Anyone seen the new Cats

[Kendall69]

I got a call from my Cat rep and said he just got some new generation Cats in.

WOW, these seem impressive, anyone demo’d one yet?

Caterpillar: Products>Compact Equipment>Multi Terrain Loaders

 

[jmfox]

They look great and the bubble windows offer more room, but they are spensive. The pressurized cab is a nice added feature.

jmf

 

[Kendall69]

....but they are spensive

Yea, and can’t ain’t one for discounting, at least my sales guy isn't.

He said he would go to work and give me the best price right away no dickering.

Ha, his price was like $400.00 off the posted Cat site retail suggested price, and he thought he was doing me a favor at that.

 

[EquipmentJunkie]

There was a Cat 246C on display at Red Power Roundup last week. I, of course, seized the opportunity to plunk myself into its seat.

My brief impressions without turning the key: Pretty nice. The cab door opens the traditional way...some like that, some don't. C-series machines have safety bars which fold down and nice molded rests for your forearms like Deere or ASV. I thought the cab did not grow any in size, but I could be wrong.

Your view of the top of the quick attach is still incredibly lousy. I can't understand why Cat can't design the loader cross member to gain visibility when hooking up attachments! That was my biggest complaint of the C-series during my brief examination.

The photos of the new C-series loaders make them appear to be larger in size. The 246C indeed seemed larger than before, but I am just a novice with little experience with Cat's wheeled machines. I'd really like to run a new 277C. I was always very impressed with the B-series MTLs.

 

[Terra Firma Scott]

While I was at my CAT dealer dropping off my 257 I sat in the new 297C...AWESOME machine...Got -LOTS of leg room, fully adjustable joystick positioning,Pos pressure cab-great view of the work tool in front.....

Asked how much-60-70K...Got back out......Ill wait for a used one next year!.....

 

[Kendall69]

60-70K, OH MY GOSH !!

Who is going to buy these at that price. I’m sitting here thinking of all the “other” things I can buy of that much money - Escalade, Hummer, Trip around the world, how about a fixer house,(a real fixer) 60 acres of land etc.

I’ll be in line waiting with you for next year used ones.

 

[Tigerotor77W]

The cab is bigger than the old one, actually -- it's wider for sure.

The cabs, as mentioned, are sealed and pressurized; the hydrualic system got a similar bump in performance. The breakout force on the large-frame models is now over 7,000 pounds, a large improvement over the 5,500 lbs of the B-series vertical lift machines and the 4,000-ish pounds of the radial machines.

The torque tube (cross member) of the loader arms is a long, long story... I had the same question, but I'm satisfied that Cat did the right thing. There is a balance and a close relationship between a narrow cab (Case), bent loader arms (Bobcat, Deere, NH, ...), the loader arm stops, and the amount of protection to the bucket cylinders. The prototype machines -- the front end especially -- looked very different, but the current design reflects a lot of engineering iteration and reiteration to solve problems from the prototype builds.

The 246C is a heavier machine than the 246B.

 

[White Shark]

Those new C series are really nice. The cabs look aerodynamic because they are fully welded, unlike the previous bolt together panels on previous machines. Thus the air tight pressurized cab feature.

Another cool feature over previous machines is that the pilot controls float with the seat. On really rough terrain, I've found that the controls on my 247B are moving differently than me on the air ride seat... Having the controls tied into the seat suspension should be a nice improvement.

The arm rests are nicer too and they are also adjustable within the seat unit.

The glass is also bigger, but I am wondering how well the wiper works on the heavily curved glass.

All I know is that if I were walking into a CAT dealer to buy another unit today, I'd buy another B Series. The machines are still similar enough in performance but the B Series units are so much cheaper. I bet that as the C's roll out, there will likely be $$$ incentives to move the B units down the road.

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