What is the downside of a 613B?

[micklandry]

I am thinking about purchasing a Cat 613B paddle scraper. I have never owned a scraper. It will be used on my farm. Assuming that the hydraulics and engine are good, what words of caution does anyone have? What typical problems occur with this model scraper? What should I pay particular attention to when evaluating the machine? Would appreciate comments.

 

[davey486]

HAHAHA!! What is the upside? J/K 613's are good for little jobs, can't go to fast in them as they have no cushion hitch. I don't know, maybe you can, but not me, my tender young bones can't take the abuse. Good luck on your purchase.

 

[wormkiller]

Crumb'er

The downside of a 613 mainly is its size, too small to be productive on large yardage and too complex to justify its use on small scale jobs. For a farmer with some small grading and haulin it may be perfect. 613's hate rock, hardpan, sticky gumbo, turning in the cut, high speed, deferred mantinence and lazy operators. If you have a project that excludes the above, and need one machine to load, haul and spread over a reasonable area, then go for it.

 

[DPete]

If you are a farmer and have farm tractors a pull scraper may be something to think about for your dirt work. Nothing wrong with a 613 though, they are a good clean up machine

 

[micklandry]

I would actually prefer a tractor pulled scraper if my tractor was large enough. I only have a 90 hp 4wd tractor. I have 75 acres that I need to move dirt on, build roads, and a house pad. A local rental company is allowing me to rent (at a ridiculous cheap hourly rate) and only pay by the hour meter when I use it. They have 4 of them they bought for a job and want to sell. Probably can purchase for $5K to $7K. I am going to have one delivered next week. Honestly I do no think it will work out due to the amount of rainfall we have. Not enough traction from what I can see.

Would a 90 HP 4wd tractor pull a 6 yard scraper?

 

[Greg]

Only downside to a 613 in my book is the 3208 under the hood. That was not one of Cat's better ideas. For $5K to $7K they are a steal if they are in good shape.

 

[bell142]

Everyone has their opinions, I have owned 11 613 a,b &c's and think they are great machines. I do agree with Greg the 3208 is a turd engine but the rest of the machine is pretty tuff. With good routine maintenence they are an inexpensive earthmover for short distances. Dont be stingey with greasing the neck and elevator, we grease 2-3 times a day. Ive owned tractor/pans, and 621s and in my "APPLICATION and OPINION" the 613 has been the most reliable, mobile and efficiant way to move dirt. Oh yea torque convertors will get hot if they are lugged in the higher gears.

 

[Stick Pro]

We have a 613 A and a B. They made great improvements on the B from the A. The B is a good all around machine have had no probs with it just a ocasion oil line blowing, but that is just from old age. We work ours every day. Wold love to see some pics of it.

 

[ronnie]

Everyone has their opinions, I have owned 11 613 a,b &c's and think they are great machines. I do agree with Greg the 3208 is a turd engine but the rest of the machine is pretty tuff. With good routine maintenence they are an inexpensive earthmover for short distances. Dont be stingey with greasing the neck and elevator, we grease 2-3 times a day. Ive owned tractor/pans, and 621s and in my "APPLICATION and OPINION" the 613 has been the most reliable, mobile and efficiant way to move dirt. Oh yea torque convertors will get hot if they are lugged in the higher gears.

3208 when it was sold brand new in a crate was a turd (nothin more than a big block ford turned into a diesel lol junk ,crap, boat anchor, a waist of time and money THE BIGGEST MISTAKE CAT EAVER MADE (they wont pull a greassy strink out of a cat's azz junk is what i'm sayin) even with the turbo they stink something bad yrs ago con-way freight systems had the ford ln-8000 with the 2308 and JB HUNT could pass them was how slow they was but when your a u ###n driver who cares

 

[ronnie]

i have to retract my last statemant the dual over head cam 4 cyl. engine cat put in the 619 is the biggest turd ever built the 3208 is runner up

