Am looking at a RC-85 Posi track CTL with cab, a/c & heat, it has 380Hours and is priced at $36,000 or best offer. Who makes, sells & services these machines? Does anyone have one or have comments - good or bad on them?
ASV. I am not a fan, and they were at one time bought up by CAT and then kicked from pillar to post since, hard to say what the support is or will be like. I beleive they're now under Terex. Here's a news blip: "Terex is selling 51 percent of ASV to Manitex International, resulting in a joint venture that is 51 percent owned by Manitex and 49 percent owned by Terex. The joint venture will manufacture skid steers and compact track loaders. According to Terex, after the agreement is finalized, ASV will continue to sell its skid steers and compact track loaders under the Terex brand." - See more at: http://www.equipmentworld.com/terex...ck-loader-joint-venture/#sthash.FhMVICo8.dpuf
Another company swallowed up by Terex.
Yeah, CAT bought enough of them first to get the rights to the undercarriage for the early CAT CTL's, then promptly dumped them when the obligations had been met. I hope the original owners of this small American company were well paid and are now happily retired somewhere.
Yeah, the original ASV machines were unique among skiddies, and I could be wrong but I think it was initials for All Season Vehicle. I recall the original versions you could pull the seat out and turn it around and use the machine like a tractor, had a receiver hitch on the front, well, which would now be the back, to tow trailers or equipment, engine would now be in front of you and the back glass became a windshield. And that description makes perfect sense, right?
Sounds good from the cheap seats! :drinkup
LoL, well I guess that's close enough.
Saw it on the net the other day. Pictures looked like a pretty clean machine. Not sure who in KC carries parts for them except maybe Foley. They sell and service terex gear I believe. Don't think I've seen an ASV machine on their lot though when I've been there. John
ASV are or were one of the better CTL I ever ran. The one I ran was an RC60 I think. Good power and speed. I think it had the same controls as the Cats do now. The one thing I did not like was the drive/ steering in forward left to go left right to go right , reverse left to go right and right to go left. The guy that owned it had a story that the early CAT CTLs , the track system failed horribly , the ASV system was dependable so CAT bought them took their track design and started making their own. Who knows. The Terex brand , I wonder about the backhoes and such. Seems they can't sell them , I seen several on ironplanet , new condition go for less than 30 grand. Back to CTL , I still like the standard bobcat controls with the foot pedals.
The undercarriage costs ate up any profit that anyone realized. The Cat reps used to say you had to charge out replacement undercarriage at about the same rate as a D8T. As I recall that is in the $12 to $15 per hour rate. I saw plenty of the Cats on the market with worn out bottoms. The ASV had a lot of great ideas as Willie says and I was told it was marketed as a Swiss Army knife. From what I saw though it wasn't easy to maintain or work on. For that kind of money I think you could find something a bit more contemporary.
Bair makes a lot of money selling replacement and upgrade parts for the ASV type undercarriage, bolt on track lugs, etc. http://cart.bairproducts.com/
I am going to pass on the ASV, am afraid it would be a service nightmare when it needs repair. Sure is tempting however, when a new Deere 329 is priced to me at $71,500. I am getting a price from Bobcat & Case also for a comparable model. For me the Deere or Case both have dealerships in the town I reside in, and the Bobcat only 30 minute away too.
Don't forget to look at Takeuchi if they have a dealer near you.
The early CATs that ran the ASV undercarriages ate them up because they were more weight on the undercarriage then they were designed for. We have a RC-50 and a 247B Cat, the CAT is almost 1,000 lbs more than the RC-50, our ASV has a 500lb weight kit on it, so it and the 247 have close to the same amount of wear. Take the same undercarriage and stick it under the 7,500 lb Cat 257, no wonder they chewed through bearings and idlers. Also, the ASV's were pretty close to 50/50 balanced on the undercarriage front to back, the Cats are more of a 65/35. Thats why most of the horror stories about them are from Cat owners haha
Cost is cost. Don't matter who's machine it is on. The bottom end still costs the same. Yes the Cats ate them up. I haven't seen anyone run an ASV long enough to make enough money to repair them. That's why you keep finding them on Craigslist.
I agree with you, but it does matter who's machine it is on. It depends on if your idlers are wore out at 1,000 hours or 1,500, which means the cost per hour will fall quite a bit.
the local Cat dealer offers an undercarriage package that consist of a set of tracks, sprockets and all the rollers for around $6300. Even if you replaced everything every 1000 hours it would cost you $6.30 an hour.
Last time I got involved on a 247B undercarriage, dealer cost to replace all the parts plus the labor was $11,500. That didn't count all their add ons like broken bolts, bad shafts and frozen track adjusters, consumables, environmental charges and sales taxes. That would be $11.50 per hour plus extras. If you could get that to 1,500 hours your bottom end costs would run around $7.67 per hour which would be a huge deal. The problem I kept seeing with the ASV is that the owners went broke long before they got to that point. To put this on point I figured an UC cost for a D8T run to the limits with a pin and bushing turn runs around $55,000 and usually boils out to around $12.00 per hour. The issue then was to turn pins and bushings or run to destruction. Run to destruction was going to waste useable link height and some roller wear and penciled out to around $15.00 per hour. A few extras on your 247 and you would be up there quick. It's funny but the bigger units didn't have the same problems as the smaller ones. People with the 277 - 287 units seem to keep them for a long time.
John C. - Where are you at that all these low hour ASV's are being sold? Because I rarely see one for sale with low hours, most are in the 1,500- 2k hour range, where most guys trade off for a new machine anyway...
I'd like to find one with 2000 hours on it , cheap enough to put a good bottom on it and run it.