G'day guys just wondering if any of you guys are using Kato machines today? and if not why? when you consider they where the first true excavators makes me wonder why they died off they are all but gone in Australia i know in china they are still strong but not what they should be when you consider how strong komatsu is here.
If they once had a good name for sales, service and parts they must have thought it would keep them going, if I want Cat, Kom parts there is a factory dealer network, Kato only have dealers, getting parts for them is not easy. i posted on here once for links to kato parts suppliers and did not get one reply. Kato Australia distributor said our unit was not imported into Aus so bad luck, its in PNG. Kato Aus dealer also has fingers in many other pies. So no factory network, poor spares supply, = poor sales when the competition is out there pushing hard. You can sell anything is you advertise and push it, but you cant rely on sales just because you once had a good name.
well i understand the one or 2 dealers left in aus. and they are bs artist trying to rip everyone on parts my biggest business in parts nearly is KATO parts. back home also in australia komatsu dealers are not factory direct who ever told you this is BSing you when i go to japan at the machinery auctions iam bidding against komatsu australia. sure they get the new machines from komatsu but they are not factory direct they are not owned by Komatsu Japan. just look at KUEC.
I don't know about first true excavators and what came here to the states was just plain crap. I worked for the dealer in my area for a short time and found the brand to be lacking in everything, design, quality and product support. I would be happy if the last one on earth was in Australia and not here.
Yair . . . I'm not an excavator hand but I ran 750 and 1100 Kato's odd times back in the early seventies. We had issues with cracked sticks which I was payed to fix. Biggest problem was the the chain drive walking gear. Apart from that they worked well enough and I believe an 1100 Kato is now going to be the basis of the custom built machine I mentioned on another thread. A contractor here is so @#ssed off with his newer machines that he is building a remote area rig with no electronic or pilot controls . . . the only electric he needs will be for lights and to run the starter. Cheers.
Well I will try it this way, Cat and kom dealers generally? are exclusive to that brand, the touted kato dealer in Aus is selling lots of brands of equipment and quite possibly the reason for this is to have access to good pricing and spare parts so they put that equipment into their hire company fleet that they purchased 5 or so years ago.
KATO must still have it going on somewhere with the first trackhoe design: http://www.kato-works.co.jp/eng/products/shovel/r01.html
im looking for the spec plate on are Kato if any one can help me it would greatly be appreciated
i found it out
I don't believe Kato were the "first true excavators". I presume you're talking hydraulic excavators. They might have been the first Japanese hydraulic excavators. JCB had hydraulic excavators before the Japs produced any. The JCB-7 excavator, which used the basic design we all know now, for excavator design today, appeared around 1964. Kato probably left Australia because better excavators became available - firstly Komatsu, then Hitachi. The early Katos were clunky and crude and not particularly reliable. A good dealership setup, and good parts and service backup, are important to a brands survival - as well as a good product. Kato had none of these requirements, and they did not produce vastly improved models to match the excellent models from other brands.
Okay Oz, if you are going to resurrect the long-dead, I'll join in. When did Koerhing make their 1st one? They are the oldest around here. If somebody asked me what happened to Kato before I read this thread, I would have said I thought somebody like Kobelco had absorbed them, since I have never seen one less than 25-30 years old.
Actually Cat dealers are not exclusive to only Cat. We are a dealer of over a dozen different brands of different types of equipment. None are direct competitors of Cat.
