When you guys buy used iron, do you go through and change all the fluids and filters, or?? Engine oil, filters aren't too bad, but stuff like coolant, hydraulic oil, trans oil, finals, etc can get expensive quickly. Couple hundred gallons of lubes there. If it passes the eyeball test, GTG? Oil sampling? Common for engine oil, but not so much for other stuff.
If it has no service records at all, I would be changing all the filters at a minimum and an engine oil change. Then I would work out from there.
I check it all, but don't always replace everything. I'll replace engine oil, rear end oils on a tractor, but not usually coolant unless I'm replacing hoses.
Coolant goes bad though. The old green, after a few years. ELC, more like 7-10+
Life is all about taking chances, I'll blow a hose on something every few years..... You can test the antifreeze.
Yeah I test it for freeze protection at least. If the equipment came from the south, could have a weak blend. We do 60/40 or 50/50, depending on how far north it's going.
Normally it's a complete tear down to some degree or another most thi gs I buy need major work it's a good day when it gets home and will actually drive in to the shop
I try to avoid stuff like that.
Depends on what piece of iron it is. Smaller iron like a mini or CTL then replace all fluids and filters. Bigger iron depends. As far as coolant we flush and refill with Cat ELC so we only have one coolant for our equipment. Pickups are a different story. Last piece of used iron was a 305E mini and we replaced everything except coolant which tested fine and was Cat ELC red.
Food for thought--When buying used trucks the factors are wide depending on previous owner Such as buying a tractor from a national fleet. Penske for example-any 3 axle tractor they own will have a major service every 70,000 miles that includes greasing, one grease job only in 70,000 miles, oil 70,000 miles, air filter every 70,000. If it's a 4 axle every 55,000. Most fleets have gone to crazy extended intervals, so have small fleets. Caused by inflation and fuel costs, plus the manufactures say it can be done. All talking selling points, but the fleets dump those trucks just a hair before warranty runs out, knowing it's a time bomb.
It's what I do I'm a suckered for a good money pit but it always seems to work out good. The thing of it is is the labor is moreless free (me and dad doing the work) and there's next to never a dead line so its for "fun"
R model Mack dump truck 977L 941B ZX-40 Hitachi Huber Maintainer. Already did oil and antifreeze on it. New oil in Oil bath air filter too. Trans and converter oil seemed ok as did hydraulic oil but no idea. Need to check diff and finals, tires may have to come off... real fun as they have about 200 gallons in each, so they're heavy. Been slowly switching to ELC in everything. Allegedly per Chevron engineers it can mix with green, just makes it look like diarrhea though.
We do not mix coolants. I don't care what the "experts" say. YMMV.
Around here if red came out red goes in if green came out red goes in after a good wash out. With that said I don't ever recall a coolant related issue that you could blame on the coolant in our fleet
Same
As opposed to rebuilding an engine, hydraulic pump, and/or hydrostat, etc?
I like to drain something from all the lube compartments of newly acquired iron to determine whether there's potential problems there - as in water, metal, sludge, etc. Most used iron is run with inadequate maintenance, so you get to do the maintenance that was missed. I wouldn't have found pieces of piston skirt in the crankcase of my 931B if I hadn't done a thorough check. Having a piston fall apart when you think you've got a good running engine, is going to make an engine a pile of scrap metal in seconds. And my 931B engine started and ran so well, even though it had been sitting for years. It started so fast, and ran so smoothly, it shocked me.
That's why I said if it passes eyeball test. Draining a trans or hydraulic can be easily 20-100+ gallons. At ~15-25 a gallon.
Engine isn't too bad on most stuff, generally under 10 gallons, so under $250ish. Get into hydraulics, transmissions, stuff like that and can easily have $1500 of oil.
And how much does an engine, hydraulic pump, hydraulic valve, cylinder, transmission or final drive cost? Even a hydraulic oil change is pennies compared to repair dollars. I don't understand how someone spends $50k to $100k on a piece of equipment and tries to skimp on the cost of oil.
I don't have anything that cost near that. All under $25k. $10k machine... putting $2k of oil into it that may not even be needed. Dunno...
SOS tests were less than $20 last time I bought a kit, could be more now. I don't know what a particle count would cost, but I bet it's cheaper than a pail of oil. Not all machines have hydrostats, or even wet clutches.
If I could like Zewtwen’s post multiple times I would….
Ditto
Oil changes are cheap insurance or like @Delmer said an oil sample test is less than $50. Do you maintain your vehicles, house. Doesn't this machine make you money? Why not protect your investment?
Around $70 "This" machine is about a dozen machines, and no, they generally just cost me money! Bought for work on the property mostly. Skid steer, crawler loaders, grader, excavator, log truck, dump trucks, bucket truck, several flatbed trucks, firewood processor, forklifts, etc.
I don't put a new roof on every house I buy, some buildings will never get a new roof, and some vehicles might never get another oil change. Several out of that list, I wouldn't change or test the hydraulic oil. Change the filter before it rusts out, and try to keep dirt and water out of the tank. Dirty oil will not be what kills most of them.