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SW Missouri | Still trying to learn about telehandlers. Tell me about your experiences with JCBs. Looking at 530-535-540s. Going to be doing general ag loader work, loading litter in the field & silage at the pit. Got a couple barns to put up as well. |
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The Internet | Good machines. I don't doubt that there is an unhappy customer with tales of woe, but they are one of the brands you need to be looking at.
There are construction spec machines and agriculture spec. You need agriculture spec. More power better controls and a cab fit for a human being, not the apes you get on construction sites.
5 is the range
30/35/40 etc is the amount it lifts in metric tonnes
and -70/90 etc is the height it lifts in meters, so a 535-70 will lift 3.5 tonnes to a height of 7 metres.
They used to have Perkins engines, so you should be able get get parts from CAT. At some point, I don't now when, they started building their own engines. I've not heard any complaints, that's not to say they're or none. We were looking at irrigation pumps with their engines in and were told all they had sold were doing fine.
What you describe sounds like what they are doing every day in the UK. Just service it and grease it and you'll wonder how you ever managed without it.
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north east IN | I had a JCB telehandler and had nothing but trouble with it. The bad thing is the company would not back there machine but the dealer did every thing they could. I ended up trading it for a deere wheel loader. enough said about that.
The telehandler is great to have on the farm, for putting up barns fixing things high, any thing that takes a fork lift. As for loading out off a bunker or any thing that takes a bucket to load get a wheel loader. It will work for a while but like a dealer told me tap your finger on the table your ok for a while but it will start to get sore,that is what a telehandler is like. A wheel loader is designed to crash into a brick wall all day long and keep going. |
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Modena, Wisconsin | Lots of JCB 541's on the big dairies around here. They put on big hours on most of them and don't seem to have many problems. Lots of them many used for loading TMR's and moving bales. |
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Penn Yan, NY | we have a 541-70 great machine once warm, but gutless until it gets warm. Only problems we have had were caused by the operator.
laid it on its nose at 2 weeks old by extending the boom too far with 2.5 tons of sand in the shovel.
drove into a set of pallet forks and sent one fork through the radiator at 9 weeks
backed into a cement wall and busted off all the back lights at 13 weeks
Good thing it was the boss driving all 3 times :D |
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algona iowa | We have a 541-70 agri plus . |
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The Internet | The telehander is a materials handler, NOT an excavator.
They will load silage out of a bunker all day long with a grab on the front instead of using the bucket. |
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Southern Alberta Canada | We have a 535-9.5. They are an incredible loader but as they get older they can be a real pain. Ours is a 2000 model and it has just over 7000hrs (allot of very hard hours) and the machine has been neglected. The Perkins engines will get gutless after awhile I pulled the fuel pump, took it in and had it rebuilt and it pulls better than new now. I've heard the JCB engines are very difficult to service the pumps on but that's all I've heard about them. JCB has a very "unique" way of wiring their equipment and that can be a nightmare, all the wires are undersized and you will get mystery hotspots and burnt wiring after several years, we see this more on our Fastracts then on the loader though. We bought a new New Holland last year, it has a little more capacity but a shorter boom (7m), it seems like a better machine in many ways but I have to admit the JCB has a better feel to it. |
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German Valley, IL | I have a bobcat right now ... looking at trading on a little newer jcb ... I use it to load feed in our bunkers ... plus it ia the most handy machine to have for a lot af jobs ... it will make an a$$ out of a front loader all day , as far as speed and maneuverability ... we also use a facer on the pile so we are not trying to ram into the pile and lift the whole face up and devalue thousands of tons of feed every day |
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Sunnyside, WA | I'll be the odd man out on JCB and telehandlers. I don't plan on not owning either one again.
The two telehandlers we have owned last ~5000 hours each before they were traded. Maybe we had too high of expectations for the telehandlers, but neither one of them lasted. Everyone on the farm always chose a payloader first and hated the telehandlers, even for moving hay bales. Payloaders remaining have 17,000 & 12,000 & 9000 & 8000 hours and still run all the time. Absolutely hated the telehandler for mixing feed. Built a 12' boom for the payloaders and have not missed a telehandler yet.
