Kobelco Blade Runner

[rvaitor]

Anyone had any experience with these. I've got a friend with a D5 and a Hitachi excavator and it looks like this would be a neat machine.

http://www.kobelcoamerica.com/produ...&RL=ENNA&NavID=000004724403&line=000004792103

http://www.kobelcoamerica.com/files/tbl_s51IVDGalleryItems/Icon396/46/ED190_001-10 800x600.jpg

I am considering renting one for a week or two to take some larger trees down demo a couple of buildings and clear out some fence areas.

Thanks for the feed back

 

[Dirthog]

Have sold several of them through our dealership and the guys seem too like them most people areusing them in the woods for gas well locations and line work saves having to bring in a dozer but they are quite a bit heaver than a standard machine of the same size

 

[plowrup]

We, too sell them like crazy (right now our best selling Kobelco)-they are very well made (have not had one problem yet), and where we are (in the Mountains), the Contractor's doze a road into the Homesite and dig the foundation (and everything else) with them-

 

[rvaitor]

Anyone renting them?

I could probably use one for a week or two - not ready to drop $125K to do a few jobs.

Thanks for the replies.

 

[Dirthog]

most places around here won't rent for less than a month also won't rent a machine like that to a individial because of insurance and liability issues and you can't move them on a tag trailer too heavy and that machine is pricey quite a bit more than $125K

 

[rvaitor]

I don't know where I got the 125K number.

Are these things difficult to operate? how about the center of gravity vs a track dozer?

A month might not be that bad, but the insurance would probably knock me out.

Thanks

 

[Tags]

I was in the market for a new excavator about a year and a half ago and had a new house site to work on so I rented a Bladerunner150 for a month. It was OK, great as an excavator, and so so as a dozer, I stripped all the topsoil, stumped the lot, cut in the driveway, and dug the foundation. It is only so so as a dozer because it doesn't move like a dozer, very slow travel and it wasn't great at fine grading. Also the blade needs to be "broken down" when the machine needs to be moved and is a royal pain the butt. In the right circumstances it would suit someone just fine (like gas/power line work) but to take the place of a dozer I don't think it's the solution, but a fantastic idea. If you need to get something done for yourself on your own property it would get the job done and would be neat to use.

 

[rvaitor]

I was in the market for a new excavator about a year and a half ago and had a new house site to work on so I rented a Bladerunner150 for a month. It was OK, great as an excavator, and so so as a dozer, I stripped all the topsoil, stumped the lot, cut in the driveway, and dug the foundation. It is only so so as a dozer because it doesn't move like a dozer, very slow travel and it wasn't great at fine grading. Also the blade needs to be "broken down" when the machine needs to be moved and is a royal pain the butt. In the right circumstances it would suit someone just fine (like gas/power line work) but to take the place of a dozer I don't think it's the solution, but a fantastic idea. If you need to get something done for yourself on your own property it would get the job done and would be neat to use.

What was the rental rate and did you have special insurance requirments?

I noticed the breakdown setup on the blade the one I saw as buggered up where somehting either got bent or wouldn't fold up correctly.

 

[plowrup]

I get $5500.00 a Month-

 

[Tags]

A year and a half ago I paid $4500 for the month and I believe I got temporary insurance on it. The blade could definitly be easier to break down, after using it for a month it took at least 30-45 mins to break it down, the pins were as stuck as could be, and there is no good angle to whack em' with a hammer, I think I ended up hooking a chain to the pins and pulled em' out with the bucket, and keep in mind, nothing was tweaked on it.