Question for all of you fine people

[war hammer ranch]

I am looking for a excavator. I am starting a therapy ranch and money is tight. that being said I do understand that in most circumstances you get what you pay for.

I have looked high and low online for a used excavator and I am wondering if any of you can give me a hint of where to look other then Machinery Trader.

I have a ton of questions and post that will be forth coming in the next little while as I start the dirt work for the ranch but for now I am just hoping for a shove in the right direction.

I am in Utah and I would rather not haul a broken down worn out excavator across the nation. how do you all go about finding the machines you purchase?

Thanks in advance for the help.

 

[skyking1]

you start with what you think you will need to do the jobs. The list of requirements can be lengthy.
Once you narrow down the size of machine, then you start looking.

 

[uffex]

− Quote
Good day
Good advise of Skyking buying an excavator may require a steep learning curve, make a lot of sense rent one first. Buying requires a thorough inspection if you are to avoid some of the issues on this forum.
Kind regards
Uffex

 

[Willie B]

Not an excavator, but a bulldozer, I found one I was all set to buy & talked a friend well qualified to inspect. It seems I hadn't gone far enough with the inspection process. I had run it around a while, pushed a bit of dirt. I thought it was a fine machine.
I returned with Howard. He put it through its paces. Ran it 45 minutes. Backed up on a hump where it was possible to crawl under it. It started smoking from the winch. Nothing in the winch to smoke, we investigated to find a hose connected to the crankcase vent. The engine had a lot of blow by & I hadn't run it long enough to see it smoke.
While under there I spotted new paint & a welded repair on the broken transmission. Buying it would have been an expensive mistake.
Talking with knowledgeable people, I learned of a problem with that model, no need to avoid the model entirely, but a common mistake made by mechanics in a hurry caused transmission breakage.
Take the trouble to be very careful.

That said, you need to ask what your priorities are. You'll be spread thin in your new endeavor. Do you want to be a mechanic, hobby excavator, or run your facility?

Might be hiring an excavator to move dirt is best use of resources.

 

[Vetech63]

Are you using this for ranch purposes? Or is this therapy ranch going to be one of those where frustrated people come out, climb on your excavator, and pound out their issues on some junky car?

 

[skyking1]

yeah baby!
The FrankenPrentice has it's way with some american sedan iron.

 

[skyking1]

No title? no problem! I'll get those vin tags off there soon enough.

 

[Coaldust]

Money is tight and looking for a “good excavator” in 2022 is a oxymoron. I guess it’s all relative. Have someone like John C. inspect whatever you find before signing the check.

I have customers hiring me to fix hoes that would have been auctioned off and replaced just two years ago. Even if you find a fixer-upper, good luck finding parts, or someone who can fix it.

But, that’s my paradigm, world view and AO, which is very small and twisted. Utah might be flush with good cheap hoes. Good luck with your search!

 

[Shimmy1]

What are you looking for? A E55 Bobcat, or a 349 Cat? Kind of hard to give any advice when you just say "I'm looking for a used excavator"

 

[skyking1]

Money is tight and looking for a “good excavator” in 2022 is a oxymoron. I guess it’s all relative. Have someone like John C. inspect whatever you find before signing the check.

I have customers hiring me to fix hoes that would have been auctioned off and replaced just two years ago. Even if you find a fixer-upper, good luck finding parts, or someone who can fix it.

But, that’s my paradigm, world view and AO, which is very small and twisted. Utah might be flush with good cheap hoes. Good luck with your search!

Alaska is a great place to find some well beat iron for sure. When the only way in is a barge ride it gets costly to replace it. The barge ride is not so bad, it is the last 100 yards to the beach that is a beotch.

 

[Rob Gunn]

All boils down to Time, Money and Size. My first excavator I purchased to use occasionally on the farm I went big and old and cheap. Got what I paid for and spent a lot of time in the shop working on it to keep it running and time hunting for parts that were not available. It was also to big for me to haul on any trailer I had available so I always had to hire a guy to haul it. Finally sold it for what I had in it just to make it go away. My second excavator for the farm I went smaller and newer and more money. This unit is much more reliable, it big enough to do what I need to do, but small enough I can haul it on my trailer. If I were you I would consider renting a unit before spending a bunch of money and time on a purchasing mistake.

