Looking to purchase a cat 305. I know newer models have emissions, but I have a hard time paying more for an older machine with more hours and is generally in worse condition. Should I stray away from an E or E2 series 305? A friend of mine has a 305C and it’s been good to him with minor issues, but anytime I find one of those, it’s pretty much destroyed or across the country, and priced as much as a 305E/E2. I tried to find information out on them, as far as common issues, but there don’t seem to be any. The one I’m looking at is listed as a 2015 and currently has 4700 hours and the serial is CAT0305EJH5MO1334. As best I can tell in the photos, it’s hard to see the beginning of it with the paint and glare. I’d be using this on my personal property, so the hours would likely not add up fast, but I don’t want to buy something that is going to take all of my money in repairs.
Ended up buying this machine. Can anyone tell me the factory specs for it?
Well I have a 305E2 H5M series and it's been a great machine. It's a 2018 I bought in 2021 with 1100 or so hours on the clock. Bought out of our Cat dealers fleet. It now has close to 3K hours on it. Recently purchased a '24 305 with all the bells and whistles. Here's the sales spec sheet. https://s7d2.scene7.com/is/content/Caterpillar/C10349229 Congrats on the purchase love the 305's.
Appreciate the feedback! I’m hoping this one is going to serve me well. What oil weight are you running? This machine didn’t come with the operation manual so I can’t look it up. And Google is quite unhelpful.
You're welcome. For our weather 15W-40. IIRC it's a Mobil that meets Cat spec. Buy it in 55 gal drums.
Thanks! I want to do a full service on it to give it a baseline and I know the emission diesels are picky about oil. Now to find out it nige will chime in with all the intricate information he is always able to pull up. Haha.
You rang......... You can download one from Cat in 5 minutes or less. Go to the Cat Pubs web site, put SEBU9418 in the box and click Search. The illustration below should pop up. Alternatively search the usual online marketplaces for SEBU9418, but I don't see anything just at this moment. regarding engine oil for PA you're probably looking at a 10W-30 or something even lighter. When I get time a bit later I'll pull up the spec of your particular Serial Number.
As usual. You’re a Wealth of information. Thank you! I’ll probably end up buying the paper one so I don’t have to rely on a computer, however, being able to “search” a document has its advantages!
Buy a pdf download, then print it. get the best of both workds that way, and for less. You can also get a genuine OEM paper version for less from HERE
Here's the as-built config of the machine.
Thank you Nige! I think the camera was wiped off. Since I see it should be on there, and I don’t recall seeing it on the cab. Which doesn’t surprise me. I am going to pick it up here in a day, so it’s going to get a full service and cleaning. I’m going to get one of those manuals and check out that link you sent me. I’ve been running around like crazy today.
I double-checkd the engine oil viscosity recommendation. 10W-30 covers an ambient temperature range from 0 to 120 DegF. I think that sould work.
Appreciate it. I am going to pick that up tomorrow. I think that’s what’s in my 287 as well
Got all the parts picked up and got the machine today. I have ZERO clue when it was last serviced. Nothing in the monitor and nothing on the filters anywhere. The air and oil filters had a date, 7-31-23 and 7-23-23. But they said 36 hours and PM1. Which makes no sense to me since it has 5041 hours on it. ET says it’s got 5051 on it through the computer. It’s got a HINT of coolant smell from the engine area but nothing is showing up as leaking anywhere, so I topped the coolant off and we will see how it does. Changed the oil today, and going to do the fuel filters and hydraulic filter hopefully in the next day or two. I found the owners manual behind the seat! The wiper motor was with it, and so was the outside mirror. Has newer CAT tracks on it and seems to have been cared for. The company I bought it from only had it for 300 hours, they are a reseller and rented it out for those 300 hours. According to them, they never serviced it? Does anyone know where the AC ports are? I can only find the one port under the side door down low. The camera is there, but doesn't show an image on the screen, is there anyway to diagnose that issue?