Mitch504 - I'm not right up with Koehring history, but according to Keith Haddock and Eric Orlemann, the hydraulic Koehring 505 model was introduced in 1963. It was apparently available as a hoe configuration, or as a face shovel - which Koehring called the "Skooper". Further research shows that Poclain are claiming the introduction of the first hydraulic tracked excavator, in 1960. That is quite possibly correct - but Poclain did not venture with sales outside France for a long time, so they did not become known on a wider scale, until they commenced worldwide distribution in the late 1960's. Here's a gem of a piece of originally 8mm film, from 1964, showing a Skooper in operation. It looks like a pretty productive little machine, despite the enormously complex boom and dipper setup. The guys that designed that setup must have studied geometry until sunup every day! The Skooper hydraulics speed, and swing speed, are pretty impressive for that era. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O2BXzV_8glc
Lots of katos made it to nz in the 70s and 80s. In fact they were 2nd in sales here behind hitachi. At that time they had a excellent dealer here and that was probably there greatest feature. Unfortunatley the dealership foundered in the turmoil of the mid 80s here and the brand slowly dissapeered. The brand was resurected here around 2008 and many were sold particuarly in the 12 ton size. A great purchase price was probably there selling point. But out of all the 1970s vintage machines still around on cockies farms in nz would be by far more katos still running than any others. With UH hitachis in 2nd place and 200 series cats next. Have operated new 7-12-23 ton katos over last 5 years and imho performed just as well as same sized cats or hitachis. BUT there sales and parts backup is poor to say the least. pity as i thought these size machines were quite well made. Alot of there owners will probably go with doosan or hyundai machines in the future as these 2 korean machines dealers have very good backup here. Also know that kato slld alot of hydraulic cranes here. One of the few japanese manufacturers to do so. But they had a different dealer who suppoted the crane sales until they too expired. Also agree with what scrub said i think there is a market for a good simple hydraulic excavator that is not riddled with excess electronics. Some people here are advertising cheap no frills chinese excavators like this here. Question is who will be brave enough to try them. Although the agent for one brand is a major excavator hire company. So that brand will get alot of exposure in there hire fleet. Time will tell peoples opinions of them.
First Hydraulic Excavator....... Unless someone has definitive proof an all hydraulic excavator existed before 1943.....then a GRADALL is the first all hydraulic excavator ever built. The prototype (partial hydraulic) existed in 1940, volume production started in 1945. The actual first all hydraulic GRADALL is being restored to operating condition in Maine. It is mounted on a Linn half track carrier that is also being restored to operating condition.
BSAA65LB - We all know Gradalls were the first truck-mounted excavators. What is being discussed, is - who had the the first crawler-track-undercarriage-mounted excavator, that set the design we all know today for hydraulic excavators.
Actually, the first all hydraulic GRADALL was track mounted, the carrier was a Linn half track carrier. Rubber tires in the front, crawler tracks under the excavator. Crawler mounted machines became available from about 1952, Yumbo or Liebherr had crawler mounted conventional excavators at least in proto form in the late 1940's.
Well, anyone can produce a prototype, and try to see if it works - but I consider that Poclain and JCB were the first to have a commercially-successful excavator - in the market, and selling, and working successfully. Here's a couple of pics of a JCB-7 we hired in 1967, with the brother and the operator standing alongside it in one. We were contracted to dig some exploratory pits, looking for magnesite. The excavator was several years old at that time. http://i45.tinypic.com/29cq3h1.jpg http://i50.tinypic.com/imothd.jpg
The JCB 7 was based on the Warner & Swasey Hopto 300. The 300 dates from the late 50's as both a crawler and truck mounted machine. The YUMBO was probably the first conventional, the Bruneri brothers did build some machines late 49 into 1953 or so. They sold their patents and manufacturing rights to SACIM in France in 1954. Poclain produced a machine about 1951. The Liebherr claim is shaky, they may have produced a handful of machines, but they were mainly into the tower crane business early on.
hi JGS KAL IS 100/ KOMATSU=JAPAN USED EQUIPMENT import for them self, for resale
hi =Bala KAL is 100%Komatsu japan used equipment import for resale for them self not machines in aust
Hi All, I found this site while looking for Kato spare parts and noticed the conversation seem to drift to, "Who made the first, true (hydraulic tracks, continuos slewing) excavator."? No one has mentioned the Hymac??? I believe this was the first. Made in Wales. I drove one in 1966, a 480 I think, and it was pretty old and in 1967 they bought me the new model, the 580. Now I'm not saying they were briliant by todays standard but they were certainly impressive when they came out. Least of all was they way it could be loaded on and off a low-loader, over the side with no assistance and in about 20sec. Anyway my Kato is a HD510E and I'm looking for a bonnet cover/hood. Any ideas from you experts? I'm in NSW Australia and yes, I have rung BT. But I'm not holding my breath for a reply.
found this on google http://www.ritchiewiki.com/wiki/index.php/Hydraulic_Excavator#The_Poclain_Hydraulic_Excavator
wow i just looked at the post back from the grave