Muck Boots 'n' Slickers - Life of a Livestock Hauler

Looks like my grandson got his first goose of the year!

 

We rented this thing for a couple of days to drive log piles:



There is a bit of a learning curve involved with this thing - partly due to it being on a Volvo, and partly cuz there are 10 buttons on the joystick to run the driver!

 

Was gonna ask how you like the Volvo

 

Well, none of them can just put knobs in for HVAC/Radio/ etc. anymore. You have to go into the computer screen and navigate around to find crap. I know how to do it on Cat machines but Volvo is different.

The feel of the joysticks is real nice exceept the priorities on that machine are set a bit different than what I'm used to, and the feel of the travel pedals is touchy compared to ours.

They are all pretty good anymore, but for parts availability and support in our area I think Cat is still better - but then I never buy any Volvo parts so I could be wrong.

 

This is just an opinion for what it’s worth but in my opinion Volvo, Hyundai, Daewoo, Samsung and Kobelco are good rental machines. However owning one is risky about 7k hours and they are gonna #### a hydraulic pump and after spending more than it’s worth it’s still never gonna be the same. Again that’s just an opinion

 

big ‘ol proud smile!

Love it!!!!

 

Around here as a guess I think Volvos are almost as popular as Cat, followed by Deere, Komatsu, Case, Link Belt, and then all the others. Sany is starting to make a presence here as well. I hauled a new Sany in January. It was plain without all the electronic gismos of the big boys, but it seemed solid. I think the closest dealer, which sells them along with other stuff, is in Salt Lake though, so time will tell what kind of nightmare parts and service will produce.

 

I am a big fan of link belt, komatsu as well as John Deere/Hytachi. I should also note I quit working on equipment in 13 so I’m very behind the times there too

 

Guy my dad used to haul equipment for had Komotsu, Hitachi, Cat, and a Deere or two. He liked the older Komotsus, but anymore, he is buying all new Volvo excavators, and haul trucks. Still likes CAT dozers though. Skid steers, he went to all Takeuchi

 

Here's those Grote headlights in action. I don't know if the pictures do them any justice.

Low beam:


High beam:


Those were just after dark coming south out of Torrington on 85