Cat Or Deere

Cole

What equipment manufacturer do you prefer and why?

Just general heavy equipment.

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jmic

Cole, My preference for a rubber tire back hoe is J.D, just a great reliable machine. For excavator's ( track machines ) I've had Mitsubishi's, Komatsu's,
and presently have 2 Kobelco's which are zero clearance so with the tight lot's we work on in Greenwich, Stamford, ect. gives us a little more movement around the site and can be close to buildings, tree's ect. Dozer's I like Cat., good starting in cold weather, good power, they've done their homework. But I think the name is overated ( pricey) I know they hold thier value better but when it comes to the track hoe's I think dollar for dollar the Jap machines are great. Oh yea, I have a Gehl skid steer that I couldn't live without.
Joe

jojo

like anything I buy,,,I give great consideration to the equipment that has a dealer or at least a parts dealer close to home....

PipeGuy

That's my #1 consideration - service and parts availability. The rest of the purchase process is an exercise in determining value by weighing factors such as purchase price, anticipated resale price, financing options, and performance specifications.

Cole, to address your question specifically, I prefer CAT crawler excavators and loaders, and their large dozers, over DEERE's. I wouldn't own anything but a CAT crawler loader. I prefer Deere's wheeled products and small dozers over CAT's. I think both CAT and DEERE make good mini-excators.

rino1494

Ehhh......never owned a JD and never will. In todays market, bascially every company is very competitive. Like stated above, what it really comes down to is parts and service. When something breaks, you can't afford downtime and you need to know that you can count on your dealer to get you the parts ASAP.

We deal with Clevland Brothers here in PA and they have the best parts department out of anybody. They have most parts in stock and if not, they will have it for you the very next day. We own several older Cat machines (955k, 977L) that work almost daily. As far as dozers are concerned, we are pretty big on Case dozers. We have a old case 450 from the 60's that has prolly around 30,000 hrs on it and it gets used daily for finish grading.

Excalibur

I have to agree with Joe on a number of points. Overall though it doesnt really matter how good the machine is, at some point it will break down and will require parts and if your dealer system sucks then you will have downtime. Around here both Deere and Cat have good support systems, Case is iffy at best and the offshore brands are catching up to the big dogs with leaps and bounds. Here Hitachi track hoes are just as popular as Deere and Cat. In a lot of cases it boils down to how much bang for a buck, and the offshore brands are delivering.

TMatt142

Simple...if it has tracks, it's gotta be a CAT no question. Tires...a Deere, no questions! I only know in depth, tractor backhoes, but I've run enough excavators and dozers to know that CAT will LAST LONGER than the competition. Backhoes, Deere's last longer hands down. I mean, they all break down at certain points in time. Though Deeres may be a bit tricky to work on at times, their power plants keep goin and goin! I am certain about one other thing....DO NOT EVER RENT,BUY,LEASE,.....A JCB!!!!

jls

I prefer CAT because i had some bad times with the deere Dealer in the area he was just a backwoods idiot that should never own a dealership or even work at a sewage plant for that matter.

Wolf

The power of the Deere machines is just awesome for doing demolition.

Love that crashing and crunching in a JD loader.

jmic

Hey Wolf,
You ought to find something that you really like doing, just doesn't seem like you have your heart in demolition.

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Joe

A+Carpenter

Rock on with the Komatsu, I like Hitachi track hoes. And I like case with j.d control for a backhoe

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A+Carpenter

you like the 650's?

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ruskent

I run cat and will only run cat! My dealer takes great care of me so i have no interest in any other machine!

dayexco

the pencil i'm pushing says i can't afford cat

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someday, i'll be as patient as Nick.

jmic

Wether you drive a Mercedes or a VW, at the end of the ride they both cover the same ground.

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___"Remember You Never Get A Second Chance To Make A First Impression"______________________
Joe

Gmads

We try to keep our fleet (approx. 18 pieces) relatively low hour as we don't run a repair shop. That means we look to trade-in around 6500 hours for excavators and loaders, and around 5000 hours for rubber-tired backhoes. With those parameters, we've used alot of different brands. Most equipment manufacturers these days produce a reliable machine in these hour ranges.

I will say that I've lately been mildly disappointed with the CAT product. It doesn't seem to hold up as well as their older products. I use to love their 225s and 235s, but feel like our 325s and 330s just aren't holding up as well. I would say our repair costs are actually highest on our CAT machines. That being said, their support and resale are great.

So I would say at this time that I lean toward Komatsu and Volvo for excavators and loaders, and CASE for rubber-tired backhoes.

jmic

Gm,
Have you had any Kobelco excavators in your fleet and if so whats your take on them? What do you run for skid steers?

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Joe

Gmads

I haven't ever owned a Kobelco b/c of issues with the Kobelco dealer here in town. But I have run their machines before and I was impressed. I thought they were extremely "quick" and seemed to have alot of power. It's a shame I don't like the dealer b/c I like the machine. On a side note, Kobelco is now building New Holland's excavators and that may be something to look into in the future.

I don't own any skidsteers b/c we rarely use them. If we need them we rent. I do like the way the CAT skidsteers run, but I don't know anything about the day-to-day ownership of one or its longevity.