Hi, thanks again to all those that answered my previous querys,,, your info was very usefull,, Now i have another question which is besides the common brand wheel loaders such as Caterpillar, Kawasaki, Komatsu can anyone reccomend another make of loader with a minimum engine horsepower of approx 170 HP...My idea is to put on a set of heavy duty logging forks to clean up stumps and logs in the paddock... i see a few different makes around but not sure of reliability etc,,,,
So, stumping out, I'm working with pine stumps most under .5m more like 300cm, have a John Deere 644E, with a short stump and a sharp cutting edge, applying some push and lift usually they'll pop right out, sometimes have to curl them out. Its a 180hp machine therabouts and has been a real workhorse. My issue when shopping is support, there are a lot of older brands of loaders cheap, and for myself personally, parts would be easy enough to find or make, but this may end up being run by someone else so I opted for one of the big four, Cat, Deere, Komatsu and Volvo, Even volvo and case have spun off models into oblivion but Cat and Deere seem to be able to get parts even if its a couple weeks for older stuff. I'm happy with the Deere so far, its got a lot of power and its nicely responsive.
I would agree with fast_st, having support for parts would be big for me. If you are talking about a somewhat older machine there is a good amount of aftermarket stuff out there for the more popular Cat, even Cat re-brands some of it as their Cat Classic parts.