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reaperman
Well-known member
- Joined
- Dec 18, 2011
- Messages
- 598
Im not too familiar with current cats, although last winter I plowed snow with a new (2014) cat 264 (if I remember correctly). That machine would go into regeneration (regen) mode at times. Once while trying to cross a busy street (of course). A turtle icon displayed on the screen and the computer would only let me go about 1/2 mph, very frustrating. Sad to see but the whole pollution BS on diesels is here and we have to live with it. With this said, I heard from a bobcat salesman that once bobcat changes its engine from Kubota to Doosan in the coming year. The Doosan engine will require DEF. He also said DEF freezes solid like water in cold temps, something I didnt know. So when looking at a new machine, if you can side-step any pollution BS, you will likely escape a headache or two. My personal opinion would be the bobcat for no reason other than I just dont like cat skidloaders. I dont like hand controls, and parts are expensive. Happy shopping and see which dealer will throw in a free hat!
Both machines are joystick controlled. Neither machine uses DEF. The biggest difference I think is the orientation of the engine. I'm not the operator and will be adding this to my fleet of rental equipment, so I'm looking at it strictly as a business decision.
Bobcat parts are cheaper then Cat parts if that means anything.
As for bobcat using DEF, for the time being, only the large frame machines that will be running the yet to be released 3.4 will use DEF. Those are probably a year of two out yet. 650 and smaller machines do not use DEF.
I'm not familiar with the newer cats so this might not mean much, buy here is my sales pitch for bobcat joysticks. The control pattern is selectable between ISO and H patterns with the push of a switch. If you have different operators, they can choose their preferred pattern. If you are using any attachments that require a slower travel speed, you can adjust max travel speed with the speed management. It gives you 1 to 99% of adjustment. So you can set it to 50% and the machine will go half speed at full stroke of the stick. Also there joysticks feature drift control. Let's say you are mowing a ditch, you can set the machine to pull on direction so on a hill, it won't drift down . Overall very reliable system and bobcat has a 3 year warranty on the system.
I'm not that familiar with either of these machines or their controls. As a matter of fact, I've never operated any skid steer of any kind. I'm buying this equipment to rent out to sub-contractors. My local Bobcat dealer is horrible. My local CAT dealer is pretty good. The Bobcat is coming out a little cheaper because they have better financing and sale price is within $300 of each other. The machine will be used primarily with a standard bucket on it. I'm torn. I like the Bobcat machine and pricing better than the CAT but the CAT dealer is so much better and will cost a little more. Here's my breakdown Bobcat Pros: Price, better financing, heavier capacity, cheaper parts Bobcat Cons: Local dealer sucks CAT Pros: quality machine, great local dealer CAT Cons: $300 more, higher financing rate
Any other bobcat dealers near by? Depending on your area, there maybe more then one near by. There are more the just Bobcat of ..... Ag dealers often take bobcat on to compliment their their other lines.
The one closest to me (20 min.) and the next one (50 min.) are both owned and operated by the same people. If I buy a Bobcat, it will come from the dealer 2 hrs away.
reaperman
Well-known member
- Joined
- Dec 18, 2011
- Messages
- 598
We have 3 cats at work and 2 bobcats, all track machines. From a reliability factor, the bobcats have kicked a$$ over the cats. One cat blew its engine at just under 1000 hrs, out of warranty, and $14,000 later, ouch. The hand control steering on one hasn't worked right from new. We finally got tired of taking it in for warranty repairs because they said that's as good as it gets. The machine will hesitate, then jerk, very quickly in the direction you want to go. I can't count how many things this machine has broken from running into because of the jerky, lunging steering. Skid loaders are suppose to be nimble and fluid in motion when working in tight quarters. I won't even get into the track,bogie wheels, or undercarriage issues since your looking at tire machines. The LCD hour meters are now blank on all 3 machines. I called cat last week to see what the story is behind that. Their answer was about $90 each. I asked if the hour meters read the computer or if they start at 0 again, or if they have to be programmed to the correct hours for an additional charge. The guy I talked to had no idea, no surprise to me. Our bobcats have treated us wonderful, in the past we would trade every year or two. But this pair has has been so dependable we're still running them since '06, and over 4000 hours. They will be going after this season. We never had any engine issues, never blew a hyd hose, changed a alt belt this summer and drive belt last winter, that's it, other than track replacement. Believe me, they get used, not babied, we do heavy excavating.
Thanks for all of the opinions. I think I've decided on the Bobcat. I will report after I pull the trigger.
