Thinking about trading my Case 450 in on a Kubota SVL 75. Would like to know the goods and bads on the Kubotas. The Case seems to be a tough machine but I would like to have a tracks and better cab.
Took a trip to the Kubota dealer yesterday and looked at one. Didn't test it but the salesman went through the machine. Looked really good, anxious to hear people comment that have them.
sjm 1580 I see in another thread you are looking for a skid. The Case I have is a good machine and will go through anything with the OTT on it. It is an 07 model with cab I think you could find one in your budget and get the OTT also. I like it better than the others I tried in that price range.
I ran a svl90 the other week for a few hours. Great A/C, comfy seat, lots of leg room for a tall guy. I didnt like very slow boom and bucket hyd, cant see the corners of the bucket, no square heel on the bucket and very short bucket.
I have pretty much ruled out a track machine because of cost. Fun to look at though. I'm with you on a wheeled machine with OTT but am concerned about ground clearance on the machine. For example the Case 220 I was looking at only has 8" of ground clearance. Since the highest elevation in area I live in is 25 feet I am not concerned about steep inclines but would want as much clearance as possible. LOOKING!
smj1580 I wouldn't worry to much about ground clearance I'm clearing a 200 acre locust thicket with mine and no issues. I think these machines are so narrow they don't get hung up. Mud and sand is a different story though. OTT are a must have in mud and deep sand. Mine are from tacks plus and where under 2k.
Thanks, The Case I was looking at sure looks nice for the money. Are putting on the OTT's a PIA?
Getting them set up and adjusted the first time was tuff. I can have them on or off in 20 minutes or less now.
After running both the 75 and the 90 I agree with almost everything you said except for the part about the a/c being great. Maybe it was just the outside temp being too hot when I ran them, but I felt that the a/c was rather mediocre. The dang machines only have vents on the left side of the machine and it left the right side much hotter. It also doesn't keep dust out of the cab. Lots of room though. So much of the machine seems well designed and so much of it seems just like an afterthought such as the cheesy radio and speakers which I found hard to hear because of the cab noise, the tacky wiper washer fluid reservoir location that seems like they ran out of places to jam things so they just screwed it back behind my head, the dumb hyd tank sight gauge located down behind my right foot where you can hardly see it to start with much less look at it while putting hyd fluid in the filler neck located outside of the machine, the oil fill for the engine is ridiculous as are all the openings right into the engine bay from the loader towers not to mention that there is really no half way easy way to clean the loader towers out when debris gets down in there. It seems like a very sturdy frame and chassis with service and comfort being an afterthought. I couldn't imagine spending 8-10hrs in that machine and feeling normal at the end of a workday compared to many other machines on the market.
I hate to hear about dust getting in the Kubota cabs that's my biggest complaint about my Case. I'm working in dust and weeds all the time and it gets irritating after a long day. I looked at a Pressurizer but they want $1,200 for something that might not work. Wheeled machines ate rough riding too.
The 07 cab in your 450 is poor. I traded my 07-465 for a 2014 SV300 primarily because of comfort. The SV300 is faster, loads trucks easier and is much less fatiguing to run, but the main reason is it simply is a pleasure to run, the 465 due mostly to the cab was not in comparison.
I would rate Kubota's cab behind even that of Takeuchi. The current Case cabs are definitely superior to Kubota's cabs, but that damn cab lockout down by my right knee that rattles is insane.
The roll up door of the Tak/Kubota is very handy. The AC is certainly lacking in the Mississippi summer. I'm going to take my 90-2 to my shop to check the machine over and make sure the AC is functioning properly.
Sounds like I might should just seal the cab on my Case again and just run it. I did watch a video that showed the Taks cab drew a vacuum when thhe machine was running. Thats the problem with my cab now. Maybe I should just bite the bullet and try the Pressurizer out. After all this machine is paid for and has no mechanical issues @ 1,250 hours.
The SVL will keep most of the dust out if you flip the AC from recirculate to pulling in air from outside. That cuts down on the airflow somewhat, especially in extremely dusty conditions when the outside air filter plugs. It says to do that in the manual, I learned it for myself pushing up fires. It would literally suck smoke/ash into the cab with it on recirculate. Flipped it to pull from the outside air and it pushed the smoke out and only a minor amount of dust came around the door. That job was dusty enough to plug the air filter in ~8-10 hours. You can make your own pressure system using an air filter housing and a fan/blower. Filter the outside air and shove it in the cab fast enough and you'll make pressure and keep all the dust out. The SVL90 can make a 11-12 ton load in under 6 minutes. A radio in the cab would be nearly pointless, unless you like listening to your music at fairly high volume levels. Something like this "ALL13000 - Allstar Performance ALL13000 Air Blower Motors 12 V 2-Speed Inside Mount" http://pages.ebay.com/link/?nav=item.view&alt=web&id=150775281051&globalID=EBAY-US
Here's some other options I've found. http://www.freshairsystems.com/store/driver-air-blowers/
Lumberjack Thats some good info. I know what you mean about the A/C I have a Kubota 9960 and use the A/C like that when I'm shredding or burning brush. I'm going to look into those fans in the link you provided. The Cabaire model looks nice but is too expensive. I found a really good deal on a cab svl 75 but not sure if I really wanna go into debt on a machine that's not going to help me allot more. I am using it soley for presonal use.
