Case Excavator, Bulldozer, Tractor review

New Equipment

So you are looking at buying a piece of equipment. Well, there's three generalizations that you should examine before making any purchase decision and this will cover everything from lawn mowers, to bale loader, to skid loader, to excavators. The first is power in productivity. When you purchase that machine, is it actually going to deliver what you expect it to? Number two is quality. When you purchase that machine, is it going to continue to deliver results long after it's paid off? That’s when the machine gets profitable. Number three is so absolutely important, that it is broken into two separate subcategories. That's serviceability; how well can you dig into the machine and maintain it, and then if you do have a breakdown what is the local shop like that you have to bring it into. That is a key factor in making a purchase decision. I'm going to be using CASE equipment as my guinea pig today and we're going to see how they hold up to these three important categories. So let's get started! Power, productivity, and performance are one of the categories, basically, what it means when you put your butt in the seat of that machine, does it deliver? Now in today's example with the CASE Excavators, absolutely! I got a chance to use the mini Excavator lineup, all the way up to the mid-size Excavators, and their power was eye opening to say, the least.

Bells & Whistles

I'm not so concerned with bells and whistles, I want the end result. With a piece of equipment, it's always your first impression, what is it like when you initially get into it? And what's your impression after you've had it for five or ten years? What’s the upkeep like on it? My first impression of this machine is, this is a get in and go type of a machine. I have a little bit of a run and gun style to my excavating. I don't like to try to figure stuff out, I don't like to have to worry about what buttons do and knobs do. This has got a very intuitive control system. Anybody that's familiar with excavators can hop in this thing and it will immediately go to work. I was in this thing less than two minutes before I was ripping out a swimming pool, and I'd never been in a CASE mini Excavator l like this. Everything felt comfortable, fast, convenient, easy to use and I like the initial layout. I was demolishing the house and we had giant footing that we had to literally tear out of frozen dirt. We put the Excavator on it just to loosen it up and to our shock and surprise, it literally lifted the entire half of the house out of the ground. We never expected a machine to deliver on that kind of power but when it does, that's a very pleasant surprise. The thing I was really impressed by, was how the power wasn't isolated to just that one machine. On other jobs sites using smaller CASE Excavators, they continue to deliver power beyond what I've experienced in the past.

Quality

Number two is quality, how well will that machine continue to deliver long after it's been paid up? This is the make-it or break-it to most business owners. Now, when I think of quality, I think of long term dependability, does the machine run problem free while you're trying to pay it off? But then after you finally finished with that last payment, will that machine continue to operate without giving too many headaches or hassles? Let's take a look at this old CASE bulldozer of mine. I've had it for over a decade and I have not used in the last five years. In fact, the last time that this machine was ever run was eight months ago, let's go see if it will fire up for me. That right there, proves to me that this is a well-built machine, not fired in eight months and it doesn't even turn over. Meaning that I am confident as a business owner, but if I need this piece of equipment it's got my back.

Serviceability

Serviceability; this is a key component to the long term profitability of owning a piece of equipment. Have the engineers designed that piece of equipment to allow you to easily and quickly gain access to the vital components? Have they designed it so that you can do simple repair work without having a degree in engineering? So right here we’ve got the CASE Zero Tail Swing model (CX-60-C) and the sister unit to that is right over here, this is the CASE CX-57-C and that’s your Conventional Tail Swing. Both have excellent accessibility. See how you can get right at the engine? You have everything right there. The last but not least, what I want to talk to you about is your local shop. I get the question all the time. “Hey I'm thinking about buying this piece of equipment."  The first thing that I want to ask you guys is, what is your local shop like for that piece of equipment? It’s important that if you have a piece of equipment that delivers on power productivity, that is quality made, you can easily gain access to it but the local shop doesn't exist. What are you going to do when you have a major breakdown?

Local Shop

If you are not one hundred percent satisfied with your local shop, don't buy that piece of equipment no matter how good it is. This is a key to purchasing anything, is to make a connection with the shop. See if you trust what they're doing, look at reviews before you pull the trigger. If you have a great local shop, that is one-fourth or twenty-five percent of your purchasing decision. So let's go back over these four criteria: power, productivity, performance that's all one, does it deliver? And what you expect it to do? Number two is quality; quality is the ability for that machine to keep functioning long after it's been paid up, this is when a machine gets profitable. Number three is serviceability; can you handle the daily maintenance of that machine that keeps your operating expense to a minimum? Accessing the field is important, Eric, what have you guys done to make that happen?

Case DNA

Eric: so it’s part of our heritage, Case DNA is ground line serviceability. With the new C-series, it maintains that. As you can see here, the access panel is a foot above from the ground and you can do all your daily checks here. You have your water for your radiator, your engine oil. You can check if it's filled, fuel filter, water separator, electronic, standard, air cleaner access right there in the back. Everything you need to get to in one simple location. Stan: Number four is how well of a connection do you have with your local shop. It’s important that you vet that shop and you have a great local shop. But now I want to hear it from you guys, what is your favorite piece of equipment? And what is your least favorite piece of equipment? And why? I hope this has helped you guys out. What are you waiting for? God bless, go get them!