Hi everyone....thank you for providing such a useful forum! I'll apologise firstly for the long post....I'm on a steep learning curve and am trying to gather a fair bit of info. Recently I purchased a used Cat 301.5cr with 1400hrs. After looking at quite a few used mini's, this one was by far in the best condition, well looked after, tight and with no issues, in the budget I was looking for. I'm now in a quandary about wether to keep it or not....initially I assumed since it's a Cat I wouldn't have to worry about parts availability....from the research I've since done, it seems I'd be hard pushed to find any sort of workshop manual for it and/or some parts since it's seems it was only released in Japan (I'm in Oz). From what I can see, I can get most of the undercarriage parts (even here in Oz) and the motor I know is a Mitsubishi L3e which is fairly common. It'll be being used at my home in my spare time on a small acreage and not worked overly hard. I'm fairly handy with mechanical things and generally repair (and enjoy repairing/servicing) all my own equipment. I've never had to deal with an excavator tho and am not sure just what parts are able to be sourced/fabricated/rebuilt or can be bought off the shelf. I'm quite happy to have the machine out of action for a while whilst I sort a problem out, I just don't want to have something minor (or major) break that will mean the whole thing is permanently out of action. I'm just not even sure if simple things like hydraulic cylinder seals are a common sized item available from a hydraulic store or do I need to have specific Cat part no's for these? I don't want to move it on unless I have to because it really is a nice machine and faultless at the moment. Just after some advice from others!
G'day, I bought a Mitsubishi MX45 (grey market - import from Japan) about 5-6 years ago and many of these were re-sprayed as Cat machines. Having looked into it a bit I found Cat unsupportive of specs/manuals for the machine (Cat bought Mitsubishi). I have also found it very reliable and works fine - had about 2400 hrs on it and has maybe 100 hrs or so more on it now. I have had to repair/replace a few hoses and tighten up a few seals, and some liquid refreshments, filters, etc. It was easy to find filters that were not OEM but would match the machine. Hydraulic fittings were recognised by the local Hydraulic Hotline guy. If the machine is good and with only 1400 hrs if genuine I would not be selling it in your circumstances. It would be easy to find a machine worked with a hammer and knackered with same hours - but you say yours is tight - you could be lucky. Don't sell it out of fear. Where I have found difficulty with a machine part that cant be sourced the local engineers shop is a place to find the solution for a problem. I have always had luck with the Hydraulics people and Engineers who know what they are doing. Enjoy your machine. Mine has been solving problems for me on my acreage for what was initially just deep drainage but has been relaying septic trenches, re-digging water pipes, simple waste pits, electricity pits, bases for concrete pours, etc, etc. Always useful! Keep it! Regards, MX45
Ok, thanks MX45....that's the answer I wanted to hear