First off, I under-did the due diligence here. I asked most of the important questions over phone calls and come the day to look at/grab the machine, between pouring rain and just being an idiot, I left with the machine. Saw it start, really only looked at the slew/turntable critically to check for play. 3500 hours for 26k. I've bought and sold plenty of cars/trucks and like to think I've got a good gut, and wasnt seeing any red flags. Described was a 2016 machine that had been properly maintained it's entire life, with no serious issues, ready to dig. What I got was actually a 2013 machine that has likely been used more as a hammer than a digger. For one, there was maybe 3/8" of free play around the pin through the bore at the end of the stick. The bushings were nowhere to be found and it was bone dry. Plenty of similar things. Lots of fab work in my future to tighten this thing up. So just moving forward, I started making a line boring jig, machining sleeves to get back to factory bore, ordering a whole bunch of pins and bushings to finally give this girl some love. 1.5k in parts, and we're talking aftermarket, non-cat. For someone paying for labor/machining and using the Cat-official parts, this is like 5k in stuff, purely so the machine wouldn't tear itself apart in a few hundred more hours... Question for the group - what would y'all do in this situation? "Not knowing" about issues is subjective and I wouldn't put it past certain folks to just "not have noticed" or "think it's normal", but calling it a 2016 when it's a '13 is something entirely different. From what I understand, with intent, this is fraud. It was sold by a construction company on behalf of the owner, from my understanding. I'm thinking of asking them to throw 2k back my way and call it a day...
First off, your wife should beat you with a dead chicken. They aren’t going to give you anything back and I’m sure the sale was final. Other issues will come up also……make sure there are plenty of chickens in the coop.
I would fix the machine and move on with life. You likely aren't going to get anything back on the machine, most used sales are as is where is. It is your job to do your due diligence on the machine. Noticing worn out pins is pretty basic. Heavy equipment is not sold by model year. Model years really don't exist as they do with cars, and a machine is not marked anywhere with a model year. Again, due diligence; had you showed up here on HEF with a serial number, or simply called Cat before you bought the machine you would have gotten a build date. Machines are sold by series; what you have is probably an 303.5 E or E2. I am sure there will be guys that will come along and bloviate about fraud and lawyers and all that. I don't play that game, "Let the buyer beware".
My wife has always had issues dispatching our chickens.. so maybe doing so while beating me with them over this kills two birds with one stone, figuratively and literally speaking. Still blows my mind though that normal folk will knowingly burn people like that. Guy had his grandkids with him and met at his house with the 303.5ECR, lent me a trailer - as wholesome of interaction as you would hope for. But dang, maybe this guy should really consider pivoting to an acting career! Or a bond villain or something. At least it had a spare bucket and the hydraulic coupler (that leaks, of course). Thanks for the insight - bottom line is I'm just complaining about being an idiot and likely 95% of people here wouldn't think of repeating my mistake.. for those other 5%, maybe will extend some caution. Looks like me and the lathe are going to be getting a lot of quality time soon.
have you considered that it he represented it as he knew it? Many people attribute malice of forethought to what is just ignorance. Up until you started digging, you thought it was A-OK.
For the actual condition of the machine, sure. I'm sure there are many tradesman where "it digs" means "it's in great shape". But calling it out as a 2016 when it was a 2013 when he was the one who bought it in 2013 (Cat verified this) makes me doubt that a bit.
A 2013 build date or 2016 wouldn't make much difference in it's value. It's an E model with X amount of hours. The condition determines the value, not the year built.
It never hurts to call and ask. You might could tell more by watching his face if you do it in person. You will be able to tell if he was taking advantage of you. He might have genuinely not known the year or confused it. As far as the repairs go a lot of machines need the same stuff so. Don't let that bother you to much
Did you pay too much for what you got? Not what you thought you were getting, but what you have? Either way you're stuck with it so move on. I've been screwed many times, but more times by myself. Joe H
It doesn't hurt to make contact with the seller and plead your case in person. He tells you to "pack sand" then you grab a shovel, but on the chance he really didn't know, he may have some sympathy. Owning a construction company, he certainly can understand your position, whether he gives a **** is another matter. At this point, you couldn't be in a worse position if you did make contact with him, unless you punch him in the face.
Yep . . .
