Thinking of upgrading my engine drive

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I was thinking about upgrading my engine drive to a Lincol vantage 300. What are your thoughts?Last edited by grindel; 07-30-2012 at 10:23 AM.Reason: missedMiller Pro 300 SS w/ cat Miller Bobcat 250Miller Diversion 165 Miller 211Miller Xtreme 375Miller 12vsMiller Dynasty 200 DX Miller Passport Plus w/ Spool GunMiller 30a spoolmaticLincoln AC225 Buzz Box VictorMathey Dearman - H&M
Reply:Well we need alittle more information. Is this a want or a need?
Reply:Love my vantage 500's but with the price of fuel and the relative power of the 300's if i was buying a new portable for the truck it would probably be a vantage 300.Vantage 500's LN-25's, VI-400's, cobramatics, Miller migs, synch 350 LX, Powcon inverters, XMT's, 250 Ton Acurrpress 12' brake, 1/4" 10' Atlantic shear,Koikie plasma table W/ esab plasmas. marvel & hyd-mech saws, pirrana & metal muncher punches.
Reply:Originally Posted by hillbillyfabWell we need alittle more information. Is this a want or a need?
Reply:Originally Posted by grindelWell its a little of both. My bobcat works great and is light. Its lacking top end power for my wire feeder. And when I run my wire feed its a fuel guzzler. Most of the time the bobcat is turned to Max out put power. I looked at trailblazers but I want a low rpm machine, that might give me more years of service. I do all sorts of Fab work.
Reply:What is the difference in fuel consumption and mateninece? Will it be cheaper or more expensive in the long run to run a trailblazer? Is there anyone on here who has both with real world experience?Miller Pro 300 SS w/ cat Miller Bobcat 250Miller Diversion 165 Miller 211Miller Xtreme 375Miller 12vsMiller Dynasty 200 DX Miller Passport Plus w/ Spool GunMiller 30a spoolmaticLincoln AC225 Buzz Box VictorMathey Dearman - H&M
Reply:Originally Posted by W123BenzWith regular maintenance, I think it would be unlikely to get less than 4000 hours from a Kohler in the Trailblazers.Paging Duane.  What's the consensus on the newer Kohler's in the long haul?  What's the cost of rebuilding or a new engine altogether?
Reply:Originally Posted by W123BenzWith regular maintenance, I think it would be unlikely to get less than 4000 hours from a Kohler in the Trailblazers.Paging Duane.  What's the consensus on the newer Kohler's in the long haul?  What's the cost of rebuilding or a new engine altogether?
Reply:I would think that 4k on a command is high. I work on them alot and when they reach around 2 to 2500 if not maintained well, mostly air filters, they go south quick. If you dont let them start nocking most times the crank isnt out of round. If you sling a rod, 99% of the time you loose the cam too, and the housings. When I did my ranger 8 I looked into doing a mini block. Im looking at doing an old mag 18 and the .020 pistons and rings are like 100 to 120. The command mini block can be had, if I rember right, can be had for around 900. The short blocks for the 27hp I see often are like 1800. I just put in a complete eng in a soff cut saw for like 2200 and it was a 24 hp with everything on it, All I had to do was hook up the wiring harness and fuel line.Learning one rod at a time
Reply:Originally Posted by Vince_oI would think that 4k on a command is high. I work on them alot and when they reach around 2 to 2500 if not maintained well, mostly air filters, they go south quick. If you dont let them start nocking most times the crank isnt out of round. If you sling a rod, 99% of the time you loose the cam too, and the housings. When I did my ranger 8 I looked into doing a mini block. Im looking at doing an old mag 18 and the .020 pistons and rings are like 100 to 120. The command mini block can be had, if I rember right, can be had for around 900. The short blocks for the 27hp I see often are like 1800. I just put in a complete eng in a soff cut saw for like 2200 and it was a 24 hp with everything on it, All I had to do was hook up the wiring harness and fuel line.
Reply:maintance is everything.  I've seen over 5,000 hours on a couple kohlors and they were running fine.  An engine needs clean fuel, air and oil.  If you take good care of your equipment it will pay it back.
Reply:Originally Posted by grindelDo you work on the diesel units? How do they compare?
Reply:I agree with dualie - I love my Vantage 500, but I am currently looking for something a bit smaller.  The 300 would be a good choice, if for no other reason than the 300 pounds of additional crap I could carry.My biggest problem right now is weight - Truck is currently grossly overloaded and I have already pulled off as much 'non-essential' tooling as i can and now am having to make the hard choices.When any government, or any church for that matter, undertakes to say to its subjects, "This you may not read, this you must not see, this you are forbidden to know," the end result is tyranny and oppression, no matter how holy the motives.
Reply:The only experance on diesels I have is cat equipment. Ive worked for years hauling heavy equipment for different dealerships and rental houses. Ive seen some serious abuses on both gas and diesel. The stuff Im working on now is mostly comercial landscaping equipment. I know the rental big 40's we had took some serious abuse as no regular oil and filter changes, real dusty jobs, where the lulls kick up this red dust and fitlers would get so packed its a wonder how they ever ran. In my command I use air cooled oil and change the oil once a year. Last year I put 20 hrs on it. Im just learning so I dont run them like you guys do. I have a whapping 450.00 in my welder after reringing it and oil pan. Thats with lead, ground and trailer, and the cost of lunch and fuel going to get it off craigs list.Learning one rod at a time
Reply:So rental fleet equipment is a bad idea? I like how they sell um well you know it was maintained...Miller Pro 300 SS w/ cat Miller Bobcat 250Miller Diversion 165 Miller 211Miller Xtreme 375Miller 12vsMiller Dynasty 200 DX Miller Passport Plus w/ Spool GunMiller 30a spoolmaticLincoln AC225 Buzz Box VictorMathey Dearman - H&M
Reply:Im not sayin that its all bad. Just some of the welders, cause it pertains to this thread and topic, were abused. They would go out on rent for a year sometimes and we would never see them. They would come up for PM and the compony that had them on rent moved them 3 states away to another job or something. Most of the dirt stuff like dozers, excovators ect were verry well looked after. Not to many stayed on rent more than a few months, and most of the contractors kept them in nice shape. I got our farm in Pa a nice 314 excovator out of the fleet. The trailblazers, rangers were nice shape, except where us drivers would strap them down on the truck and bend the sheet metal. All were propane units we rented them to alot of contractors that worked shut downs at the plants. Mostly like 2 week rentals. At most I can remember was like some for a month or 2. If I was buying from a rental house Id ask to demo it for a week, if they said no, rent it for a week and see if they will take the week rental off the cost, most times they will.Learning one rod at a time
Reply:Originally Posted by Vince_oIm not sayin that its all bad. Just some of the welders, cause it pertains to this thread and topic, were abused. They would go out on rent for a year sometimes and we would never see them. They would come up for PM and the compony that had them on rent moved them 3 states away to another job or something. Most of the dirt stuff like dozers, excovators ect were verry well looked after. Not to many stayed on rent more than a few months, and most of the contractors kept them in nice shape. I got our farm in Pa a nice 314 excovator out of the fleet. The trailblazers, rangers were nice shape, except where us drivers would strap them down on the truck and bend the sheet metal. All were propane units we rented them to alot of contractors that worked shut downs at the plants. Mostly like 2 week rentals. At most I can remember was like some for a month or 2. If I was buying from a rental house Id ask to demo it for a week, if they said no, rent it for a week and see if they will take the week rental off the cost, most times they will.