Hi, Am I right in thinking a tlb requires more maintenance than a full size hoe? It just seems that there is more moving parts ( wheel, brake, steering, transmission...) on the tlb than the excavator? thanks Alexis
Whats a tlb?
Tractor Loader Backhoe.
sorry if it wasn't clear, for the sake of the argument, let's say between a case 580 vs a full size excavator, I suppose the parts would be more expensive for the excavator but there is a lot less parts... Alexis
Well, I don't have anything as large as a 580, so I will have to scale my argument down. B-) But I have a Kubota B7300, (Loader/backhoe) and A Takeuchi TB25 excavator. The backhoe loader has less complex parts on it, and most of them are cheaper,as its basically dust a tractor. For example a rear drive axle in a tractor as opposed to a hydro travel motor in an excavator. If you break the drive in the tractor the parts are much less expansive than the parts to repair a travel motor. (And in my case, they don't even make a replacement part anymore, so i will probably have to machine parts.) I would imagine that this line of thought would probably hold true with the larger machines as well. But I wanted the excavator because it could dig twice the depth the backhoe can, and I wanted the backhoe so i could still get the 'really small ' jobs.
Thanks Mitch, I was trying to conger up a manufactures acronym from that neck of the woods. B-)
No worries. In my experience there is less to change on an excavator, sure the travel motor/gearbox is pricey to repair but so is a transmission, torque converter, axles etc. I'm servicing a Samsung 210 tomorrow and as major services go there is not much to it.
A normal five minute job (in my case,putting in a new starter) tripled its time due to access issues. The starter on the Takeuchi is on the firewall side, and can not be accessed from the bottom, or by reaching over the engine. I had to take half the rops, and the firewall out to get to it. (I would imagine the larger units probably have better access.) my sad story here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iDT008G-V-8 I'll bet you don't see 31 degrees too often in South Africa. B-)
I find working on the smaller exc can be quite tough because everything is so compact! Access on the big stuff is pretty good, a bit tricky though when the motor is at 90 deg celcius and you have to lay over it to reach something! 31 deg celcius, all the time. 31 fahrenheit...... not so much In my area at least, it does get cold inland. Coast for me thanks!!!
Yea, I try to think in Celsius, but my frozen hands tell the truth. B-) Time for me to head south I guess..
I've done my bit in the cold, lived in the UK for 4 years. Doing call out in winter at 2am..........cold. I had to google your location, does it get that cold there?
It was 26 F (-6c?) this morning....Not liking it. I did my time in the warm, I spent three years in South America (Panama). Kinda got a little too used to it I think.
I own a Cat 416C (TLB) and a Cat 315CL (excavator) and IMO they are about the same to maintane in effort. Cost of the maintenance parts are more for the larger machine. Fluids will also cost more because of the higher volumes. Service intervals are just about the same. You may want to clarify "full sized hoe" as there are a lot of machune sizes out there. If you have (2) specific machines you are trying to compare (such as the two I have listed) you can get a quote for 250/500/1000 hour services, for each machine, from the dealer.
thanks for the answer! I suppose the excavator have a longer life expectancy because of the larger size of the motor, am I right?
I would not say that's true in every case. The backhoe I mentioned above has 12,000 hours (actually more than that) so far. While, IMO, that is more the exception than the rule the life of any machine will depend greatly on care and maintenance. As far as engine size I would think it would be more important as to how close a particular engine is to putting out it's max potential HP. Many MFRs will use the same base engine in several different HP arrangements. The lesser HP will stress the engine less. Theoretically giving it a longer life span.