What to look for in buying a used mini-excavator?

[245dlc]

I'm posting this a little soon but with the new job I'm about to start provided it all works out well I may look at buying a used mini as there are quite a few on the market these days. I've been operating for twelve years and have some knowledge of the inner workings, not as much as Muz but I am a operator not a fitter afterall. Most of the used machines I see have anywhere from 1500 to over 3000 hours and I've heard people like to generally trade off at around 2000-3000 hours. Any suggestions on what to watch out for? And maybe what brands are shite?

[Muz]

Thanks for the compliment fella .. I hope I am worthy of it

Your situation really boils down to a few simple facts. The machines of those hours will be fine for years to come if you get the right one and look after it, as I know you would. You will know most of the things to look for already such as the state of the undercarriage etc, but sadly some of the troubles that we all hate, are buried in components of which, we do not know the history, unless you can find a like minded guy (owner operator) upgrading his kit which would reduce the likely problems, but it wont eliminate them as we all know.

Its safe to say that the expensive items apart from the undercarriage are slew gear, engines, track motors, pumps arent too bad these days, but the manufacturers are adding serious money onto the costs of general spares because they arent getting any margin on the sale of the new machine.

You need to buy something that has decent dealer support in your local area, rest assured .. all the jap kit is still well ahead of the competition IMO

I sold a Hitachi with 9000 hours on it which I owned from new and it had all but 2 of its original bottom rollers .. Id already replaced the top ones, and the sprockets and re chained it ... thats some going ? ... I just redid the U/c on a Kubota KX080 which is a machine I rate highly and all its rollers were shot by 3000 Hrs

So .. theres gonna be a cost what ever you do .. but if you know a bit about the history .. you could help to minimise it a fair bit .. I cant say buy kubota or Tackeuchi because I dont know what support you have in your part of the world. But just buy a Kubota

I'd avoid the lesser known brands to preserve your resale value too .. dealers will tell you any shit ... like they hold their value .. they dont ... although again it depends on which part of the world etc ..... over here Bobcat is a pretty small operator but big over your way I believe ..... at least they fit kubota engines well they do here anyway

My main things to check apart from all the obvious ones on the buying side, look for and avoid engines with any back pressure ... noisy whiney pumps & foam in the hydraulic oil ..excessive slew ring lift , engine parts that arent the same colour indicating a repair, like an injection pump say ? rams with chrome failure (small volvos bad for that). Check the dozer has worn evenly, and not to one side, if some of the electrics are not working a control solenoid for boom offset for example can be expensive to replace.

I could go on .. but I need to make my pizza keep us posted fella

[245dlc]

Thanks Muz, yeah Bobcat here uses Kubota on almost all their machines only exceptions being things like powertools and UTV's. have you ever owned or worked on Bobcat equipment? They are quite common here and are manufactured just south of the border near where I live. What are some of the signs of worn out rollers and idlers for a memory refresher. Oh last leg of my journey is tomorrow.

[801_user]

Hi, it's been a long time since I posted something so here goes: I have been restoring a JCB 801.4 for quite a while. It was bought as a pick and shovel was getting hard going and I had around 50 tonnes of soil to move around. There were all sorts of issues with the machine, mostly silly annoying things, bushes, leaking pipes etc. The track rollers were seriously goosed with 2 seized solid and flats worn on the rollers, the others had most of the ball bearings hanging out. I priced new bearings at my local dealer and they were expensive to replace, so a friend said to try and get a generic bearing and use them instead. So a trawl around the internet found a UK source for £1.08 each, much better than £15 each! These were sealed bearings instead of the open bearings and separate seals of the original. So the job was done for under 20 quid for all rollers, I had to weld up and grind down the flat spotted rollers which was fairly easy.

The manual says use grease, although I couldn't understand how the original rollers could be re greased as the seal had to be destroyed to get access to the bearings. Anyway it glides along lovely now on its new rollers, even if they have to be replaced sooner than the original type, they are much easier and cheaper to change, the originals were a real bugger to get out.

The manual I referred to was supplied by Rob b which I was very grateful for, although I see this has become a bit of a sore point and my sincere apologies if I added to that. I must confess to using another forum most of the time which is why I don't post here much.

[Muz]

The manual I referred to was supplied by Rob b which I was very grateful for, although I see this has become a bit of a sore point and my sincere apologies if I added to that. I must confess to using another forum most of the time which is why I don't post here much.

The only issue was a shed load of posters turning up and asking for it on their first post without making any contribution to the forum. We exist as a cooperative for all sorts of fun and japes ..with the simple addage that if you want something out .. its best to put something in .. anyways youve got you first stripe now Nigel