We have all made to quick of a decision at time but the good news is it looks like you got it a somewhat decent price and once you get the new pins in they will be in good shape for a long time its to bad it got so far as needing boring but sounds like your working that out maybe start a new thread with pics of your setup to give others ideas
I've tried to reach out a couple times, he'd noted that he would send all of his maint docs my way, but he's yet to return a call and no docs in hand... While I'm not sure if this is fraud, I do know for a fact that punching him in the face is 1st degree aggravated assault and will forever make me not a voter I was hoping to chronicle all of that as just looking around, there isn't much on DIY line boring apart from "Buy the $$$$ machine". With a sacrificed old bench drill press, I'm thinking I can do it for under a couple hundred, so if that has anywhere near acceptable results, I'd love to share that with folks. Would this be the right subforum to do it (Compact Excavators)? - seems applicable to most anything with pins that people destroy...
As others have stated, year model means nothing when it comes to equipment, it's not the same as cars/trucks. I'd stop fretting over that, there are a lot of people that can't remember exactly what 'year model' a piece of equipment is, because it doesn't matter. Like said before, model number and prefix/suffix, hours, and condition are whats important. Did you pay too much for the condition/hours? Maybe, maybe not, if you can get it serviceable for $1-2K in parts I'd say you are doing pretty good, I usually budget $5K repairs for any used equipment I buy.
Actually, unless you hit him with a baseball bat in the face that would be aggravated, but if you punched him in the face and left it that, simple battery. Being in Washington, that would be like an infraction.
KSSS, where did you school yourself on the ins and outs of assault???
Any pics of the machine? OP what's your background and equipment knowledge? Is this machine for personal use or are you going to make a living with it?
I can take photos later. Professionally am a mech/electrical engineer working on design/manufacture of telecom satellites. Background in a whole lot of different types of manufacture/fab. Knowledge of heavy equipment is obviously limited, apart from a handful of months looking for this guy. Thus far it's a lot simpler to work on than anything else I've been exposed to, aside from how heavy everything is. Machining/fab tolerances are a whole lot nicer to work with as well. I've already refit new lights, added a flood bar, strobe, radio, and a harness for those things and have added two new fuses in the circuit box (where it looks like things for a cabbed version usually go). Just something to do while waiting on parts.. The machine is for personal use for a cabin property. I have some neighbors that I'd like to be able borrow the machine, so it's more of a community machine then? - so for the time being it's at home in my shop. The shop is fairly well fitted out (lift, crane, welders, plasma cutter, cnc mill, lathe etc), so there isn't a lot that's out of my range capability wise. The intent is to get the thing to near-factory good before it goes out the door.
I have these, though - that photo of the pin through the stick is how it was running - no bushings left.. bone dry... All things considered, the rest of the stick/boom is as expected for the hours and the turntable is surprisingly tight... But that bucket end... Yeah it's a mess.
Chewed up pretty good… Good that the slew bearing is tight, that is always the first check I make…. Sounds like you are well set up for repairs. We used a Cat 303.5 for one season to feed our wash plant, it handled a 36” c/u bucket on a long stick pretty well. Good luck!
that hole is never very good on the minis.
Might be a lot easier to weld new bushings with the proper size hole on instead of line boring. A drill press would probably turn too fast. As far as the year, maybe they bought it in 2016. It would be almost impossible to prove they grossly misrepresented the machine. Getting a year wrong isn't normally a serious issue but it can be in some rare instances. Interestingly I just saw a video yesterday about this exact issue. A very rare Kawasaki Z2 motorcycle was sold for a record price of $85,000 at a Mecum auction. It was presented as a 1st year 1974, maybe an early prototype. Seller basically left after it was sold. Closer inspection by some very knowledgeable M/C experts revealed some serious issues. One was the serial number was partly ground and the full number was unreadable. There was also a lip around the engine serial number that wasn't on 1974 models. I think there were some other small issues too. The experts best guess was it was a 1975 and not worth anywhere near as much. Without a full serial number it couldn't be titled either. Mecum contacted the buyer and cancelled the sale. While I think Mecum is a little at fault and should have at least looked at the serial number, I would think the consignor is in some serious, serious trouble for deliberately misrepresenting the bike. $85,000 fraud is nothing to sneeze about. In this case it doesn't look too hard to prove the bike was grossly misrepresented and the consignor gets some serious jail time and/or a big fine. I'm not sure what the punishment is for major fraud.
