What was your first track loader to operate

[brian]

There aren't too many liebherr drotts here, Jim. I've never had to spanner one so don't know one way or the other. From what I've heard they are a good machine. Never seen a Fiat or Allis tracked loader, but I gather there were a few Fiat-Aliis's about.

[JimInOz]

Brian,
Liebherr sold a few machines to a State road dept here,but not a lot in the private sector.I thought they might have had a big presence in Europe.The larger excavators showed up on a few mine sites here..
I really liked the power & size of the 631 I operated,but after a lot of hours,I think they all liked to leak oil.
I used the 631 in a job in the hot Aussie outback (45-48 C every day) & she performed well.It was tough work sitting in the cabin awaiting a new aircon belt for 2 days.Also did some clearing on a road construction job & she pushed the large trees very well.That 4in1 could really grab & crunch the limbs.

[brian]

I've had backside time in a 632 and it was a lovely bit of kit, so much lighter than the Cats to operate. I think now you can specify the v-trans/pedal steer on Liebherrs, which I would go for. As far as I'm concerned, joysticks are for slid steers. My all round favourite was the old 943, there was just so much feel in the controls, and nothing else I've been on has ever quite matched it. I've been on two virtually new 963B's recently and I have to say that for the size they are pretty good for grading compared to the old 963B's (missed the C's altogether). Options are limited now in the UK, it's either a Cat or Liebherr. All the IH's have disappeared from front line use, so have the Case's, Fiat/Allis's, most of the Komatsu's. As for al this about track wear making them too expensive, as far as I'm concerned it's down to operators. We put 1200 hours straight on a 963 with System One tracks and didn't need to adjust them even once.