buying a 12- 14 ton track machine

eddie1986

I am looking at buying a 12 -14T track machine something in the 2006 to 2008 age bracket.
I have an old hitachi120-1 which gave very little trouble and still in reasonable condition for its age.
Could anyone advise on what they think to be the best machine in this size/age bracket.
I have been looking at JCB js 130, Zaxis 130lcn, CAT312cl and volvo ec140blc.
I know the Hitachi are a good reliable machine but are top of the pile price wise too.
the CAT and Volvo seem to be decent machines and better priced but I dont know how reliable they are.
Any advice or past experience would be appreciated.
Thanks

Mad4simmental

Cat are a good bus but hard on diesel, and not the best comfortable wise. Build quality in the cab can be poor.

Volvo extremely comfortable good on juice and very reliable. But if you do need to fix it parts are expensive.

Hitachi are probably the best all rounder and very good brake out power for size. When you go to sell it she will be worth a few more bob to.

TITANIUM.

Mad4simmental wrote: »

Cat are a good bus but hard on diesel, and not the best comfortable wise. Build quality in the cab can be poor.

Volvo extremely comfortable good on juice and very reliable. But if you do need to fix it parts are expensive.

Hitachi are probably the best all rounder and very good brake out power for size. When you go to sell it she will be worth a few more bob to.

Ya would have to agree with you there.
Im on the look out for a good Hitachi 100-5 myself. Wouldn't go any heavier for farm work.
Still out of my price range at the moment.
Could have picked one up handy during the recession.

eddie1986

Ya I think the prices are going to increase or at least hold there own for the foreseeable future anyway. The new machine prices are set to increase, and demand is also increasing.

The thing turning me off the Hitachi other than the price is rust. I have seen 08 machines starting to rust around the cab and hinges etc. compared to jcbs CAT and Volvo which seem to be made of better stuff in that regard anyway. And it is probably the biggest fault in the older hitachis.

I looked at a CAT 08 312c and I actually thought the cab and driver comfort was better than the hitachi. and a bit nicer to handle.

Will be looking at a volvo140b in the next few days.

annubis

what about hyundai's, what are they like, you see a good few of them about now

Limestone Cowboy

Spent a good bit of time driving a Cat 312cl and couldn't fault it, never gave a minutes bother.

Dawggone

Sorry if I'm sidetracking the thread, but I will be in the market for a 24ton machine in March/April.
Do the same guides go for the 24ton as the 14ton?
Thanks.

td5man

Hitachi 120-5 here given very little trouble in the 12 years I've owned it.

eddie1986

What kind of hours were on the 312cl the one I saw had 5500 aprox and is a good tight machine and well kept. I am just wondering because I would expect it would be in the next 5000 hrs problems would be more likely to occur. I spoke to a guy driving a 07 one from new with 5000 hrs on it now and he had no major issues. but did say a couple of niggly things were pricey to repair as he had to go through main dealer for diagnostics.

eddie1986

Limestone Cowboy wrote: »

Spent a good bit of time driving a Cat 312cl and couldn't fault it, never gave a minutes bother.

What kind of hours were on the 312cl the one I saw had 5500 aprox and is a good tight machine and well kept. I am just wondering because I would expect it would be in the next 5000 hrs problems would be more likely to occur. I spoke to a guy driving a 07 one from new with 5000 hrs on it now and he had no major issues. but did say a couple of niggly things were pricey to repair as he had to go through main dealer for diagnostics.

Count Mondego

eddie1986 wrote: »

What kind of hours were on the 312cl the one I saw had 5500 aprox and is a good tight machine and well kept..

What kind of money was that 312cl?

eddie1986

Count Mondego wrote: »

What kind of money was that 312cl?

Didn't go about buying it but asking around the 42k mark. Do you know anything about them?

eddie1986

annubis wrote: »

what about hyundai's, what are they like, you see a good few of them about now

Don't know much about them but from what I've heard they are one of the lesser rated machines and one of the worst for resale value.

annubis

eddie1986 wrote: »

Don't know much about them but from what I've heard they are one of the lesser rated machines and one of the worst for resale value.

ya had heard the older ones werent the may west but that the newer ones were much improved, definitely seem cheaper alright

Count Mondego

eddie1986 wrote: »

Didn't go about buying it but asking around the 42k mark. Do you know anything about them?

