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SANY long term owners/operators

MG84

Senior Member
Joined
Jan 6, 2023
Messages
1,396
Location
Virginia
Not trying to stir the pot with this but all brands have a Chinese heavy-handed involvement. Caterpillar China Investment Co Ltd has been registered to Caterpillar since the 90s. John Deere China Investment Co Ltd exists as well. They both have engineering, manufacturing, and financial headquarters in China paying into the CCP exorbitantly.
I'm well aware of that, China is a big market and everybody wants a piece of the pie. While I don't agree with it, what they do over there is their business. What I'm especially not a fan of is them bringing models from China back to the US. The new mid-sized Cat 307 and 310 excavators sold in the US are 100% made in China, and they don't even try to hide it.

I do think the events of the past 5 or so years have made some companies give pause to their operations in China, Russia, etc. They realize between tariffs, shipping disruptions, cyber threats and possible take overs that their operations and supply streams aren't as safe as they once thought. I've noticed numerous things previously made in China have now switched to Mexico, a whole host of other Asian countries, South American companies, even Middle-East and Africa. Basically anywhere they can find relatively cheap labor with lower risk.
 

kb1785

Member
Joined
Dec 29, 2019
Messages
19
Location
kentucky
As someone who has been around a lot of big iron for many years many of which was in a 7 day a week 24 hours per day application, I can tell you that service and support was an extremely important aspect of our purchase decisions. Parts, properly trained service techs and also don't discount factory support and we ran into a lot of issues requiring research and help from the factory including warranty issues. I would just be very comfortable with those issues as sometimes it is not just about the initial price. In addition you should research a bit on parts pricing as the machine will break down and sometimes there can be huge differences in component part pricing. Good luck with your decision.
 

CM1995

Administrator
Joined
Jan 21, 2007
Messages
15,962
Location
Alabama
Occupation
Running what I brung and taking what I win
As someone who has been around a lot of big iron for many years many of which was in a 7 day a week 24 hours per day application, I can tell you that service and support was an extremely important aspect of our purchase decisions. Parts, properly trained service techs and also don't discount factory support and we ran into a lot of issues requiring research and help from the factory including warranty issues. I would just be very comfortable with those issues as sometimes it is not just about the initial price. In addition you should research a bit on parts pricing as the machine will break down and sometimes there can be huge differences in component part pricing. Good luck with your decision.

Well said. I'm not even a medium sized operation by any means but I have experienced pretty much everything you described from a well stocked parts warehouse to getting the manufacturer involved when we had a few serious issues.

It's the reason I pretty much only buy Cat equipment. One instance my dealer had Cat pay for a rental excavator while one of ours was down waiting on duo cone seals. It was this time of year and it was also the first time I found out Japanese manufacturing pretty much shuts down the entire month of December.

The duo cone seals were for a 321DL (still have it) that was covered under a recall and on backorder. Dealer arranged for Cat to pay the rent on one of their 314's for 2 months while we were down. So this is one of several reasons I am a "Cat guy" - hard not to be.
 
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DM&RDBulldog

Well-Known Member
Joined
Feb 19, 2025
Messages
195
Location
New England
Occupation
Land clearing and quarry owner
So far so good for an update. Been over 5 months using the two Sany SY500 excavators without issue. Over 1,000hrs each so far. Been able to keep them working 7 days a week since late February with only planned downtime for service. Guys like them and They have paid for themselves more than 5x over already. Ill update again in December.
 

Deere500a

Senior Member
Joined
Mar 4, 2012
Messages
817
Location
Castro Valley ca
Right on .No difference from Hitich,Komatsu remember 90's Daewoo tv,cars,rifles & equipment or Samsung helicopter cab excavators? Past was on Daewoo excavator same any other Asian machine. Sany is the new yesterday
 

MG84

Senior Member
Joined
Jan 6, 2023
Messages
1,396
Location
Virginia
They have paid for themselves more than 5x over already.
With that kind of ROI you could have easily bought top of the line name brand equipment. Things look good now but when it comes time for a major/complex repair or resale I think you'll be singing a different tune.
 

DM&RDBulldog

Well-Known Member
Joined
Feb 19, 2025
Messages
195
Location
New England
Occupation
Land clearing and quarry owner
We never saw any pictures of your operation. I know you said a video was being made . Did you ever complete it?

Yes, the footage is complete. Company I have doing it is working on editing out all the sub contractors that don't want their presence on film. 30+ haul contractors and various others so taking longer than any of us would like :)
 

DM&RDBulldog

Well-Known Member
Joined
Feb 19, 2025
Messages
195
Location
New England
Occupation
Land clearing and quarry owner
Right on .No difference from Hitich,Komatsu remember 90's Daewoo tv,cars,rifles & equipment or Samsung helicopter cab excavators? Past was on Daewoo excavator same any other Asian machine. Sany is the new yesterday

That has been my experience. Had a Kubota KH and a Daewoo Solar back when they were labelled cheap. Great machines I had no big problems from. Repowered both once and rebuilt everything on the Daewoo at least once in the 22k hours I put on it. Sold both last year still working fine just because they are now too small for my operation.

Ended up getting eyes on a Sany SY500 with 11k hours on it over the winter. It was up in Vancouver BC. I was out there seeing Family in Tacoma already so took the ride over the line into Canada to see it. Wasn't worn out junk by any means and they were still using it while for sale.
 

Welder Dave

Senior Member
Joined
Oct 11, 2014
Messages
17,966
Location
Canada
If you look after them and they go to what is considered higher hours (12-15,000+) without a major breakdown for any brand you can't really complain. You can count your savings though. The savings would certainly help when it's time to replace them too.
 

DM&RDBulldog

Well-Known Member
Joined
Feb 19, 2025
Messages
195
Location
New England
Occupation
Land clearing and quarry owner
What are your thoughts on the 380E now?

So far I have not used it myself. Put the 3.3yd bucket on it that I had from the CX350D I traded in a while back and its doing within 150 tons per hour of the 50 ton machines. Uses about 1.5-2 gallons less per hour than the QSG12 Cummins Sany's.

I wasnt looking for it. It was a deal that fell through and dealer was eager to move it because it was setup with the short stick. I went in for a used CX290 to run a hammer and ended up with the CX380E also.
 
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