Im looking to buy an excavator mostly farm use but i also need to clear some land. I came across a 1996 komatsu pc200-6 with 6000 hrs. it has a new under carriage under it. It has had a seal put in the swing motor twice in 3 years. Is this a common problem? . I was wondering if this series or year has any known problems that i should look for before buying? Or would i be better off with another brand?
no that is not common problem.sometime may not 1st time repair properly.
There were all kinds of factory problems with those machines but the biggest had to do with the arm regeneration valve. Basically when you pulled the arm in without a load on it the valve would stick open and when you went to pick up the boom it wouldn't have any power. After a couple of seconds you would hear and feel a thud in the machine and the boom would have all the power in the world. There were multiple changes in the main control valves over the next several years and then the Dash 7 came along. The seal in the swing motor goes out when there is high back pressure on the case drains. The high flow on a case drain can be from the swing motor itself or even the final drives on the tracks. Those hours can't be right either. I'm sure that monitor panel has been changed at least once and probably twice. That would indicate the machine averaged 222 hours per year? Not very likely to have happened. Good Luck!
1st thanks for your help. I talked to the owner again. He said that the swing motor seal is being replaced now and they also found a bad bearing or a cracked plate behind a bearing. Could that be the only problem? Also i asked about the hours and he said shortly after he bougt this machine he also bought two larger machines and this one didnt get used alot. Its Obvisous i know very little about any of this but any help or thoughts would be appreciated. Is there anyway to test this valve? or would i be better off to look for another machine?
Those hours aren't hard to believe. If you look in Machinery Trader you'll see a good many small machines with hours like that. In Nige's world of mining that's probably just a years worth. I own a Cat trackhoe that size, made in '91, and it is just turning 10,000 hrs. I have owned it 10 yrs, and have known it since '94, so I'm sure the hours are right.
I just bought this model from a utility installer. 12k hours. Monitor is out, but it runs fine. I really like the fact it has a cummins in it, and it is impressive for strength. I got it for 20k and i put the grapple on it.
Ive also spoken with an equipment dealer. He said if this komatsu had an orange pump on it that it was probably an ok machine but if it had a grey pump on it that i was in for trouble. Has anyone else heard this? keep in mind he also happen to mention that he had a newer john deere he was trying to sell me. Hydroax thats a nice machine. Is it worth the extra money too get a grapple when clearing land?
You've got a good machine hydroax. Not familiar with that model but I would like to know what are the specs of it.
Specs can be found here http://www.ritchiespecs.com/specifi...ke=Komatsu&model=PC200-6+CUSTOM&modelid=93047 I just bought the grapple and the machine for clearing cedar it seems to be pretty magical. But I have not used it on a job yet. I will like it alot more when it makes me some money. I am also considering renting it out. (just thinking on it) Like I said before, the strength of the machine really impresses me. The engine is a komatsu branded engine but is the exact same cummings 5.9 I have in my other machine. That means you can replace the engine with one out of a truck. (hopefully you wont need to) but I like the ace up my sleeve. The grapple is a demolition grapple, little heavy but pretty serious at getting cedars out of the ground. It leaves a real small hole and you can bust up the root ball to put the dirt back in the hole. The machine came with a quik pin for buckets. I had to take that off. The grapple came from ebay for 2k plus 750 shipping. (that is cheap!) It makes brush piles pretty quick. The pile below took just minutes to make. I bought the machine to clear land and feed a horizontal grinder. I would like to find a replacement control display but the only one I have found is 800 from china. Komatsu is real proud of their parts but I guess that is all part of the game.
Agreed: This is not a machine i would purchase. We supply parts and they are notorious for pump problems. The hours could not be correct unless it was previously owned by a farmer and not likely a Komatsu. Cat tries to tie you to their over complicated Cat service and Case excavators are made by Link belt ( Crane company)I would pick up a Deere/ Hitachi. Easier on the parts location for repair and Hitachi builds the best excavator out there. Kawasaki hydraulics and great US based support. Also you should be able pull the code on the monitor and find a part number that would reflect with Komatsu if the part number had changed to a newer one. That may draw a better picture.
Yes on the pumps. Our sister company sells and manufactures branded HWM Excavator hydraulic pumps for a dealer network. The Orange pump is probably a KYB or Kayaba pump. Horrible design and troublesome. The gray pump is a rexroth/Uchida unless it was upfit to the Kawsaki which we do on all the Komatsu's. Kawasaki is the way to go. I personally would buy the Deere machine. They are more reliable and you can find OEM parts cheaper. Komatsu's game is to grind off the original manufaturers part number and castings to get you to by their parts from their dealers. Expensive when it comes to any major repair. It looks good while it runs!
Your reply is oposite from what he was told from the dealer if I am reading the posts right. He said if this komatsu had an orange pump on it that it was probably an ok machine -The Orange pump is probably a KYB or Kayaba pump. Horrible design and troublesome. The gray pump is a rexroth/Uchida- Which if i am understanding what you said, is a better pump. here is what I have - do I need to start searching for a spare or is this pump worth rebuilding?
The pump you show is the last series of units I worked on and they gave the fewest problems. They are very easy to rebuild if you can get parts which most Komatsu dealers would supply. The control parts are cartridges which are easy to change and set up. The older units had block section controls that bolted onto the side of the pump and could be a nightmare when things got worn. There were spools and seals everywhere and any leakage made adjusting the system real time consuming. As to who makes the pump I'm not sure anymore. I'm pretty sure that neither KYB or Kawasaki manufacture that unit. I can say that no one else puts out a pump that looks like that for any other excavator I've had my hands on and I've been into most everything now. I can say that no KYB, or Kawasaki unit that I've ever worked with would work in a Komatsu excavator. The hydraulic and electronic controls systems are just far too different to be able to marry into this system. Over the years I've had to deal with plenty of people selling aftermarket parts and would warn anyone considering using them to get your warranties with the whys and wherefores in writing before using them. More than once I've had 20 hour shotgun failures where the supplier cried contaminated oil caused the wreck.
Correct, neither KYB nor Kawasaki are used in this series of Komatsu. This pump is made in Japan for Komatsu by a division of Uchida. Been there, seen it. There are a lot of people trying to get people to change these Uchida/Komatsu pumps to Kawasaki and send hose kits with them. I don't recommend it. It's a pain in the butt to reroute the lines and keep in mind this pump pictured was specifically engineered for this machine. (engine, electronics, hydraulics...) John C. had given great input for this entire post. You have a solid machine there. Should be a great investment! The PC200-6 is one of the most popular 20ton excavators, and for good reason. 20 years later and this model is still popular and running strong. I wouldn't be worried at all about parts supply and support for this machine.
Thank you both for your information. I look forward to ridding Texas of numerous cedars in the near future!
If I'm following, the gray pump is the better pump, and I can ignore all this Kawasaki orange pump stuff. I'm the process of buying at PC200LC-6LE, serial-pin A85412, the gray Komatsu pump just like in picture above. I'm thinking its a 2001 or 2002 machine looking at serial number on other traders sites, but not quite sure. Dealer I called for info not much help, so calling another dealer to confirm year. Just hoping it's a 2000's machine, not early-1990's
I can't help you on the year of the machine. I can tell you that John C. knows what he is talking about. Go back and read his posts and follow what he says. He knows these machines very well.
Thanks, the whole Kawasaki thing threw me off a little bit, but I’m good now. And pretty sure it’s a 2000’s, but regardless it’s seems like a strong machine, drive motors good. Bucket pin has a lot of play, but a 20+ year old machine for farm use, it’ll be perfect.