 

[Ncjetskier]

Even though money is tight, don't go cheap - you'll end up paying one way or another.

I drove past a parked Kobelco for three years and it never moved. I stopped one day and asked if it ran (they said yes but very slowly). They spent $30K at auction (got ripped off) and a couple of grand on top of that trying to fix it. I actually found a couple of posts on this forum from the previous owners.

So I buy it for $7,500. The Cummins 5.9 motor starts in one half second. HOWEVER, the rest of the machine was a Habitat of Humanity project. So to date: $7,500 purchase, $2,500 to have the two main wiring harnesses put in, $1,100 to the local Kobelco dealership to show up, kick the machine and say "this is a project" and leave - not touching anything on the machine, $6,500 to have the hydraulic pump removal, rebuild and put back and the cylinders still need to be redone. The machine still is not at 100% as one track is slower than the other. So if you go cheap, it will cost you.

As far as where to purchase one. FB Market place but better yet go search out some local site contractors and see if they are looking to sell. You never know unless you ask. Make sure the under carriage is in OK shape. When they say "70% remaining" - it usually means 50-55% . You can drop some money fixing an under carriage.

 

[war hammer ranch]

Wow you all have such great advice. It is like you guys have some great experience or something.
So more to the story (there always is right?) I am the land owner I am building a guest ranch if you will. I have qualified family that will rent the land and facilities to provide mental health therapy.
The access to the land is somewhat of a problem. I do have a road grader, small loader as well as a skid steer All of which would be considered antique. I do have a 1960 something backhoe but I absolutely hate getting on/ working with that thing.
I am kind of looking for a 120 - 160 sized machine but machines that I have looked at in the past are now $10-30 thousand more and have more hours.

I guess we will rent for the big projects for now and hope that sometime in the future Equipment will become more reasonable. I haven't tried FB marketplace I will give that a look.

Thanks everyone for all the advice this is by far my favorite Forum.

 

[KSSS]

I would keep an eye on KSL.com-Industrial-heavy equipment. Anything for sale in Utah, and other surrounding States, seems to find its way on that website.

 

[Tyler d4c]

The day you get it home do you intend on using it. Or like us everything we buy we work on for 6 months.

 

[war hammer ranch]

The day you get it home do you intend on using it. Or like us everything we buy we work on for 6 months.

Probably like everything else I own I will purchase it, tear it all apart fixing it. forget about it for a few years and then when I actually really need it bad pay someone to get it running for me because I forgot how to put it back together.

In all seriousness I would like to find one that I could put to use right away.

 

[Acoals]

In my experience, there is a going price for a given machine based on age, hours and condition. If a good dozer is worth 50k in good condition with a good undercarriage, that's about what you are going to have into a dozer. You find one for 30k? It is gonna need 20k of work. Might even need 30 ....
Maybe I am just jaded, but there really aren't many "deals" out there, and what deals there are take a long time to find. The best way to find a good machine is to find some small operator who is upgrading his machine. It's probably still going to need work, but it probably not going to have nasty surprises. It's always a gamble though. Most of what I have ever bought the first thing I wind up doing is working on it for a week ....

 

[Ncjetskier]

Acoal - Amen brother!!! I learned the hard way with my Kobelco Excavator. I knew I was buying a project, but given the time and energy I have put in, I would have been better off spending an extra $15-$20K and get something with minor problems (not major).

I just bought a Cat D5G from a used equipment dealer that gives a 30 day guarantee - ended up being a nice machine (just needs some maintenance -oil change, filter changes etc).

On the Kobelco, I will end up having $25K and a TON of time. On the plus side, much of the hydraulics will be rebuilt, along with the wire harnesses, and a bunch of small problems fixed.