I did some research and I saw it was said you couldn’t split the HVAC box inside the machine. Well, you can split it…. Found a mountain of dirt on the evap, which I expected, so I vacuumed it all off then blew a pile of air through it. It looks to be fairly clean now, and some of the fins have rotted due to constant dirt contact. But the cores look okay. Found lots of glass, also no surprise, but hopefully after giving this thing some love, it’ll not give me any issues. Found the A/C ports, and charged the A/C. It was empty. But had a VERY little amount of pressure in it. I’ll see how long that charge lasts, and if it lasts a long time, I’m not too worried about charging it every few years. If it doesn’t last, that just means it’s easier to find a leak… Did all the services, and changing the hydraulic filter kind of sucks. Fuel filter hadn’t been changed in a long while either. Figured that the camera is the issue, since the camera has power and ground, but isn’t showing on the monitor. The coolant hose on the heater core had a little dampness, so that was as easy as tightening the clamp. Which I’m pretty sure that’s the coolant smell at the engine, is the heater hoses need to be snugged up or cut off and put back on. The radiator needs blown out as well, which also is no surprise. Hopefully I can get most of that done here today or tomorrow so I can put this thing to work. I also found an old equipment report sheet under the HVAC ducting. For Kelvic Construction Co. Ironically, he has the same name as me. Haha Overall, I was prepared for all of this, I knew it needed it all going into it. Only thing I missed was a tiny 1” crack on the main boom. I’ll have to keep an eye on it and make sure it doesn’t get bigger. I’ll probably gouge it out and weld it up here in a few months when I’ve got some more time.
I will link a thread here that is a perfect example of how not to repair a boom crack, although I suspect your crack is of a much more minor variety. You only get one chance to do it right and if you squander that opportunity it could bite you in the rear big style at a later date. What most people don’t do is gouge/grind far enough to guarantee that all traces of the crack are eliminated, or if necessary cut a hole in the structure to allow for access to grind/weld the inside. Applying liberal amounts of “butter” to the outside is not the definition of a successful crack repair. I would also suggest that you remove the boom for welding. Not hard on a machine the size of your. That allows you to manipulate it so that the welding is always done in the most suitable position which gives you the best chance of success. HeavyEquipmentForums
I can agree. I inspected the rest of the boom, and you can see its been welded on the opposite side as well. The older models had a gusset there, so I assume Cat was cutting costs and removed the gusset... Most people don't dig enough, thats for sure. Thankfully its low on the boom, and easy to get to from the ground. Ill try and get a photo of it, but its very minor like you said. It isn't one of those huge cracks that is glaring at you from a distance. haha I glanced at that thread, and he broke the casting?! Welding cast is a nightmare. Thankfully mine is in regular steel.
Please do. Photos are always good. However a word of caution. What seems to be almost insignificant from the outside can be something much larger festering unseen on the inside.
Also agreed I’m going to monitor it and see what it does. Seems to be failure during the original welding process, judging by the location and other side of the boom
One thing often overlooked on those is the oil in the final drives. If they throw up it’s thousands to repair. Wouldn’t hurt a thing to change them every oil change. I care for a couple of those and the only real issue they’ve had is not keeping the final drives happy and the HVAC box clean which you’ve discovered.
Good call. For the quantity of oil in those finals it wouldn’t break the bank to change it at every engine oil change.
Whoever "weld-repaired" that originally make a right dog's breakfast of it IMO. For a successful repair it needs a good bit of gouging, grinding, loads of preheat (especially considering that it butts up to a casting), then welded oversize, every pass needle-gunned after laying it down, and lastly ground back smooth. Depending on whether or not the casting has a lip inside over which the boom box-section fits there might be a necessity to cut an access hole in the box to gain access to the inside of that plate. It will be awfully difficult to get sufficient fusion in the root of the V-groove without blowing a hole right through it.
This is a great point. I’ll get some and change them. It’s good to know they are relatively dependable. I didn’t even think the end of the boom is cast. Yay…. Might be a job for someone else as I can stick weld, but I don’t have any rods and I’m not a stick welder type of guy. Haha. However, yeah, the “fix” isn’t great. I was hoping they dug it out. But probably didn’t.
Generally all (Cat at least) booms have cast sections at the foot and nose with a box structure in between. Sometimes the cylinder mounts in the centre of the boom are also cast. The castings will be steel, not cast iron, so should be easily weldable provided sufficient pre-heat is put into it.
Good to know! I’ve seen the cast for the cylinders. But never paid attention to the ends. Think a MiG would be sufficient?
I also can’t find the pins for the doors. The upper pin seems to have gone missing and has a smaller diameter pin in it, and it kinda messes with the door latch to keep it open. Any idea on where to find that pin?
Are you talking about the pin in the hinge.? If so it's highly unlikely to be sold separately, only as part of a hinge assembly. As always, photos tell the story.........
