world, surely that could be classed as heavy industry. About ten or twelve years ago I worked in Korea for Samsung they supplied my housing and everything in it was made by Samsung, I think it is probably the nature of Korean companies to be into everything. I'm not endorsing their equipment and I wouldn't recomend a pair of boots that have CAT stamped on the side of them, not for work anyway. Have a good one
As far as what I can tell, Hyundai bought Halla, and Halla was the big ship builder, but Halla went bankrupt, and Hyundai bought them. And watch it, my uncle sells Hyundai cars. I always kinda thought that Kato's were rather slow. And to come back to the toaster issue, the East thinks differently to the West; ie they generalize and make lots of things, sometimes not so well, but if one of their many industries goes under, they have back ups. Thats where they get their money.
i own a hyundai 21 tonne excavator and i am really happy with it, also a 16 tonne sumitomo, really happy with that too, i dont think cat is worth the extra money.
Has anyone taken into consideration, the speed of the operator vs. the speed of the actual hydraulics? To me that seems like an important factor to consider.
what is your opinion about Liebher excavators?
I run a hyundai 140 and 160 and they are very fast, the 140 is a little jerky/unstable, but the 160 is fast and rock solid. I havent been on/around a machine in the same size range that can outcycle it. And i agree that it does come down to the operator, a good operator on a 'slower' machine will beat a not so good operator on the hot rod of excavators.
In 1974 Datsun made the 260z . I had one. I don't know who manufactured the carburetors but I replaced them with 3 2 barrel sidedraft Webbers. It flew then. I used it when I was in college. It eventually rusted to nothing. I bought my wife a Hyundai Tuscon and it has been trouble free for 3 years. http://www.thehyway.com/Hyundai_History.htm http://www.fundinguniverse.com/company-histories/Hyundai-Group-Company-History.html
we ran a 320 clu against a linkbelt 225 today and the difference is noticeable. the cat was fast but the operater thought the lb may have been faster. i saw a 345 b series 2 and it was super fast. i think you trade stability and smoothness for super fast machines but also think about your pumps and which brand do they really last. i don't know about kobelco but alot of guys like them. volvo is from the cat, komatsu family if im right, don't know. it's about what you have, that funny somesone says doosan is slow. didn't know
My uncle used to work for a scrap dealer, processor really, and they used Liebherr Material Handlers, and all he ever did was sing their praises. "They are like the BMW of excavators," was his opinion, I wouldn't know, but they really scream out at me as top quality European excavators. And I have no idea where the Hyundai Tucson fits, or the Datsun, as far as excavators go.
a site i am working on at the moment have a komatsu pc 200-6, a kobelco ??? and a Sumitomo sh? 200, the tomo is VERY fast walking speed and not to shabby in the cycle times, the matsu has a very rough (operator??? ) i cringe when i am near him as he has it banging and crashing all over the shop, i have taken some vid clips on my mobile i just need to work out how to get them onto the pc and uploaded onto here.
I wouldn't brag about this. BMW's are VERY high maintenence machines. The virtues you want in a car are definitely NOT the ones you want in industrial equipment. You wouldn't expect, for example, to pay $150,000 for a machine who chassis parts have no grease fittings to increase longevity....
that sounds logical...
Never been in Liebherr excavators....But their mobile cranes are amazing as opposed to Link-Belt.
Why?
Oops!! I think I left a few words out! try this"the cabs are like BMWs." Does that sound any better?
I thot the speed whos most on the operaters not on the excavators is self and also how big it is It is more how fast can you worke and what way do you operate it Abut Liebherr excavators I hat operate som tip of excavators The Liebherr is my faverit and then it is CAT /Polar Bear
Excavator Productivity ? The answers to the ? of speed , fast,quick, slow ,etc mean nothing. The speed of travel, is measured , High range, Slow range in km/hr or mph. The Swing Speed is measured in RPM's as in 10 revolutions per minute . The hydraulic cylinders have specs of of cycle time measured in seconds, for performance. These specifications are published by the manufacturers. If you want to make direct comparisons, then that is the place to go. I found another interesting article about excavator productivity, that takes in account the machine performance, the way it is configured,bucket selection, the operator skill,cycle times, the job site materials and conditions. Lots of variables to take into consideration. Here's a link for further reading. http://www.infolink.com.au/c/Caterpillar-of-Australia/Phillip-Pollock-Productivity-is-key-n755898
As far as I am concerned, productivity has nothing to do with hydraulics, but the operator itself. The human body can only take so much sitting, wrist throwing, ankle movements, etc, as I'm sure you get the picture. In other words, it gets monotonous after a while. Just because the machine has fast hydraulics, doesn't mean it will be the fastest. Once the operator starts to get bored with the monotony of the job, he starts to want to play with an rock, log, barrel, tire, etc, that he digs up or finds on his work area. With that, productivity goes out the window.
