here's my story my 2700q had a cab fire and the insurance company totaled it so looking to replace it. fond a CAT 315BL how wood the cat compare to the linkbelt . and has anyone done any business with M. Adams co. in Rockford IL
First off I'm guessing it's half the size
actually there both 160 size machine around 35000#. there both in the same year range. what I was looking for with my question was has anybody run both which one seems faster. my 2700 was lite on the back with a thumb coupler and 42'' bucket and 10' stick does the cat have better or worse stability. the 2700 always seemed lite on track power was cat any better. the 2700 has good fine control for lifting and setting pipe. the linkbelt 2700q is the same as a case 9020b. case has a Cummins motor linkbelt has a Isuzu. also looking at a 1998 DEERE 160 LC so same questions there. the reason were thinking cat is parts would be faster to get then the other brands. thanks
Burned Link-Belts are not uncommon. I can't remember the last Cat excavator that I have seen that caught fire. The Cat has a refined diagnostic system for the electronics package. All the Quantum series Link-Belts had a very basic system. The pumps and hydraulic systems are basically the same but the Cat has a different set of control governors which is tied to the control valves a little differently. You can usually get parts from a Cat dealer a whole lot faster than you can from a Link-Belt dealer. The Link-Belt dealer in this area carries very few parts and nails you on shipping charges for what the local Cat dealer always has in stock. While the Case and the Link-Belt are the same machine you will always get static from the opposite dealer as to what parts can be used in which machine. As I recall the Cat and Link-Belt have nearly the same undercarriage. I'm not an operator so I can't tell how they are operationally. Since they are both made in Japan with many of the same components I can't see as there would be much difference. As I recall the 160 Deere is a hybrid of Hitachi and Deere components. Hitachi electronics with Deere hydraulics. Most people in this area thought they were good machines. It's just that the machines of that vintage are all worn out now.