I am looking for a used compact excavator, around 5-6 ton machine. I have found several locally in this size range, the ones on my list are a Bobcat, Hitachi, and Komatsu. The Bobcat has the swing style boom on the front of the machine, while the other two have the boom in the center (similar the larger excavators). The hitachi and Komatsu also have the "side shift boom" so you can dig along a foundation wall and what not. My question is what style arm/boom setup would you prefer. It seem like the Hitachi and Komatsu would lift more with the boom mount farther back on the machine? Thanks
I prefer the swing boom on a takeuchi tb series machine. The scissor pivot boom of some of the hitachi's look like way too many greese fittins to me. The front swing boom isnt a bad option, be sure to get zero swing tail and a hydraulic thumb, and demo a tak 153fr, awesome machines.
You can dig alongside walls and such with a swing boom machine, that's one of the reasons for having the swing. Also makes cleaning up easier, as you can angle the boom and pull material into a heap. The 'knuckle boom' machines have extra weight on the boom and as such would not be more productive than a swing boom. What about a backfill blade? Really depends what you want to do with the machine?
I would second this post. The issue with the offset boom design is if you want to put a thumb and and coupler on it, it can become too boom heavy. The swing boom (center mounted boom) is versatile much more so that a conventional mounted boom. All depends on the application. I would try the Takeuchi TB series. I think it combines the best of both convetional and swing boom machines. Although the TB series has a lot of grease zerks as well. Its a small price to pay for its capability.