I'm looking at purchasing a wheeled excavator for road maintenance work in the bush. I've been looking at a Cat W316D size machine. Also looked at a similar sized Hyundia. Anyone have any experience with either of these or any other brands that are especially good in this type of machine. Looking at the wheeled unit as there is so much moving that a tracked unit doesn't make sense and since the majority of the work is culvert replacement, ditching and brushing (with a brush cutter) that a backhoe also doesn't make sense. Thanks for any assistance...
I have some experience with a Cat M316C and a JD 595D. But you should really talk to some of the British folk on this forum and one other forum in particular they have lots of experience with them one owner/operator in particular. http://www.ceforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=114
I got almost 3,000 hrs on our 318D and it now has over 4,000 hrs total. Only issue we have had was with the monitor, pretty good machine other than that, as is a 595D also.
i see a wheeled cat hoe in lavington.. did you get one
before I retired the Atlas was the top rubber duck in the uk,.not sure about now but they were an excellent machine
Look at wacker neuson's 9503. I dont think it comparable in weight class but they make some neat stuff.
Last outfit I worked for rented a new Hyundai 210W-7 last November. I spent about 3 days in it, pretty decent machine and it was the first Hyundai I had ever ran. Had a big Daequip hydraulic thumb and Geith pin grabber coupler, handled a big bucket well. We also had a large breaker that was probably better suited for a 25 ton carrier that it handled okay as well as a 4,500 pound rotating shear/processor that I snipped a bunch of rebar with. Overall, pretty good machine.
Have a look to see what machines are in the bush are in the area you are working in, little point in having a different brand in a remote area, you might find it hard to get dealer support. You might encounter a few problems with a wheeled machine on big culverts if you need to go over the side, tracked machines might be better in that situation. A low hour used Cat if the dealer support is good might be better than something that is poorly supported. How wide can you run your machine ? Can you use wider axles or wheel spacers for more stability ? What boom configuration are you going to run ? Bendy can be useful for culverts. Extending booms can be useful for the ditching and cutting. A thumb can be useful for picking up pipes, rocks etc, but you have to be mindful of getting the boom too heavy when cutting at a full reach.