Looking at a 655B John Deere dozer. Has 2700 hours on it. It seems to be in good shape. Guy wants 15k for it. Is that a decent deal? Is this the right place to post this? It's a dozer but has a bucket on it.
It's a track loader not a dozer but I wouldn't believe the 2700 hours. Being hydrostatic pay to have a JD dealer or component shop fully inspect it and take oil samples of the engine, hydraulic and especially hydrostatic reservoirs. If something in the hydrostat goes bad, it could cost more than the machine is worth to fix it. They were a good machine but also see if parts are still available. JD tends to stop producing parts sooner than other manufacturers.
You definitely want the hydrostats checked. The trunnion caps on those Sunstrand pump/motors like to come loose and leak as well a create other issues.
I would agree w/ the oil sampling.. BUT.. that takes weeks.. & a seller isn't going to wait around for a "maybe".. Its best to find a JD mechanic that does inspections.. a couple hundred bucks WELL SPENT..
Do an inspection, pay a small deposit and base the final deal on nothing major with the oil samples.
Do the hour meters go out on these pretty often? It seems to be working right now. The guy is actually pretty cool. I brought up oil samples and he said I should take them and he doesn't mind waiting. He doesn't need to sell it he said. So I'm pretty lucky. I'm calling a JD mechanic tomorrow to get a appointment set up.
It's roughly 30 years old so unless it was owned by a very rich little old lady who only drove it on Sunday, it has way more than 2700 hours. Hours don't mean that much anyway. How it was maintained and operated is much more important.