Purchased my first excavator, its not new but I could afford it in what is turning out to be some pretty tight times on the farm. it seems to operate nice, and seem to have a good reputation. Will be used for waterway and drainage work, treeline and fence row maintinance, and most likely will become a crane and tow truck at some point in its life. What can those of you who have experience with this machine give me maintinance advise on? Im ok with the engine and hydraulic oil parts as all my equipment has that. Give me a breakdown of what oil in the final drives, swing gearbox, how do i grease the swing gear etc? Please dont give the buy the manual answer. I am working on it. But right now I want to get the maintinance done, not write the check the dealer wants for $700 for the manuals. Thanks
Is this a plain 215, or does it have letters after it? And, more importantly, what's the serial number?
For the questions you ask in your OP you don't require the full $700-ish Service Manual which is effectively the complete machine repair manual. What you need is the Operation & Maintenance Manual - more commonly known as the O&M. This will probably set you back somewhere between $50-100 for a new one or you might be able to pick up a used one online. As Mitch says, post a Serial Number (or at least the S/N prefix) and we can identify which manual is the correct one for your particular machine.
These are for a straight 215, but you can see that there are some very reasonable prices on used ones: http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_fro..._nkw=caterpillar+215+operator+manual&_sacat=0
I should have mentioned that a full Service Manual does actually contain an O&M Manual, at least it does if you buy a new one, but on used ones they often get removed and either left in the machine for the operator or handed to the servicing crew. A Service Manual binder will actually contain a number of different sub-manuals convering everything from Specifications to Test & Adjust, to Disassembly & Assembly, Troubleshooting, etc. If you are considering buying a used Service Manual from somewhere such as eBay or Amazon always make sure to ask the seller for a list of the titles of the separate sections that are in the manual binder. If you have any doubts about "what is actually there versus what should be there" post them here and we can probably clue you in.
It is a 215c 4HG
So here's your O&M Manual in paper form. How does $40 grab you ..? http://www.ebay.com/itm/CAT-CATERPI...-MAINTENANCE-MANUAL-S-N-4HG-5CF-/321368488281 An electronic version of the full Service Manual from these guys will probably run you about $400. https://servicemanualpro.com/
Thank you.
WOW Nige that's a great deal for the new 215 owner. Your a good man ! Don't worry I won't tell another that....:notworthy
Sometimes you wonder where the rest of the manufacturers were when building that size machine after they had seen the Cat 215.You can just walk up to the rear of the machine and swing open the the door to the engine compartment to check the oil,no clambering around on slippery sheet metal,their front window storage was ideal,when digging a trench and laying pipe in the rain you could leave the top half of the window closed for protection from the weather while you could leave the bottom half stored for visibility,they were fast,it seemed like Cat thought of everything.Ron G