First time buying wheel loader

[Peter23]

Found a wheel loader that would work for my project. Its a trojan 3000 hour meter shows 29k hours. Starts great and works good but the it has two issues I have questions about. How much tread is left and air broken don't work. When I went to look at the loader after he shut it off I could hear a rather obvious air leak that lasted for at least 5 minutes? He said that's normal?? Also noticed the handbrake was disconnected.

 

[Cliffy]

Air leaks would be the least of your worries. It’s probably just a loose fitting. Left rear tyre is heavily worn. Others look ok but may fail due to age.
I would be very careful buying a high hour, low volume, obsolete machine with no factory parts available. May end up as a money pit.
But i am a pessimist. It looks clean and straight. And i dont know your mechanical aptitude.

 

[Rustyfender]

I bought a 2000 Trojan loader a few years ago, it need work, but my brakes worked and still do. I found parts were mostly available , quite often at a truck parts store, local hydraulic shops etc. get repair and parts books , that will help a lot.

 

[kshansen]

Guess a little info on what this "project" would be very helpful.
Also how far and how would you need to transport this machine?

Air leaks are NOT NORMAL! common but not normal. In a perfect world you should be able to park that machine on Friday and come back on Monday and still have air pressure. I recall a Euclid R30 haul truck I pulled the engine out of and hauled it back to shop for a major rebuild and when I got back to reinstall it weeks later that truck still had air pressure showing on the gauge!

One possible good thing about a Trojan loader might be that unlike say Cat 90% of the parts are not Trojan parts per say. But I would be worried that the companies that made the various components may not exist any more. Things that you could walk into a parts store for heavy trucks and find someone who knew what they were 20 years ago might be near on impossible to find today.

 

[Diesel Dave]

IiRC they had independent front/ rear air over hydraulic 4 wheel disc brakes. Wagner stuff on the hydraulic side.

 

[Welder Dave]

I think an air leak in a lot of cases is much better than an oil leak from either hyd's, trans. or engine. My dump truck leaks air after sitting overnight but has enough when it's running that it's not a problem for my uses off road.