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North Carolina | Ok so I was ready for something bigger. I did try CAT and kinda looked at Kubota but 3 of them in this area are having so many emission issues with those I shy’d away. Also they were kinda cheap feeling but I do like that door. CAT was too high but I’d still think of it as the Cadillac.
I finally gave NH another shot with the new 245. Things I loved about my old one was the engine, had decent power, the reach it had was amazing and you can see out if it. I hated how you can’t see out the back of a CAT. Yes they have back up cameras. Tiny suckers though.
Things I disliked in my 2015 232 were of course the idiotic rubber lines under the engine and the rubber drive hydro lines all the way from front to back that rub and wear thru. It’s a pain in the butt to change them lines, not to mention you lose all the hydraulic fluid in seconds. This happen to me at 1080 hours. Also the remote lines to the oil filter were just plain rubber that can wear thru as well. A problem they didn’t fix until late 2017!.
So first thing I did was pull up the parts on this 245. All steel drive lines until right under where you flip up cab. No more plain rubber lines under engine. That’s really the only issue I had with mine but it could have been bad had I not caught them in time.
So the tracks are totally changed. Actually look just like kubotas under carriage so I’m guessing they buy them from same supplier. They ride smoother for sure.
The slapping noise the old one made is pretty much gone. The cab is still the same but now it has a lap bar and it’s quieter. They spaced those screens out so they would quit slapping the windows. Another annoying thing on my old one. The last thing is the hydraulics. They are smoother now but I assume that’s just programmed differently. The lift arms are different now too and you can see grading work heck of a lot better. I was impressed greatly over my old one. The next issue they need to address is the cab again. It’s still a tad noisy. It’s better than the old one so they did address it but the cab could use a makeover but it’s not terrible. The kubota cab I liked a little better with that door. That would make NH a bigger player in the skid market again IMO. The first 3 years of the alpha series were really bad and most people still assume they still are, but I bought that 245 after they beat kubota pretty substantially on price and trade in and the machine is stronger than theirs. (And one of the people with emissions issues got a new kubota last year and he still having issues)
And CAT, they are really for the high end market and that ain’t me. There are things I like about all 3 but the NH really stepped up their game. And it’s about time. If they redo the cab now and tweak a few things they could gain back what they once had but they’d better hurry up.
Also I totally forgot the rear door and back corners. They finally put a real door on the back instead of that dumb honey comb screen like on the small ones. Also the corners are now cast steel instead of cheap sheet metal that bends easy when you have idiots running it like me
Edited by cornfever43 11/8/2019 06:52
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2019 NH C245 tracked loader review versus my old 2015 NH C232
