This question is similar to others out there right now but I would like to hear about Kobelco excavators specifically. I am looking at 4-5 thousand hour 160’s and 210’s for sale in the 02 to 06 year range. Like anything some people have had good and some bad experiences. I would just like to here what people have to say about Kobelco as I consider this purchase. Where are they made? What other brands do they build? How are parts?
no complaints on Australian delivered machines, not sure if they are all built in the same place
Nothing wrong with a Kobelco. My perference would be one with the Mitsubishi engine over the Cummins 6B...... longer engine life and easier on fuel. Parts availability is very good if you have a good dealer. Kobelco and todays New Holland excavators are almost one and the same machines. Kobelco built the Utani machines as well. They are a Jap built machine but now have a assy plant in Georgia IIRC. I spent almost 10 years serviceing them and they would be my first choice.
:iagree some of the smaller ones also us isuzu engines, they have a far good presance in Ireland, but dealers have been a problem in the past! have it fairly well sorted now! If you have a fairly close dealer you should have no problems!
I forgot about the little ones with Isuzu engines...... we never sold many small ones. Our market was 160s and up.
I have had poor experiences with parts, they tell us a water pump is coming out of Chicago to us in Toronto but we don't see it for 3 weeks, parts prices are like Volvo they are simply outrageous, the cummins engine iscosts about one third of the cost of the mitsubishi to rebuild or repair. I find them an O k machine dependability wise, but when it beaks downtime and parts costs can kill you. P S all of the manufacturers say they have plants or warehouses in the U S but when it comes to parts delivery most of them fail. If product support is an issue ( which it should be ) then nobody can compete with Cat followed by Deere / Hitachi and Komatsu. Why are you so stuck on Kobelco? you have a family member that sells them
Why am I stuck on Kobelco....... 1 overnight parts availability if order is placed by 3am est time 2 In a side by side demo we never lost a machine sale to anyone over machine performance 3 Easy to repair compaired to some other excavators on the market 4 10 years experience has shown me no major flaws in the machines 5 Average sales of 120 excavators a year made us the largest Kobelco dealer in the USA....... you dont achieve that by selling junk. Komatsu and Deere/Hitachi are great machines and rival a Kobelco. I never saw a Cat yet that can hold it own on a job site demo against a equal sized Kobelco.
Hello Everyone, I ran Kobelco Excavators from 91 to 99 diging sewers and basements. The company I worked for left the maintinece up to an over worked operator, most could care less some changed oil on ocassion of slow work the machiens were ran 2000 hrs a year. They held up good till 7-8000 hrs then were breaking down and were traded in. My opinion with proper matinance I could see 10000 hrs.
hi wsw, which dealer are you dealing with in ontario? i hope it's not Robert Green Equipment Sales Ltd. if it is, please voice your concerns with me (adam) next time you call in for parts, i'll look into our short comings and see where we can improve. we carry, on-hand, quite an extensive inventory. as far as cummins engine parts, the parts can be purchased directly from Cummins themselves and if you are not dealing with us maybe you should try next time you're looking for parts 905-888-9070 cheers!
I don't have a lot of time on kobelco's, lots of time on hitachi & Deere. I rented a kobelco 350 for a sewer main job & was impressed. All seemed as it should, fuel usage wasn't too bad, plenty of snort. The swing speed & power was very impressive. Put your seat belt on, or it'll throw you out of the door.
I looked at and ran a SK160. Seemed well built, smooth and fast. Ended up passing on it. I found a 315C L in very similar condition for the same money. Came down to Cat has two service men within 20 miles of me and overnight parts drop a mile from my shop. Kobelco parts and service 75 miles away.