Thoughts on a CAT Callenger 200 series

burnetma · Jun 2, 2006

Best advice I can offer is to test drive it and find out if you like it better than the competition. Then compare the dealers and the level of service they want to offer you.

Personally, I think the CAT Challenger series has its merits and I would not feel bad owning one myself. I just got a better deal and fit for my operation from a left-over 2004 JD unit. If CAT services these machines like they do their industrial equipment, I would say you have a winner! Example: I called for a part (actually several including a crankshaft, bearings, con rods, piston, rings and sleeves) for a 1949 CAT D47U and they not only found the proper reference part number, but the dealer had the part in stock for delivery or pick-up that day! About knocked me over!

burnetma · Jun 2, 2006

Best advice I can offer is to test drive it and find out if you like it better than the competition. Then compare the dealers and the level of service they want to offer you.

Personally, I think the CAT Challenger series has its merits and I would not feel bad owning one myself. I just got a better deal and fit for my operation from a left-over 2004 JD unit. If CAT services these machines like they do their industrial equipment, I would say you have a winner! Example: I called for a part (actually several including a crankshaft, bearings, con rods, piston, rings and sleeves) for a 1949 CAT D47U and they not only found the proper reference part number, but the dealer had the part in stock for delivery or pick-up that day! About knocked me over!

SCDolphin · Jun 3, 2006

The Challenger Cat dealer is a man who farmed and worked with Ford/NH for 30 years. He is a very knowledgeable and probably one of the best cut guys I have talked with. He is the only sales person that has offered to loan me a tractor to try at my farm.
When I go to my nearest MF dealer it is nothing more than a old run down garage. The Challenger dealer is a robust heavy equipment dealer with millions of dollars of equipment on the lot. What I did not like is the challenger seems a little cruder the way the castings are made as compared to Kubota vs JD.
Finally the loader joy stick is on the tractor not the loader like the Kubota (which I like better). The loader is tied in to the rear of the tractor with metal bars which I have not seen on the Kubota. I can't remember if JD is like that. I am not sure if the extra tie in means the tractor is weaker and needs the extra or just a better stronger design on the Challenger.

Thanks

SCDolphin · Jun 3, 2006

The Challenger Cat dealer is a man who farmed and worked with Ford/NH for 30 years. He is a very knowledgeable and probably one of the best cut guys I have talked with. He is the only sales person that has offered to loan me a tractor to try at my farm.
When I go to my nearest MF dealer it is nothing more than a old run down garage. The Challenger dealer is a robust heavy equipment dealer with millions of dollars of equipment on the lot. What I did not like is the challenger seems a little cruder the way the castings are made as compared to Kubota vs JD.
Finally the loader joy stick is on the tractor not the loader like the Kubota (which I like better). The loader is tied in to the rear of the tractor with metal bars which I have not seen on the Kubota. I can't remember if JD is like that. I am not sure if the extra tie in means the tractor is weaker and needs the extra or just a better stronger design on the Challenger.

Thanks

aesanders · Jun 3, 2006

If it is cruder, it is not by much. They are well built machines and very refined. Iseki makes the tractor in Japan and they are a huge company in their own right. They make very good machines and have been for a very long time.

aesanders · Jun 3, 2006

If it is cruder, it is not by much. They are well built machines and very refined. Iseki makes the tractor in Japan and they are a huge company in their own right. They make very good machines and have been for a very long time.

kingoflawns · Jun 3, 2006

The cat dealer here in massachusetts provides the same level of service on the tractors as they do on their large excavators! If your tractor fails in the first year, they send the service truck & tech out to you pronto, if they have to take the machine in to repair it, they run you out another machine until yours is ready. This service is NO CHARGE, that is one of the many reasons many companys here (MA) use cats.

kingoflawns · Jun 3, 2006

The cat dealer here in massachusetts provides the same level of service on the tractors as they do on their large excavators! If your tractor fails in the first year, they send the service truck & tech out to you pronto, if they have to take the machine in to repair it, they run you out another machine until yours is ready. This service is NO CHARGE, that is one of the many reasons many companys here (MA) use cats.

MessickFarmEqu · Jun 3, 2006

( Agco sells more tractors than Kubota and about the same as John Deere. )

Globaly Yes. The Agco family of companies is #3 globaly I think. CNH, Deere, Agco...?

Agco is struggling in the market. At a recent meeting I was at I heard that its estimated that the average Agco dealer does 500,000/year in business. The average Kubota dealer does 6x that. We had an Agco dealer about two miles from us, he just dropped his dealership because he was making more $$ selling polaris ATV's.

MessickFarmEqu · Jun 3, 2006

( Agco sells more tractors than Kubota and about the same as John Deere. )

Globaly Yes. The Agco family of companies is #3 globaly I think. CNH, Deere, Agco...?

Agco is struggling in the market. At a recent meeting I was at I heard that its estimated that the average Agco dealer does 500,000/year in business. The average Kubota dealer does 6x that. We had an Agco dealer about two miles from us, he just dropped his dealership because he was making more $$ selling polaris ATV's.