JCB was a joke for getting parts. The company promised to have all parts in a warehouse in this country. Seemed like when we had a breakdown it was the same old story that "this part never breaks" and the part was out 1-2 weeks. I buy equipment to keep it running. All equipment breaks, its just a matter of how quickly you can get parts again to keep it running. That is the main reason I run Cat loaders and JD tractors. JCB has told me they are better now, but that is a relative term, and I'm not interested in finding out first hand again.
Did I mention resale? My Cat 924G with 17,000 hours is still worth more on trade than the JCB 436 with 6000 hours was.
Everyone else on this site loves telehandlers. I'll keep my payloaders for feeding, moving hay bales and loading manure.
Edited by J. Sheehan 11/20/2011 11:22
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2011-10-07_10-33-15_91.jpg (52KB - 592 downloads)
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Columbia Basin, Ephrata, WA | A telehandler would be great for putting up the barns, but for litter loading and especially silage pit work a wheel loader would be better. We did some manure hauling with a JCB 541 and I really did not care for it. It was slow and seemed very short on breakout force. The guys that own it tried to trade it for a Case 621Exr but the JCB was worth so little on trade that they kept it and just bought the wheel loader. We try to get the 621 when we load out manure there now.
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Sunnyside, WA | If I told the guys that I was trading our payloaders for telehandlers I think they would all quit. Or at least we would never get anything done anymore. |
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Flandreau, SD | I would not agrue with you guys, if you need a loader everyday, you need a wheel loader. But for most "farm" loaders, a telehandler is very hard to beat. We have both, a 544J wheel loader and a 541-70 Ag Plus. We need them both, almost never at the same place. 544J is used as a loader atleast 6 hours a day 6 days a week. JCB is used hard as a loader in the spring and fall and then used almost everyday after that for odd jobs about everywhere.
The 544J is becoming a problem. About every 3 months it has a fuel system meltdown. All fuel is pulled out of our tank in town that runs 50 plus pieces of equipment out of, it goes in a 1000 gallon nh3 tank on wheels and is pulled out to the egg farm, which 3 pieces of equipment pull off it at that site. only the Deere has problems.... :(
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SW Missouri | I've got a old wheel loader now but it won't lift high enough to load silage in tall sided (13') trucks. That's hopefully just a job that's only a few months this winter & not an every year thing, chopped silage because of drought. Also thought the tele would be lighter loading litter into spreaders out in the field as most times it's muddy.
Every tool has it's place, just thinking a telehandler would be a better fit. |
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algona iowa | Marc can you explain your problems with your 544 more? |
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Flandreau, SD | Fuel solinoids are sticking. I think it is the High Pressure one or ones. It always runs rough at idle, but still runs and works, just the dang fuel code and alarm sounding all the time. It screwed up two weeks ago again. RDO came out and did something but needed to come back. So on Tuesday I got called for low oil pressure. I went and drain atleast 8 gallons (prolly 9) out of the motor. Smelled like fuel in the oil. I think I put in 5.5 gal to fill it. Filled it back up and it looks like the level is coming up again. Will know for sure in the morn when I check it again. I see they put a new fuel pump on it. Can fuel get in the crankcase through the pump? I don't know how it can, dont know that much about motors. All cylinders are running the same temp with a temp gun on the exhaust manifold. |
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algona iowa | Is this a tier 3 or tier 2 motor? We have had more trouble with our 09 624j . |
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Flandreau, SD | It is an 2008 |
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Sunnyside, WA | Telehandlers seem to be the next hottest buy for everyone. I am just sharing what it was like here 10-15 years ago when everyone in this valley thought they needed a telehandler. Now there are no more telehandlers, just payloaders. But then I am one of the few dairies with a skid loader and I would have a hard time giving that up. |
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Columbia Basin, Ephrata, WA | A telehandler fits those job descriptions better than what your first post sounded like you'd be doing. We have a small Manitou that we would not be without, but I would like to have a wheel loader also for the heavy manure, dirt, and rock work we do in the spring.
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SW Missouri | Sorry I didn't put in more details, I tend to get long winded sometimes when short & sweet is more effective. I agree with all that you guys have said about wheel loaders, just thinking the telehandler would be more versatile. |
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JCB Telehandler
