Best new 50 ton hoe

[mxsledder]

I'm looking at new 50 ton excavators. I've got another thread on the Volvo 480 E but all my local dealers are really pushing to get this deal. What's everyone's opinions on what the better 50 ton machines are?
Hyundai is priced very nice on a new 480-9A but I'm a bit leery on these.

 

[mxsledder]

Also how many gallons an hour are you seeing these machines burning?

 

[rodtg]

If I had the option to buy new in that size range and had a dealership within easy reach, I'd go for a Doosan DX490LC-5 or DX53LC-5 (49 and 52 tonnes respectively). I'm not sure on the fuel consumption rates, but apparently the new Scania Dc13 installed on them is very fuel efficient.

 

[Nige]

If I had the option to buy new in that size range and had a dealership within easy reach, I'd go for a Doosan DX490LC-5 or DX53LC-5 (49 and 52 tonnes respectively). I'm not sure on the fuel consumption rates, but apparently the new Scania Dc13 installed on them is very fuel efficient.

Doosan..? Are you having a laugh..? With Doosan you get what you pay for and they're not expensive. Go figure.

 

[rodtg]

I just happen to know several people who own/operate them and the feedback is quite encouraging.

If it were a matter of buying used, I'd go with a Cat 350. We passed one up several years back in favour of a newer EX455 and were we sorry...

 

[Nige]

My experience of Doosan has unfortunately been far less than favourable and longevity is apparently not their strong suit. At one time the dealers were struggling so hard to sell them that they were forced into offering "no deposit & no repayments for 12 months" finance to tempt prospective buyers. Even then they didn't exactly fly off the dealers' lots. From a maintenance standpoint they are a bit lacking IMHO.

 

[rodtg]

Ah right. We just happen to know an Irish fella who used them a lot in Ghana stripping overburden and loading A40E's. He said they ran well and were good machines.

 

[Nige]

Ah right. We just happen to know an Irish fella who used them a lot in Ghana stripping overburden and loading A40E's. He said they ran well and were good machines.

To an Irishman anything better than a Size 10 shovel would be a luxury ......

I haven't found an (intelligent) operator yet who has a good word to say about them.

 

[rodtg]

Haha I've seen plenty in Wales over the years when going back to visit my mum. They seem very fond of Doosans and Bell ADT's.

 

[CM1995]

Rented a Doosan 350 a couple months back for a demo job. Now it was a rental machine with 3K hours but I wasn't impressed to say the least. The build quality between Cat and Doosan are miles apart.

Personally I wouldn't buy any "off-brand" excavator new, you take too big of a depreciation hit when it leaves the dealers yard.

 

[rodtg]

Buying new in our scenario is out of the question, the local interest rate for lending is around 16-17% and a shocking 26% in neighbouring Ghana

 

[mowingman]

I vote for Hitachi. However, you may not have a good dealer near you. I bought 4, 50 ton Hitachi's back in the mid to late 90's for a materials mining company I worked for. They got great service from them. I know that at least 2 of them went 20,000 hrs without any major problems, and no engine rebuilds during that time either. I believe they still operate 3 of them in regular service. So, that makes them about 20 years old, with who knows how many thousands of hours on them.
The Deere is/was the same machine with a J.D. engine. Not sure if they are still building the big Deere machines now.

 

[AntonioRocha]

Until 10k hours, all of them are nice machines, you can buy doosan or anything else, but with 20k hours on the clock and running you wont find many machines, Here in europe you can find liebherr´s working in granite qarrys working all day long for years without problems, Caterpillar is on of the machines that lasts even with lots of abuse. An old Cat with a painting its a new CAT, the others will be junk after a few years.

 

[mxsledder]

I own a cat 336 E now and really like it. I'm strongly considering a 349 F but it's $70k more than the Volvo 480 E and $120k more than the Hyundai 490-9A with the Cummins motor.

 

[rodtg]

You'd get better fuel consumption with a Volvo. The parts would be in the same ballpark cost wise as a Cat.

The Volvo's have nice cabs and are a nice machine to operate from experience.

 

[AntonioRocha]

Everybody talks about engines on the excavators, but I never had big problems with them, usually electric and hydraulic´s use to give me some nightmares

 

[nowing75]

Cm1995 I wonder if that's the machine we traded in. Lol. We had a dx 350 put about 1000 hr on it and traded for a cat. Lacked power and speed.

 

[mikebramel]

Seems Cat has cheaper parts than Volvo. Speedier delivery too. But at $70,000 ......... hard to skip that

 

[CM1995]

Cm1995 I wonder if that's the machine we traded in. Lol. We had a dx 350 put about 1000 hr on it and traded for a cat. Lacked power and speed.

Ya' never know nowing, this one had a very weak drive motor and wouldn't turn itself without help from the boom if it wasn't on flat solid ground. Paid right at $6K for a week rental with delivery and fees. It served it's purpose for that job..

 

[jprefect]

we had a cat 349 in the spring that was a nice machine. So are the Komatsu 490. Friend of mine company bought a brand new one and they love it. those would be my choices. I ran just about everything.