Equipment Hours vs Usage

[BIGNASTY]

A family member is looking to buy a bucket loader/backhoe we have been looking around and I have a question on the Hour Meter on Equipment. Some have hours ranging from 3K to 4K some are pretty used up looking equipment some with the 4K are in really nice condition. Obviously maint is better on some than others. My question is at approximately what hour reading would you NOT look at them as a purchase. Is 3K hours allot for equipment or 4K way to many hours. Hope I made it clear as to what im asking, just trying to get some idea's of what to and not to look at.



BIG

 

[E7mack96]

3-4 k is nothing for commercial equipment. . some i've dealt with are in the 20,000+ hr range.

 

[JR]

I think ya hit the nail on the head pard Maintenance is a huge factor with equipment. We use to do alot of jackhammer work with a little IHI track hoe with a 4 cyl Isuzu engine. Probably 95% of its hours was spent with a rock breaker on the end of it which is just brutal on a machine. But the owner was meticulous as all get out, the first sign of a worn out bushing or a leaking cylinder and it was getting torn down. You would have never known it had over 6 thousand hours on it. And then we have a few cranes that have over 8 thousand hours on them. As you can imagine the maintenance schedule is very proactive with them as well... .

If you have the opportunity to operate whatever it is your looking at you can get a pretty good feel for its condition. The boom should be pretty tight if it is well maintained. Look at the cylinders for any leaks or signs of damage and give the hydraulic hoses and tires/tracks a good look over. If theyve been out in the weather and are dry rotted, you can spend a small fortune throwing parts at it.

 

[mwilson]

A family member is looking to buy a bucket loader/backhoe we have been looking around and I have a question on the Hour Meter on Equipment. Some have hours ranging from 3K to 4K some are pretty used up looking equipment some with the 4K are in really nice condition. Obviously maint is better on some than others. My question is at approximately what hour reading would you NOT look at them as a purchase. Is 3K hours allot for equipment or 4K way to many hours. Hope I made it clear as to what im asking, just trying to get some idea's of what to and not to look at.



BIG

If any that he is looking at are former rentals you can figure there is a good chance the hour meter may have unhooked at times... ...



Also, fire up the machines to see if the hour meters are even working. 4,000 hours is nothing if the machine has been taken care of. Look at other things, check the slack in the pins by lowering the bucket and backhoe to the ground and then begin to lift. See if there are any grease fittings broken off or that have not been greased. Try the brakes, steering and transmission. Even better take the machine out to a dirt pile and work it a bit to see what happens after it is up to operating temperature. Look for leaking hydraulic cylinders, bent rams. How are the teeth on the backhoe and front bucket. Tires can be a big expense, check those over well. Did anyone write anything on the filters like a date or hours?

Just a few things that come to mind. How big a machine is he looking at??? And what brands???



Others will add to this, there is a lot more I am not thinking of yet.





Industrial engines can easily reach 10,000 hours before teardown IF they have been taken care of. My Toyota forklift at work is knocking on the 10,000 hour window right now and runs strong. No major repairs other than side shift hoses and LP regulators. Brake job and tie rod ends.



I used to drive trucks with hourmeters, as a rule 1,000 hours = 50,000 miles give or take.



Mike.

 

[jgillott]

If any that he is looking at are former rentals you can figure there is a good chance the hour meter may have unhooked at times... ...

Also, ex rental equipment tends to be much more abused than equivalent machines owned by a company or individual. We often bring in extra equipment from rental stores for bigger jobs we are doing. When we were building an access road last year, we got in a rental CAT track loader with well less than 1000 hours on it and it was by far the worst running loader I've operated. I don't want to know what that thing had been through before they dropped it off at our site, but you couldn't pay me to own that thing.

 

[BIGNASTY]

We found a NICE Cat 420E , Deere 310D and a few Case for some reason most up here like Case? I dont know anything about them other than my FIL has a Case tractor that I like to drive around the Ranch. But its not for anything like what we are looking for he used it to work the ground on his 200 acres for hay when he ran the outfitting business and grew hay for winter feed. Thanks for the help I just want to kind of get an idea what we are looking at. There are some that have 4K on them and they are really beat to Hell.



We have a Richie Bros equipment Auction in Belgrade MT thinking about going to that just to see what is what. FIL and Son have the bank not me im just the one that is going to be working it im sure.