Yeah. Thats what I need. I’ll have one made, or I’ll make one then. No need to weld a new hinge on
@Junkyard Good call on the final drives. The oil that came out was extremely thick, and horrible smelling, probably the worst gear oil I've smelled in years. It didn't have any major metallic color, or flakes, or chunks, but the oil picked up with a magnet, so it was WAY overdue. Thanks for the heads up, as I wasn't even thinking of the final drives. @Nige Thank you for all the assistance, I appreciate it more than you can imagine. I was able to finally use the 305 the other day and it runs like a new machine now. Much better than it did when we first loaded it on the trailer. The coolant smell was the heater hoses weeping. I tightened the clamps up and the smell is gone, and the ends of the hoses are no longer dark looking from coolant weepage. I am going to monitor that crack in the boom, and if it grows at all, I will be making a phone call to a local guy that does a lot of weld repair to heavy equipment and have him gouge both sides and weld them up proper. The radiator was also pretty well packed with dust, so I am assuming that was the overheat code it had logged, because the coolant temp has been good so far. It also had some canbus data logged codes, but they were from 7-800 hours ago, so I assume whatever that problem was is repaired. The camera is also dead as a doorknob, and I am not spending $700 on a camera, so it is going to stay dead until I can retrofit a different setup up there. Hopefully this machine serves me well, and it doesn't throw any fits, as it'll be mostly me using it at home for now. But thank you guys for the helpful advice. Its good to know there are still people out there that are willing to lend a hand.
It's a bit late now but if you want to try to clean the inside of the finals up a bit to get rid of the black residue from the old oil you could always put some diesel in each final then lift the track off the ground and run it for a few minutes so slosh it around a bit. Lower the machine and drain the diesel. if it still looks bad repeat as necessary until it is acceptably clean. Fill with new oil. Repeat the process for the other side. Going forward change the oil in the finals every time you change the engine oil. The specified oil for those final drives is not a gear oil but (for your climate conditions anyway) a multigrade SAE 10W30 oil meeting Cat TO-4 specification. Because of the small quantity of oil they contain a full synthetic oil is recommended. Here's a link to a Conoco product but all major oil companies produce an equivalent, including Cat who sell TDTO-TMS which IIRC is manufactured for them by Mobil. PowerDrive_Synthetic-All-Season_TO-4.pdf phillips66.widen.net
I put 75-140 synthetic Cat GO in the finals, as the manual specified that for climate similar to the engine oil spec for 10-30. It’s possible I chose wrong, but the local cat dealer gave me the same oil for the 287c final drive when I asked for oil for the final drive. It’ll likely never receive the hours it needs for an oil change, so it’ll end up being annual changes. The 287 has maybe 200 hours on it since the last change. For the cost of the oil, a more frequent flush will perform the same function over time as the diesel. If it comes out like glue again, I’ll throw some fuel in and run the track around a bit.
75W-140 synth GO would work just as well.
One last question @Nige ... Can you verify these are the correct part numbers for the quick coupler lines. It is the wedge style lock. I've got one leaking, and I don't know which one it is yet, so I want to make sure I have the right numbers before I order any unreturnable parts... 361-1112 361-1113 361-1114
The problem is that it appears your machine was not originally built with a coupler, so there is no record of "as built" Part Numbers. Is there a Part Number on the tag on the coupler, or even aluminium tags on the hoses.?
Nothing. Not on the sides. Or bottom. It works through the monitor, and looks like a cat one from previous ones I’ve used.
Here's the schematic on our 2024 305. Part #'s are the same - #5 part number - 169-7393 Connector AS
I’m not looking forward to changing that line. Haha
Lol yeah. I would pull the dog bones and roll the stick cylinder back after securing the QC first of course
It looks like the locking cylinder needs to come out to change them. I’m just hoping those two Allen head bolts come out. If they come out. I’ll be okay. If the one pin has to come out, that’s nothing to worry about.
If you think that's difficult wait until you blow one from the swivel to somewhere undeneath the machine. At that point you need a triple-jointed dwarf as a mechanic.
Hopefully I don’t find that out lol
I have a 2018 305e2 also 1080 hrs, how do you like or compare the new 305 with the 1.7 turbo to the 2.4? Is the machine made as good as the 2018 or better? Thought about the upgrade or would it be better keeping my 18 model.
I know the question wasn’t directed to me, but I’ve ran the new next gen machines vs older. I’m not a fan of the next gen machines. They are very touchy, even with all the settings turned to slow. I prefer the older equipment honestly.
I have a 202 305.5 and also a '23 305 Next Gen. I'd say that I prefer the 305NG over all. Probably not huge difference. In fact, the things that I don't really favor on the 305.5 are still there on the 305NG. One of the best things bout the 305 is the access panel latches. Absolute poo on the 305.5. Not sure if that's enough to make the switch. The E2 indicates pitch and yaw on the standard monitor but the NG no longer does on the standard monitor anyway. I prefer that he NG hydraulic bucket coupler switch is NOT in the monitor like the E2 series. Faster to get to, and easy to replace if it goes bad. I thought that someone had said that the NG's are twitchy. I'd guess that this might be more machine specific, because CAT already had electric over hydraulic in the E2 series (maybe even in the E series). As it relates to the two machines I own, the control interface feels about the same.