 

[wormkiller]

:lmao:lmao
Now thats funny and true!:drinkup

 

[alan627b]

613B's do make good finishing machines. The cab leaves something to be desired, like leg room. Especially if you are a big and/or tall guy. I feel like my leg needs another joint whenever I have to run one. The ones with the muffler under the rear of the tractor suck, as eventually something will leak on it and you'll have the wonderful aroma of burning dinosaurs all day.
other than that, they're ok.
Anybody ever notice how a gas 6 cylinder sounds like crap, compared to a V8 but in diesels the opposite seems to be true?
alan627b

 

[WabcoMan]

The 613B was the hardest riding scraper I ever operated and I have to say that visibility to the right side was poor.
It didn't like heavy topsoil but went well in clay.
3208 is not one of my favorite engines - bit like a hand grenade with the pin pulled - you just never know when its going to go bang !:beatsme

 

[bigrus]

3208 "the throwaway V8"

The 613B was the hardest riding scraper I ever operated and I have to say that visibility to the right side was poor.
It didn't like heavy topsoil but went well in clay.
3208 is not one of my favorite engines - bit like a hand grenade with the pin pulled - you just never know when its going to go bang !:beatsme

The last statement is

 

[OC(Outside Cat)]

613b

Mick, I used to work on a lot of 613A,B and C models. The expensive repairs to look for are the hitch and the elevator drive. Look for cracks, welds and plate repairs in the hitch. Also looseness in the hitch pins. On the elevator gear box, look for any oil leaking from the speed reducer, when they run out of oil they will destroy themselves in short order, and it's expensive to repair ($15,000 - $18,000). the 3208 engine wasn't bad, and starts great. A lot of the problems associated with the 3208 were due to misapplication. Just take care of the service on it. The machine will ride rough if you try to go to fast on a rough surface, slow down and use the machine to cut off the high spots. Sounds like the price is affordable, but used scrapers aren't selling very well right now, If you have a major repair it may exceed the value of the machine.

OC

 

[JASON M]

Ha, ha, ha. I have to agree with every post that says that the 3208 Kitty is a p.o.s., the tranny is not much better. My dad made one of the worst eqt decisions in his life, buying a fleet of brand new Ford dump trucks with 3208 engines in 'em. A few had the 1160's, just as bad.
We also bought new, a 613B, and in fact still have it and it is an operable unit, but seldom actually use it.
But all of the bad comments of the machine stand true, (I'll include the noisiest unit I've ever heard)............. and that's including the DETROITS! and the only thing that it does well for us, is picking up windrows left behind by the Cat 12G or Cat 14G patrols aka "FINISHING WORK." It can't do anything else well.
If someone "takes a leak" forward of the drive axle, during lunchtime, the 613B operator has to put 'er in REVERSE to get back to work! And topping the list of bad comments is that the capacity is only 7 cy!:bash

 

[bigrus]

Buying a 613 ?

Scratch buying a 613, theres a 101 Wabco advertised here somewhere for $4,500. Can't go wrong at that price,it's a gift :notworthy It'd do the job & then cash it in for the same $$$

 

[alan627b]

Whatever you do, don't buy one from Appell Equipment. A friend of mine bought one of their nightmares...look up Kansas cat on Youtube, and check out the responses.....here, I did it for you...

YouTube - Appell equipments misrepresented engines replacement engine first run
and
YouTube - WARNING! Appell equipments misrepresented caterpillar 613C scraper that i bought from them
and
YouTube - WARNING!! appell equipments 613C "ready to go to work" engine as delivered to me by them.

 

[scraperboy222]

just shows you cannot be to careful buying second hand even from a dealer some of them interpret reconditioned or work ready to mean nothing more than the good old liqiud overhaul.:Banghead

 

[bigrus]

Love that term "liquid overhaul" Do ever think of the 'Jaws theme' when you walk into a used equipment lot