Hello everyone, My name is Will, and this is my first time posting on the forums. As stated, im looking into purchasing a 1996 EX200LC-3 The machine has 4500 hours on it, and appears to be well taken care of. There are no dents or damage anywhere on the machine (other then the counter weight being scratched to hell) and the operators cab is in near mint condition. I would like to get peoples opinions on this generation of machine in general. Are they reliable? are they expensive to fix? any common issues? parts availability? how does their performance compare to modern equipment? and fuel consumption? Any input is much appreciated, as there is no other real information on the internet. I'll be using the machine for commercial sitework. I don't anticipate racking up the hours on it as we take on a wide variety of projects but when it is needed I do intend to use it at full capacity. I do know the machine will need one main boom cylinder repacked (leaking) and a roller is frozen. Also, the owner has informed me he did need to replace the swing gear seal over the winter as it blew out on him.
They are very reliable machines .The are the same as John Deere 200 but for having a Isuzu in stead of a JD engine . Parts be bought from your John Deere /Hitachi dealer .Sometimes they are a grey market machine but if the dealer is worth anything they should be able to get the parts .
As tool_king says they were one of the top three makes of that generation of excavators. However just a quick thing to note is the hours do not make sense. The chances of the hour meter representing total machine hours and being 22 plus years old are about the same as finding a little used Model A Ford in a barn somewhere and having it start up on the first crank. It's possible but very unlikely. Have someone that knows excavators go with you and assess its condition before you lay down any cash.
Actually, there was no Deere model comparable to the EX200-3. Deere was still building the 690E which was a completely different machine.
I know of an EX200-3 locally that I've worked on with only 3500 hours on it. I think I would almost prefer a machine with higher hours that has been used on a regular basis. It's hard on a machine to set doing nothing.
Hours are very low for such old equipment, IF . . it appears to have been sheded (no repaint or other obvious reworks) . . . AND is well taken care of, as you said. If it is -the original owner- . . . PERFECT. Reliability . . . I can't answer, but the rest of the details sound good if it is defined as reliable by others.[/QUOTE]
Those are great machines, except they have a strong tendency to develop electronic gremlins, and then they become horrible machines.