I have a Case TR320, but have run both the SVL75 and 90 quite a bit. Not much to add, but I'm in agreement that the dust control isn't the best and the one-sided a/c kinda sucks. I did run a 90 with dark window tint for a few hours. It seemed to help quite a bit. One thing I'll add about the 75 is the lack of foot room for my size 12's. I subconsciously ended up sitting cross-legged and it messed up my back every time I ran the machine. That never happened in the 90 or the TR. Digdeep - I hear you on the Case's rattling cab lockout. Combine that with the rattling loader arm lockout and shaking of the cheesy window mesh and it's pretty annoying. It ruins what I think is the TR's best feature...the cab. In 100 degree Texas humidity, I rarely have to set the a/c above medium.
I'm not recommending any of those per se, but that's the general gist of the idea. Filtered air blowing into the cab. With a second blower, you could leave the AC on recirculate for more cooling. I don't remember the SVL's air sucking so bad last year, I'm betting there's some debris hiding in the condenser. In typing that, I remember it freezing my left knee when I had the vent blowing on it... I'll take a look at it tomorrow. Good info on the tint, I was thinking that would probably help on both the SVL and KX. I have a size 14, plenty of room in the 90, but I do sometimes cross my legs.
Compared to a true CTL? Everything depends on the machine and how its setup. Good tires go a long way, a REALLY LONG way. People seem to forget that too often. With the right tires I think an SSL will ride better than any CTL with all other things equal (ride control, seat type, machine size, etc). Even the Cat's with the torsion CTL are still a bit rough. At least that was my comparison of the 289D I used compared to our 262D, and the 262 has Tweels which are not the softest. Both had cloth air ride seats and ride control so they are nice riding overall. The MTL machines do ride much nicer though. The Cat D series cab lock rattles so bad I took it off. How do things like this get missed in testing? In the cab of the SVL or in SSL/CTL machines in general? With the right cab you don't need the radio loud. The one in the NH machine we had was pointless, but the newer Cat's are quiet enough that its nice to have. That quiet of a cab is not always a good thing though either, operators don't hear the stuff they smash into as easily. If the air isn't cold, check the condensor first and wash it out good. If it worked good last year and doesn't now, something is wrong. Could be low on freon, but that means it leaked out somewhere and you will need to find the leak at somepoint. Window tint helps out a lot and wouldn't be too expensive to do on one, just need decent lighting at night which most SSL/CTL's don't have, but thats easy to fix.
lots of good info guys. I'm leaning towards just keeping my machine now. Durallymax talked about tire psi wonder what you guys are running at? I keep mine at 40 psi. On the A/C side of things mine has one setting ON. I am going to tint the windows while it's in the shop I think it will help. I really like this skid and it seems tough. I did notice the left chain case was about 1/2 quart over full hope I don't have a leaking drive motor. Thanks for the replies and info on other models.
Tire pressure can effect things somewhat, but the tire construction plays a bigger role in things. Radials (as always) will be much nicer than bias. The right pressure for your application depends on the size, load rating, brand/model, and what you will be doing with it. There's no magic number although without knowing anything, 40psi is a decent pressure for most SSL tires in general applications.
have a new 75 have only put 60 hrs on it,the only thing I don't like is the noise of the under cariage
Looks like I'm going to have to try the Kubota out for myself. I've heard the cabs were super quite but now I'm not so sure. I hadn't heard about undercarriage noise until the last post. I like the new Case track machines the best but we have a really good Kubota dealer here so that goes along way. Right now I order parts from Coleman for my Case. They have great service but it's not the same as walking in and getting the part that day. The closest Case Construction dealer is Scotts and they are about 100 miles away.
For AG treaded tires I run them in the thirties psi range for even wear, much more the centers wear twice as fast as the edges. For weak AC systems painting a dark colored roof (which most skid steers have) with an aluminized reflective roof coating (found in most home depots, lowes, roofing supply centers) will alleviate high cab temps tremendously.
I've stood on a job site and heard the Kubota over two backhoes, a Deere 450 and a skidsteer. They are not quiet, inside the cab or outside.
I'm looking at a used one with 600 hours. They are asking 41k for it. Maybe they let me try it for a few days. I want to get the right one this time.
You obviously havent been around equipment to long,and if you couldnt run the kubota for eight to ten hours without complaining id find another profession
My condensor was packed with junk. Blew it out and the AC is back to keeping up with 100* days.