Right on Bellboy! Operators that are in the seat too long these days are noticable by late shifts or on Saturday after a long week. It is noticed in crane industry as well, only human nature to tire of same activity. As far as speed on an excavator, I have run Case, Cat, John Deere,Insley, Hopto, International, Kato...(yuck), Komatsu, Kobelco, Hydra Unit, Koehring, Lorain, Poclain, Warner&Swasey,Priestman....and a few more. I can tell you Kobelco 160 seemed to be the fastest and smoothest of the bunch!Working in close proximety to extemely volitile situations in a refinery where I work, the Kobelco gives you the confidence and speed to let -er -rip so to speak without the stress of some of the unpredictable older machines would give......Insley, WS...you get the picture. The newer they are the better they seem to feel in the seat. Some offshoot names are a bit scary, I loaded a few Hyndia,s or howerver they are spelled and other japanese ones that are somewhat obscure and just felt the pressures seemed out of wack, even on the brand new models
Liebherr I'm replying to this thread because of the references to Liebherr-I have spent the last two months on our R914 (210 size) and have owned Komatsu and Hitachi machines as well as driving various Cat,Volvo Daewoo machines. I have never been someone to stand up and proclaim Hitachi are the best or Cat are the best but I can tell you now that Liebherr are quite simply the best as far as excavators go. They are a drivers machine that also burn less diesel compared to the rest and have good residuals as well. I also at the end of the day could not care less if you believe me or not because I have two Liebherrs that have made a huge difference to my bottom line Now to the main topic of this thread-the speed of the machine means diddly squat because there are so many other variations such as has been mentioned earlier like the skill level of the driver. There are other factors like running costs and residuals etc Neil
Any opinions on Kubotas?
Interesting input. How long have you owned these machines, and what is the hourly (factory approved) labor rate for repairs? The reason I ask is that all German machines are NOTORIOUS for excellent quality, BUT at the expense of HUGE maintenance costs because of RIDICULOUS overengineering. All in my opinion, of course.
You would be hard-pressed to find a Kubota owner who is not satisfied, and would tell you that they make the best small excavators in the world. The new 80 that I ran was incredible - like a scalpel - I could make you a bowl of corn flakes with it....even pour the milk.
That rings true with the owners I have met but I can't afford one yet..
John Deere? Not much on JD in this thread. Is that bad? Thoughts on them???
Although I have not driven a heap of different machines, I have noticed a big difference in the feel of my own machine depending on the type of work I am doing. If for instance, I am loading trucks from a hole, and the trucks are positioned so there is very little slewing involved, it seems to take forever to get from filling the bucket to dumping in the truck, but when sitting on a stock pile and slewing 90deg+ while lifting, the same machine seems lightening fast. If I operate on the slow setting all day doing detail work, then switch to power mode, it seems super fast till the novelty wears off. No machine is ever fast enough when you need the speed, and too fatiguing too run at full speed when you don't need it. I used to have a couple of O&K excavators in the early days. An RH6 (18ton) and a RH4 (14ton) The RH4 was lightening fast and the RH6 was real slow. They had a separate slew brake and the slew would just free travel when it wasn't applied. You could get cycle times up by letting the slew freewheel while lifting, but they were scary for an unsuspecting operator who was expecting the slew to stop on it's own when they released the lever. Baz
I'd say that the new hitatchi's are the fastest and volvo's are really good also. The older the excavator gets the slower it will get.
