Hi All, Looking for a little advice. I'm looking at this really clean excavator but it's old and I know parts are going to be an issue when the need arises. It has 4,500 hours on it. Two buckets. The UC looks fantastic. The bodywork is nearly spotless. All the glass is good. Pins and bushing are really tight. It spent its life in black dirt and peat moss so it hardly ever touched anything really abrasive. It has a hydraulic seal leak where the driveshaft goes into the pump but other than that and a needing a new seat it's ready to run. It has a Deutz 154 hp air cooled engine. It comes with two buckets that are in excellent shape. He's asking $15k. Is this something I should even consider? What's a fair price? The other alternatives I've been looking at are PC200 and PC300 Komatsu's, but they have 3x the hours and loose pins/bushings, hydraulic leaks, etc.
Unless you have Case dealer parts support, I would recommend Komatsu.
Parts will be almost impossible to source. These were just rebranded Poclain excavators. The circuit board in these can be problematic. I worked at a Case dealer for almost 30 years....I wouldn't reccomend buying it.
Depends, if it’s for a farm or home owner machine, that price for what it is and the size, I might consider it. If you’re mechanical enough to do whatever it takes, to keep it running and accept that the resale value won’t ever get you rich, it might be a deal. I have a Scat Trak skid steer that will never be worth anything. It has a rebuilt Kubota V2203 that I can fix in my sleep. Everything is tight, basically in almost new condition. Not a thing wrong with it but nobody else would want it. Does everything it’s supposed to do. I paid 1400 for it and put 2200 in it fixing it up. Now it’s invaluable. Wife loves it. I‘d offer 12.5k.
Could even offer $10K. Worst that can happen is the seller says no but I doubt that many people will be interested in it.
I agree with gggraham. Being a wrench bender for over 40 years, doesn't matter if its automotive, trucks, or equipment, we have seen an obvious trend in business models, that is, anything over 15 years old, the manufacturer obsoletes that model, no longer supports parts. Throw on top of that, no one offers aftermarket parts as well. There's the rub. All machines will need parts. If you can't get them, you could purchase the machine for a dollar and it would still be worthless if you couldn't get parts. Do your research before you purchase.
The Kubota V2203 engine is very popular, and repair kits are readily available in China. Try other less common engines; they're either extremely expensive or impossible to find.
Repair kits for Kubota are available direct from Kubota dealers.
Regarding the machine the OP is considering. With a good undercarriage and working pumps and finals, there is not much of anything, I couldn’t keep working. The board can be rebuilt and even deleted if needed, on that machine and go all manual. It’s not like it’s worth more being all original.
Case field tec when they where new Do not buy it!!
Why?
I have done a switch from electronic board control to gauges on dash with no electronics. Is a bit of work, but if only for limited hours per year, can be worth it if pumps are easily purchased and nothing to foreign to replace. New gear is crazy priced right now, and work is not always guaranteed. Simon C