My plan at this point is to bore it out another 10mm, see where that's at, then if that's not enough, do another 10mm. From there it'll be either a 5mm or 10mm wall sleeve with mostly an interference fit with maybe a tack or two just to make sure. I'll try and case harden the inside of the sleeve, in the hopes that if things get weird in the future, the pin takes most of the damage. Do you mean just taking the factory bushings, centering them in there with the pin and welding them in place? With how tapered out the hole is, I'm not as confident that welding in new ones is the trick. That's a lot of force that'll go on the built up weld and if/when it goes, i'll just have to bore it out larger then. That and welding the bushing may run a pretty good risk of distorting it's ID. It is tempting though as its a super easy job with a mig gun... Another advantage of boring+sleeving is I can still fit factory grease seals in there
There's likely a hardened bushing that's a shrink fit that fits inside the welded on bushing. If the hole is wallowing out way oversize you might be able to cut and grind it to fit a an oversize weldable bushing in and then use a thicker wall hardened bushing inside to fit the new pin. If there's a larger OD dia. bushing on the outside of the stick you could just turn them in a lathe and weld them on after the middle bushing is fixed. A pin on mild steel/weld will wallow out in short order.
The way those bores are holed out you are not going to be able to just stuff new bushings in. A bushing is by definition round, and those holes are going to be egg shaped. It just doesn't work when the holes are worn to that point. They need to be bored out.
I saw a guy years ago with that much wear. I told him it needed a bore job, but he wasn't going to go that route. He bought a new pin and bushings, slid them in the bore with the pin in for alignment, then started welding around the outside of the bushings until the gaps were filled. Not the way I would have gone, pure backwoods, but surprising lasted a long time.
All it takes is money--people will do anything for the right amount of money. * A friend that runs a machine shop -his son has a excavating business Ferraro construction- Moto-Your hole is our goal}. Wanted me to look at a truck for him--1988 T800. Took about ten minutes and we walked--Hood junk, block cracked on right side covered in JB Weld, low flow cooling-NT88-not a good engine, and various other issues. I told him to toss the guy a $1.98 and lets hit the road, this was this last Monday. There are Carpsters everywhere, easy to spot a two legged carp-fin out the back with rattle snake eyes.
That's pretty bad.
Fraud is a tough and expensive thing to prove in just about any circumstance. The burden of proof would be on you to show "intent to defraud" which is difficult. The bad news is that you may have been scammed a bit and lost a few thousand dollars. The good news is that you're clearly mechanically skilled and can get that girl fixed and in good working order. In doing so, you'll learn every idiosyncrasy of the machine and have a good workhorse long term. I won't tell you have many times I've been scammed. Clearly, I'm not as smart as I think I am. But, recently, I sold my compact tractor to replace it with another new, more powerful unit. I got an text asking if it was available. When I said yes I got a cashier's check in the mail for $3k over asking under the condition I would pay the transportation company to ship it from my location on the west coast to the east coast. I took the cashier's check (which I thought was good) to the bank. The branch manager shook her head and said it was a phony even though it was drawn on a reputable Chicago bank, a know Chicago bank branch, and funded by a known mid-sized company. I was told that the check would likely bounce but would take as long as 3 weeks before the bank on which it was drawn would discover it as fraud. And, yes, I'd be on the hook to repay the cashier's check amount deposited to my account and I'd be out the tractor and the shipping cost. How is that for dodging a bullet! Most people aren't dishonest--but unfortunately there are a lot of people that are. As noted earlier in this thread there are also a lot of people that sell mechanical things that know very little about them. So, you're not idiot. You're an honest, well-meaning person that may have been scammed a bit or simply sold a machine by someone not in the know. And, if you're like me, if you really want something sometimes you make an impetuous decision and wind up living with the consequences. All in all I don't think you got hurt too bad on this one. Let it go, have a beer, and enjoy life!
That's a very popular scam. Here's one I thought was a scam but the kid was real. Kid makes an offer on an old Oshkosh we had without asking any questions. I told him he's a scam and go away. No he was real and just wanted that model Oshkosh. We get paid and he sends out the trucker "Crazy Charlie". He was crazy alright. Said he can't haul the truck because it has stone in the back and it's overweight. I told him if I get it weighed and it's ok will you haul it? He agrees we get it weighed and he then throws a fit and says stone has to go. We remove most of the stone in the pouring rain and he leaves. I warn the kid he's nuts. Here's were it it gets crazy. Charlie won't deliver it to the spot the kid wants. The kid meets him and Charlie want's more money for the delay. Get's the kid so upset he tells Charlie to keep the truck!! The kid still paid for the truck and shipping!! Craziest deal ever.
