Cat 345DL vs. Hitachi ZX450LC3

[Movindirt345ME]

Some like them, some don't. I don't know what the fuel savings are (if any) and they are new so we haven't had breakdowns. I personally don't like them. Controls are jerky and I don't think it has any more hyd power than the 345s. Plus it looks and sounds goofy. It's basically a glorified 345 with emissions and a few extra tons so they could slap a diff number on it. I must say the cab is nice tho. I don't think they are going to be pretty when they have 5-10k hours on them with all the electronics now a days.

 

[JimBruce42]

I am pretty sure ever since the 345b's, every series (minus maybe C->D) in the 45 ton class has gotten heavier in cat's line up. Some of the later 345d's were actually tagged as 349D's too (Australian market?), much like the 330/336D's... Part of the jerkiness is that electronic controls, I've noticed Cat (and even JD) dozers are like that too, but one silver lining to all that electronic stuff is that you can usually tweak the settings in the computer without much trouble to get rid of the jerkiness (most of it anyway). I think every one of our 349's have had one or two sensor issues with the regen systems, but those were ironed out pretty quickly in the beginning. I haven't gotten to run any Deere-tachi's, though I haven't heard any bad things about them, but either one has to be better than a komatsu though:drinkup

 

[Deeretracks]

Agreed, anything is better than a Komatsu. We have a new PC390 and it sux. Nobody likes it. We just demo'd a new PC210 and it's clear we won't be buying any. Most of our operators really like the Hitachi's. We've only bought one new Cat and it was a 365C and it was ok but the guys didn't like the controls and the dealer never could get them ironed out. We have a bunch of Zaxis and Zaxis-5 machines, I get very few complaints. We keep them for about 10k hours and they still operate very well w/o major issues. Can't say that about our PC300-6 or PC400-7 though. I will say that every one of our guys will say their favorite machine was the Zaxis 450LC. Traded it in on the 365 at 9000hrs and we should have never got rid of it. We Demo'd a ZX380-5 right after we bought the new PC390 and the 380 was a much better machine. It's really all about what you're doing with them as to which ones shine and which ones flail.