All I know is that that is waaaay above my budget.

Cattlepen

annubis wrote: »

what about hyundai's, what are they like, you see a good few of them about now

Had a 130lc3 Hyundai. Learnt to drive in it. It was a fantastic machine. It was really fast and had some digging power. Cummins engines in them are fantastic. Traded it in for a jcb 130 and don't think it is as good

kay 9

1: Hitachi, 2: Doosan/Daewoo, 3: Cat/Deere

Hard to beat Hitachi for reliability, parts back up when required and resale value. The doosan are also a serious bit of kit but alot of the 00s were used on breakers as they were supposed to be the best on a breaker apparently and Hitachi and cat for everything else. If it was me, I'd go Hitachi all day every day. What's your budget? The 130 zaxis is a nice machine. I'd be more concerned with how a machine was cared for and the hour counter than the age

Mad4simmental

Dawggone wrote: »

Sorry if I'm sidetracking the thread, but I will be in the market for a 24ton machine in March/April.
Do the same guides go for the 24ton as the 14ton?
Thanks.

Volvo or cat.
Personally volvo. If your going to keep it and use her allot the Volvo will be a bit more kind on the pocket with juce.

td5man

kay 9 wrote: »

1: Hitachi, 2: Doosan/Daewoo, 3: Cat/Deere

Hard to beat Hitachi for reliability, parts back up when required and resale value. The doosan are also a serious bit of kit but alot of the 00s were used on breakers as they were supposed to be the best on a breaker apparently and Hitachi and cat for everything else. If it was me, I'd go Hitachi all day every day. What's your budget? The 130 zaxis is a nice machine. I'd be more concerned with how a machine was cared for and the hour counter than the age

Drove a doosan 140 for a while ,thought it was hard on diesel compared to Hitachi.
Wasn't as good for grading either.

ger b

Drive alot of different machines myself (13-21tons) js130 great machine abit thirsty soft solneids never liked the cat312 hyundai 130 ok new holland135lc good all rounder not to bad on juice hitachi 130zaxis very good machine the case 130 is well worth considering light on juice very fine controlled pucks of power

White Clover

ger b wrote: »

Drive alot of different machines myself (13-21tons) js130 great machine abit thirsty soft solneids never liked the cat312 hyundai 130 ok new holland135lc good all rounder not to bad on juice hitachi 130zaxis very good machine the case 130 is well worth considering light on juice very fine controlled pucks of power

Agree with ger here. Case CX 130 are a good machine. Have an older model, Isuzu engine, Kawasaki pump and bonfiglioni drives. Could be bought handier than a hitachi too.

kay 9

td5man wrote: »

Drove a doosan 140 for a while ,thought it was hard on diesel compared to Hitachi.
Wasn't as good for grading either.

Great on a breaker though but Hitachi or cat for digging/grading

eddie1986

kay 9 wrote: »

1: Hitachi, 2: Doosan/Daewoo, 3: Cat/Deere

Hard to beat Hitachi for reliability, parts back up when required and resale value. The doosan are also a serious bit of kit but alot of the 00s were used on breakers as they were supposed to be the best on a breaker apparently and Hitachi and cat for everything else. If it was me, I'd go Hitachi all day every day. What's your budget? The 130 zaxis is a nice machine. I'd be more concerned with how a machine was cared for and the hour counter than the age

Yes I agree about the age. It's hard to know about hours too though a lot of machines seem to have around 5000 hours which seems modest for 08 or older. If I bought a new machine I would certainly be hoping to be doing more than 1000 hrs per year.

eddie1986

What do people think of Volvo not getting much feedback on them. I've heard the engines aren't great for high hours. I've also heard they are a good machine and one dealer selling nearly all Hitachi said Volvo was ahead of CAT, and he had neither to sell.