Buying an older excavator

[JD955SC]

Excavators get used hard. By the time you talk about getting into the affordable range the machine might be but the maintenance ain’t.

And anything with a thumb already on it is going to be BEAT to death. They are usually used on clearing and some demo jobs. Even newer, low hour machines treated like this quickly become junk.

 

[CM1995]

That's kind of wild, must have been some kind of freak hit to twist his neck like that.

It is something how much shock can be transmitted into one's body via a machine. I caught a curb with the corner of the snow pusher with a skid loader last winter, just in such a way that the edge didn't trip and the floating edge couldn't move up. I was doing maybe 3-4 mph, but that was possibly the hardest hit I have ever taken, I had to sit there for about 10 minutes to shake it off. I thought for a couple minutes I might have to go to the hospital or something. Never felt that internal feeling before.

Once I was hauling ass with a smooth lipped bucket on a Bobcat 863 cleaning up a residential street we were building on that did not have the seal coat on yet so the asphalt was 1.5" below the curb. I caught a SS manhole in the middle of the street at a high rate of speed that was completely covered in dirt. Just had the seat bar down with no belt and when my head hit the roof I blacked out for a second and saw stars like Wile Coyote saw on the Road Runner show. Probably one of the many things wrong with me now.

 

[Acoals]

Once I was hauling ass with a smooth lipped bucket on a Bobcat 863 cleaning up a residential street we were building on that did not have the seal coat on yet so the asphalt was 1.5" below the curb. I caught a SS manhole in the middle of the street at a high rate of speed that was completely covered in dirt. Just had the seat bar down with no belt and when my head hit the roof I blacked out for a second and saw stars like Wile Coyote saw on the Road Runner show. Probably one of the many things wrong with me now.

That hurts just to read . . .

The snow plowing situation I mentioned was a similar situation; a restaurant under construction with only the base asphalt. Those curb bases are a bugger.

 

[Welder Dave]

Once I was hauling ass with a smooth lipped bucket on a Bobcat 863 cleaning up a residential street we were building on that did not have the seal coat on yet so the asphalt was 1.5" below the curb. I caught a SS manhole in the middle of the street at a high rate of speed that was completely covered in dirt. Just had the seat bar down with no belt and when my head hit the roof I blacked out for a second and saw stars like Wile Coyote saw on the Road Runner show. Probably one of the many things wrong with me now.

Imagine if you didn't have the seat bar.
I cut my head on an older skid steer when it popped into float position with a bucket of dirt about a foot off the ground. It popped into to float too easily. My current skid steer wastes a little time because you have to have the boom down to kick it into float. You really have to stomp on the foot pedal. I'd like something in between. A solenoid would be really nice.