The seller finally returned my calls... when he mistakenly called back thinking I was his mechanic! Anyway, as expected, I was told to pound sand, noting it was my responsibility and all that.. Though he really stuck on that it was a 2016.... Even though I'd noted Cat had even said it was a '13.. Oh well, at least that's some form of closure there. I should probably start a new thread on this... but what's people's take on welding build-up and line boring to the factory diameter vs line boring and sleeving to get to factory? My planned setup for the boring jig is a doozy, but granted I don't try and take huge cuts, should be okay, though machining weld with a HSS cutter can be goofy from my experience... I 3d printed a long tube with the OD being the factory ID of the bore (50mm) and the ID of the OD of my boring bar (1"). It also helps to get an idea of exactly how out-of-round the bore is near the end... If I'm boring out, a 10mm oversize bore (60mm) should get me there. From there, I have enough good metal in the middle of the bore to fit snug and align my boring bar axially within it. I have 1" pillow block bearings, one that I'll bolt onto a 1/4" end plate, and another that I'll put on the table of a bench drill press with the base removed(picture for reference, no bearing on it yet). With that, I can run the boring bar through with my insert with the end plate and table on the bar, and while aligned, get those welded to the stick with some angle iron or allthread, making sure at least one of those is far enough away from the exit of the bore to get my alignment insert out. To get going, I just need to slide the boring bar in, insert a cutter into it and set it for the first cut, then mount the drill press to the table via. the table clamp. The boring bar will be turned down to fit the chuck on the press, so that'll be snugged down and I should be in business. The press only has a few inches of stroke in it's feed, so I'll just need to inchworm using that, backing out, then advancing the entire drill press down the table to then start again. It aint machining that'll win any awards, but it should do the trick for getting a half respectable bore for less than 100 bucks (not counting the benchtop press that was destined for the scrap heap anyway...)
Lots of ifs here: 1) If you can lay your hands on a stock bushing, then go that way 2)^ If there is enough meat in the stick for it. 3) If not, weld it up and bore it to factory. Making bushings is another step. Keep grease in it and whatever you do will be fine.
I've got two stock bushings -- they are the same OD as that black plastic piece and there's an awfully large amount of daylight around them. I'm getting more okay with the idea of welding buildup and boring it down versus an oversize bore with a sleeve... the latter as you've said is another step.... with more tolerances to hit.. No guarantee too that the sleeves wont pound out/separate over time anyway... I'd have to figure out another alignment jig though if i go that route.. as that plastic piece wont fit in there once the buildup is done
He must have come from the midwest-that's where the term is used regularly. But I must say he obviously has no scruples, { may he be walking down the street whistling a tune-and out of no where Ronda Rousey b!tch slaps him till he passes out.
I would say it all depends on how you are planning on doing the welding. A wire feeder off the boring setup to get some nice circular beads would be ideal. If you only have the option weld the bore up by hand then a sleeve would be probably be a better solution. If you can get hold of some liquid nitrogen the sleeve could probably be shrunk by about 3 thousandths per inch of outside diameter which would allow you to slide it straight in when it's cold but would hold it in pretty tight once it warmed up. My 2c - YMMV.
You want to use a hardened bushing rather than just build up with weld and bore to the pin size. Mild steel/weld will wear fast especially if the pins are harder. Much better to have the pin wear as it's easy to replace.
40x55 bushings seem available if that gets you any closer
My backround is quite diverse.
My 303.5was a similar mess at the stick end. I built the bores up with 7018, set up a boring bar with my magdrill. Used a high speed steel cutter,they are easy to grind to suit those small holes.built up the end faces and touched them up with a flat face cutter. Used Cat bushings and a long pin to fit the thumb from Elliot Fabrications in Edmonton. Made new bosses for the quick change. Made spacer washers out of aluminum bronze to take all side slop out. That was 2 years ago and its still like new .
Nice work, Tugger. I like that implementation of the mag drill.
Tugger do you have any more photos of this job?
It is pretty slick. Tack the stick to the bench, line it all up and go. I am sure he had the stick free so he could curl it under for laying beads in there, then roll it out so the welding was as easy as it could be. Nobody likes welding overhead in a bore.
Me not being a Line boring expert. I had to repair the end of a stick on an excavator. It had a bronze bushing on each side of the bore. The center was open. On one side the bushing cracked and broke apart. It egg holed one side of the bore. I took a small 7018 rod and added metal the bad side. Then took a die grinder and cleaned it up using the new bushing as a guide. I never got it super snug. But the bushing was supported all the way round again. Still using it 10 years later. I like the nice methods you guys have.