 

[goodguys75]

We found a NICE Cat 420E , Deere 310D and a few Case for some reason most up here like Case? I dont know anything about them other than my FIL has a Case tractor that I like to drive around the Ranch. But its not for anything like what we are looking for he used it to work the ground on his 200 acres for hay when he ran the outfitting business and grew hay for winter feed. Thanks for the help I just want to kind of get an idea what we are looking at. There are some that have 4K on them and they are really beat to Hell.

We have a Richie Bros equipment Auction in Belgrade MT thinking about going to that just to see what is what. FIL and Son have the bank not me im just the one that is going to be working it im sure.

case is good stuff, they have Cummings motors in them... . cant go wrong with that

 

[jhenderson]

Make sure you check out auction equipment throughly. Run the machine up to FULL OPERATING TEMP. Check for hyd leaks behind guards and panels with a flashlight. Check trans operation. No slip, good shift. If possible put a real load on the PTO if equipped. Some guys will do anything to get rid of a problem at an auction.

 

[Bill Stockard]

Make sure you check out auction equipment throughly. Run the machine up to FULL OPERATING TEMP. Check for hyd leaks behind guards and panels with a flashlight. Check trans operation. No slip, good shift. If possible put a real load on the PTO if equipped. Some guys will do anything to get rid of a problem at an auction.

Often, when a dealer trades for light construction equipment i. e. backhoe loaders that are too expensive to repair for resale and/or they don't want in in their trade area, they send it off to the auction. Auctioneers and their crews can spot a novice buyer in an instant, and if you aren't careful, you will bidding against one of their "ghost bidders" and pay a lot more for it.

Bill

 

[BIGNASTY]

Often, when a dealer trades for light construction equipment i. e. backhoe loaders that are too expensive to repair for resale and/or they don't want in in their trade area, they send it off to the auction. Auctioneers and their crews can spot a novice buyer in an instant, and if you aren't careful, you will bidding against one of their "ghost bidders" and pay a lot more for it.

Bill

As ALWAYS Bill Great!!! info. They wont be buying anything until my wife's brother gets back into town he took a vacation after finishing school. He use to work at a local rock quarry as a equipment mech he's pretty sharp.

 

[Mark31]

Pull the dipstick on the hydraulic system of a bone cold machine. A system that has not been serviced or has had cheaper hydraulic oil can have signs of water on the stick. I don't remember all the fancy words to describe what cheap fluids do to a system. A friend with a JD 310 had to learn the hard way to use the good stuff.

 

[Dl5treez]

Be very wary of Ritchie Bros and their world famous pressure washer and paint crews.

They can make a piece of junk look good in about 14 hours.

The hydraulic oil can be tested pretty quick with a metal spoon and a lighter. heat up the spoon with your lighter and drip some hyd oil on it... . if it sizzles, there is water present. Maybe not enough to see, but enough to do damage.

 

[BIGNASTY]

They ended up getting a Case cant remember the numbers for the model but its a digger for sure!!!! BIL is out running it digging trenches for water line. Wish I could run it looks like fun, had 7k on hour meter BIL knows the guy that they bought it from so far its been a nice piece of equipment

 

[Bill Stockard]

Be very wary of Ritchie Bros and their world famous pressure washer and paint crews.



They can make a piece of junk look good in about 14 hours.

In our business, we called that a "Jones-Blair (local paint manufacturer in Dallas, TX) overhaul" and Ritchie Bros is very good at it.



Bill

 

[goodguys75]

Richie bros have a huge auction here in Vegas... . lots of equipment... .

 

[Flying_gage]

I know that BIG's family already purchased something, yet just to add the homeowners perspective for future searches.

Bought a Case 1845C for work around the house and light excavation for a little extra money. Maintenance is huge on this stuff! I will second what was said above in regards to a hammer. I rented one once for a job and literally in less than an hour of using it, all my freshly greased joints had all the grease pushed out, (not too mention that it was a long day sitting in that seat)! Never took another job where I had to use a hammer again.

Not only is are the drives, chains and motor work expensive, but it is the small stuff that will get your eyebrows up. For example, I bought new pins/bushings for my arms and walked out of the local Case place a couple hundred dollars lighter in the wallet. Also hoses were one that surprised me. You blow one and you are looking at $20-100 bucks depending on what it was for? And there are a fair amount of hoses on machines than you might think.

The big stuff is important, yet the small stuff is where it will frustrate you to no end. Once again, maintenance, maintenance, maintenance!

So with all that said, if I were buying again, I would make the sale contingent on and afternoons worth of working, (screw the auction machines). In addition, I would climb over the thing top to bottom paying attention to the small details that were attended too by the previous owner.