Special Tool My business partner usually drives the 18 ton R317 which we have owned from new and has just had its 3500 hours service by Liebherr at a cost of $1500 including all filters and oils.This is similiar to what a neighbour is paying for his Komatsu 130 and you also have to remember the filters alone amount to $650. The Liebherrs seem to have more filters than the rest which I reckon is no bad thing. The other Liebherr has a similiar service cost. Neil
Good news about it then. I am sure you are right about it having more filters than the rest.
Cycle times for boom up on most excavators up to 40 metric tons is targeted for about four seconds. I've seen many small excavators run at 3.5 seconds and I look for problems when they get up to five seconds. The fastest is not necessarily the best. Most operators can't handle 3.5 second machines without slamming into things or generally beating up the machine. Many find the fast machines to have a significant fatigue factor. One test for an excavator is the amount of fuel used for the amount of material moved. Most mechanics fixing them consider how easy it is to maintain and repair. Most of the owners I know look at life cycle costs. Twenty years ago there were some real dog machines around but today all have gotten so good as to be almost homogenous. Forget about speed because there are so many other factors that make more sense when evaluating these machines.
We run a cat 314clcr which is fast enough and smooth to operate, also have a `94 jcb js 70 (sumitomo) which is really fast, especially when slewing.
Fastest: Caterpillar Slowest:Liebherr
There can be a differnece even between the same machines. I've ran some 160 deeres and got on another one and one be a totally different animal. Cat seemed the slowest but had fast boom up times. And the older kobelco's untill the acera seem slow and weak as well as case/link-belt. The komatsus and volvo seemed very quick esp the komatsu. But both were on the weak side when it came to arm in/out . To me if the case ran as good as it looked that would be a mean machine... But its funny just the differences between us on here that some say were slow and which were fast. I hated the 345b's and esp the 350's Cats. I guess all in all they all beat the crap out of a shovel :thumbsup
It's only as good as the operator Cycle time, A wile back I was talking about merging pumps to a company that does just that and the guy tells me that the Korean built machines use 100% of what the machine is capable of putting out. And the Japan along with the rest use 80% of what the machine is capable of. I also think a good operator can make a slow excavator look good, and a bad operator need to go down the road. A good operator doesn't have to ever brag, will work all day and get steady production. I can't stand the jackrabbit and then stop guys. The end result (cycle time) is number of trucks loaded in a day, or cubic yard moved in a day, Lenial feet of trench. I think Komatsu sets a real good mark.
The fastest excavator is the Hitachi 350!
No way! my duck will leave that for dead on the flat, 30kph
You wont Beat Kamatsu Hydromind Hydraulic system No1 you get dual pump flow to the AXILARY CIRCUT as standard equipment thats 70Gals per min V 45gals from Cat if you run attachments (Hoeram) Etc. No2. no function is compromised, when you pull the leavers, swing,bucket,boom functions are still responcive. As for Lebhir I never liked electric over hydraulic controls, you dont have the same feel as piolot controls.
I ran a brand new Cat 336 today. Very Impressive machine! Needs a little bit more counter weight though. Very nice for the operator, (come on the thing checks the engine oil, hydraulic fluid and the coolant fluid by its self). Auto a/c, radio, and a compartment for your lunch cooler. Fairly fast, not quite as fast as the new Hitachi 350's. The Komatsu's are pretty nice as well. Not a real smooth machine but it gets the job done. The thing that impresses me the most is the cameras on them. If you could figure out how to hook a dvd player to the screen you would be set. The undercarriage is very strong on the Komatsu's too.
i liked the speed of the komatsu.. doosan seemed very slugish, and i like the speed of deeres... very controlable yet can get stuff done
Darry, I have been setting up dual flow systems since 1995 as part of our service for our clientele and I do it on all brand of excavator except Komatsu for reasons outlined earlier. In a past life I was associated with an up and comming Korean brand, as far as I know there were no Korean machines factory built that gave a two pump flow to the axilary circut. It is only in the past year that other Japanese manufactures are offering this as an option. You can view some of my work on youtube under the heading of twin rocksaws.
does anyone know how to install the final drive planetary reduction gear on a Halla 300 excavator