I don't mean that in a condescending way. When I read my post it seemed like that. Ffff... what I am trying to say is let's see the way you pros do it. Over and out.
I got it. I love mag drills and one will probably follow me home some day. That was the first time I saw one used like that.
Always ask. If they say no, you’re out nothing. If they say yes, you have some cash to fix the problems.
Thats my bearing setup.Take a pillow block bearing ,roll the bearing out of the housing . Then i make a mandrel that will hold the housing in the lathe chuck so the flanges can be machined off leaving a groove for the 1/2" set screws. A short chunk of 6" shed 80 pipe with 4 1/2" holes tapped in makes the mount . On the 305.5 i had a piece of 3" plate that made a nice bench on some shop stands .Tacked the stick to it along with the bearing mounts and a plate for the mag to grip. Line up of existing pins and a bit of practiced eyeballing and your away. The heavy plate absorbs the vibration and any potential chatter well. I use high speed steel ,3/8" square on these holes. It takes some thought to grind the tool to get a good shape with clearances and relief as needed . I use inside calipers to feel the bore for size,bend them to shape to the bore and go around the bar.Then check your sizing with a micrometer ,its an aquired skill but not hard .set the bit with a light tap of a hammer. A dial indicator helps sometimes ,sometimes a feel with your finger gets it. Diegrinder ,flapwheels and lock tite are a practicing line borers best friend.
Couple of questions. 1. Is the purpose of the groove to allow the set screws to get a better bite? 2. On the calipers what are you bending to match the bore? 3. How does the cutter mount to the bar? 4. What do you use to weld up the bores? 7018 / nickel? 5. Why do you use that type of bearing. Say compared to a fixed type bearing. Thanks
The groove and the four screw method of fixing those bearings allows him to adjust that shaft in space and get it centered up in the bore. He can tighten and loosen the various opposing bolts to move it around, while measuring the clearance to each side. You could achieve a similar adjustability with a flat plate with oversized holes, bolts and washers and the original plate mount bearing. It would be a whole lot more fiddly. Think loosening the bolts up just a little bit and tapping with a hammer and going too far. ARGH! Once you got it where you wanted it. You'd want to tack weld the bearing housing to the plate.
-The groove is to help keep the bearing in place . -The calipers are the spring loaded leg type with an adjustment screw that opens and closes the legs against the spring. I warm the legs up and bend them to suit.its a matter of holding one leg solid against the bore and scratching the other leg against the oposite side of the bore at its centre axis. -The cutter is mounted in a hole drilled thru the bar witha set screw tapped into the side of the hole. A square broached hole is nice if your ambitious when making your bar. -I run 7018 in the bores, stringers long ways instead of a circular pass like the bore welders.Its not hard to curl the stick around a bit for better positions. -We always seemed to have pillow blocks around , they are cheap to buy .The cast housing is easy to machine off .They stand up pretty well to. Ill try and get pics of the calipers when i get near the shop again ,busy on site this week.
good to hear
Just an update on a similar note - I have likely the world's most mentally unstable line bore setup. As someone guessed above, yeah it's a little bit too quick, but it's doing the job thus far. I figure if my plan here doesn't work, that I'll just do it again and learn more. For some dumb reason I'm just doing this with items I have on hand. Centered the bar in the bore with a 3d printed insert, then checked parallel with the upper bushing a few inches out. The feeds and cuts need to be very light, or it's worlds of chatter. As expected, on the "pull" cuts, the taper on the chuck would pull out. It's okay, welded it in place. Then I got tired of the boring bar slipping in the chuck, so that got welded too. I'm doing partial bores from both sides to whatever gives a stable circle. After that, I'll machine sleeves to lightly press in to get a shade under a 50mm bore. After that, I'll heat the end of the stick up and give the bushings a liquid nitro bath and hopefully get those set without wrecking the sleeve. I'll leave 4mm of free bore in the sleeve outside of the bushing for a shaft seal. Might tack weld the sleeve to the outside just to help it stay put.. but probably won't. Either way, it'll be good enough for use around the property for a while. The rest of the machine is near good to go. New pins and bushings just about everywhere else, new tracks, all things checked and getting the primer all sanded for the body panels. New paint new decals and she should be right squared away. Ive had a lot of fun with this thing. Heavy equipment seems like a whole different kind of working on stuff. Big Lego pieces that you can wail on with sledges.
If you're using liquid nitrogen, you shouldn't need to heat the bore for the bushings. I think it might cause the bushing to crack because of the extreme temperature difference. Also don't tack the bushing as that could cause it to crack too.
