Anyone use a Link-belt mini? Whats your opinion? Are they made by someone else? I saw a Link Belt today being used to trim brush on a forest service road. The thing must have had at least a 40' reach from its boom...Probably the biggest excavator I've been up close to.
Link-Belt *mini*? About how big is it? Either way, Link-Belt excavators are just about identical to Case excavators. The two are both rebranded Sumitomo machines (I believe with different powerplants, but I haven't checked that... LBX I think uses Iveco, with Case using "Case" engines. Those engines might be rebranded Ivecos, but they could be the Case-Cummins alliance. Kaiser might know better than I.) They're not bad machines, but again, they're the same as Case machines. They just introduced a 70-metric ton machine... to compete with the Volvo EC700B, Cat 365C, and (not so much here in the States) Liebherr 954 (a little smaller, as is the Deere 600C). But interesting to see the larger end of the market develop healthily.
I know a couple guys that run Link Belt, one guy had a smaller 2850 I think it was for general excavation and liked the machine, he beat the piss out of it. He bought it with about 4,000 hours and since he was a diesel mechanic he could keep it running good, but it looked like hell. I think he sold it last year after running it for about 2 years. I know another guy that uses only Link Belt log loaders in his logging operation. Swears by them.
Anyone ever seen a CAT 5038 excavator? They have one running in the rock pile near us. 20 yard bucket. 23' wide, and a 25' stick, total reach of 62'. The operator looks like a GI Joe sitting in the cab. A Cat V-16 twin turbo engine producing 2400 HP. I did not even know they used that numbering until I saw this beast.
This was an excavator but the bucket could be flipped the front way just like you can do with a Cat MiniX.
It was probably a front shovel with a drop load bucket. I've never had to put the bucket on our 303 backwards, one of these days I bet it'll happen.
I was told the Link Belt and Case are pretty much the same the only difference was one machine had a shorter stick. You don't see many Link Belt excavators same with Case excavators.
Uniscaper -- it could have been a 5080 (as Scag mentioned), 5090, 5130, or 5230. No Cat front shovel ever produced 2400 HP (no Cat tracked machine does, in fact). But it's amazing that you saw such a big machine... I can't imagine how big it must have been!
