Bob,
I worked for our local Cat CE dealer in the early 90's and call tell you from experience that Cat's biggest asset is also their biggest problem. They have so much of the market share that it is impossible to support it effectivley. I meassured undercarriage and quoted PB turns, engine repairs, etc. I can tell you that the Deere dealership, Komatsu, etc. Was always targetting Cat repair opportunities. At the same time, I was NEVER contacted about competative machine repairs.
Steve