Well it ain't all perfect, but it'll get the job done. Everything is put together and is as tight as it probably was from the factory. Whether the whole sleeve strategy will last the long haul is anyone's guess. Though the sleeves and bearings are in there... Enough to snap 3/4" allthread when I was pulling them into the bore after being cooled. But yeah happy that it works. New paint on some parts too just to make me feel better about everything. Thanks folks in the thread for all the tips and tricks
One thing with Cat is they don't really use model years. The machine very well could have been built in 2013 but wasn't actually purchased and put into service until 2016. Maybe it was mentioned somewhere in the thread already, I only skimmed through the responses.
I'm sure it will be just fine because you'll grease it. I doubt the last owner did that often.
Finally found the time to finish the machine. I don't have before pictures of everything but it was fairly beat up. Now looks like new-ish and feels great. As tight as it was from the factory - the only thing I didn't end up working on was the slew ring. The pinion gear had maybe 1/32 of wear on it, so not the end of the world. New pins/bushings pretty much everywhere. Anything that was off was repaired or replaced. Added another aux circuit with a radio and a light bar. Going now to live an easy life on my cabin property. Probably not getting anywhere near 100hr/yr. Total cost at this point is the initial 26k + about 3.5k in parts and tracks. So all said and done, what do y'all think? Is 30k a good price for this machine?
Good job, should be a really good acreage machine! Price sounds okay….we are in Canada so prices tend to be very high. Not sure about your local market. Even a brand new machine usually has some backlash on the pinion gear.
Local auction had a couple of Bobcats sold over $20k. They had many brand new micro excavators with 13 hp air-cooled engine. These sell for about $3400, some pay more. I thought this might impact the price of the mini's but I guess not.
I wouldn't even think about it. You will have your answer in 500 or a 1000 hrs from now if it puts out some good work with out any major failures. All machines in those price ranges typically need some work. A 1' bucket would be on my list if you don't have one. Nice repairs and good luck. I had a 302.5 not as nice as yours used it for several years and sold it for more than it cost used. When people see you using it they will want it.
If you're happy with it is the main thing. At least you've gone through it so know the condition of everything. It's better than paying more for a machine that looks good but has hidden problems you don't know about or the seller tried to hide.
You can probably rent that machine for $1500-1800 per week. So less than 2 weeks/ 80 hours? Say $3,500 a year in rental cost? vs. $30,000 tied up? I think I'd rent, but its not my money. Hope you get to use it, more than you are planning on.
it does not work that way in real life. it's two hours here, 4 hours there, sit a month, do a week, etc. Now if a person is building a finite thing like a house on a lot, or doing a single project like running an irrigation pipe through then renting is the ticket. "farming" is not that oorganized in most cases.
Yeah, thats pretty well how it works. We have a Deere 590D, Deere 550G, 20 ton tag, and a Ford L9000 dump truck on a dairy farm that we bought about 12 years ago. All were bought for one project that was going to cover a few months worth of work in phases. We bought all of the equipment for less than what the excavation portion of the quote came in at. My uncle has extensive excavation experience from 20 years in the industry before returning to farming so we had the experience to do the work. Once that project finished, the machines mostly sit, but, BUT they're too damned handy to ever be sold off. We got by just fine without those machines before, but life is so much nicer ever since they came out. One off drainage projects got done. Fence rows got cleared. Our driveways are in way better condition and actually get regular maintenance. We've used the excavator as a crane in multiple instances where we wouldn't have had the equipment to do a job otherwise. On a whim, we were able to extend a concrete pad for ag silage bags last minute. Haul our own gravel, crushed concrete, etc. Use the tag trailer to pickup/delivery other equipment to save on delivery fees. Haul more bales, reshape our silage poles for better drainage with less spoilage, the list just goes on. Most of these projects were all afternoon deals where we had time and had been thinking "man, that would be nice", or "hey, we can do that job ourselves and get it over with" We had a center pivot get stuck one day in a mucky area of the field. We got it unstuck, then hauled the excavator down, dug out the trench, hauled in a couple truck loads of good gravel, filled it and had the pivot passing that spot be end of day. Some days, it pays dividends to just have that equipment readily available.
yes, different horses for different courses. Bad news is my little rental place a mile from the new place is closed. He retired and sold off the equipment and headed for Baja. This foils my rental plans, I will have to get the trailer now to rent a Kubota.
Might have missed up thread but how many hours on the machine?
You aren’t in NH are you…? Sounds like one I looked at a few months back.