Looking at a cat 977 L s/n 11K7825. What years was this serial number made ?? He says it has 3000 hours on rebuilt transmission and motor done by Cat. 11000 on the machine.Tracks are about 60%.He has cranked it the past year and kept batteries charged, It has been stuck in mud. What are some things i should check.? Machine runs and operates as it should. He is asking 12,500$. I have a way to haul it . I'm looking to rent the machine out or be for hire and operate it. Is this a good price for the machine? I see they push trees over with ease.thanks for any help and info.
Looks to be a later 1975. What's wrong with it would be my question. $12,500 seems too good of a deal to me with only 3000hrs. on trans. and engine. Is it currently stuck in the mud and how long has it been stuck in the mud? Are lower components caked in rust from being stuck, etc.? How do you know everything works as it should? I wouldn't buy a machine to rent out to other operators. Just asking for problems. Your description is a little vague.
It has been there for a year with the right track stuck. I apologize for the confusion he said ran as it should when he got stuck. He claims to have service receipts as well.Only reason for selling cheap he says is he inherited it and cant haul it and needs to pay bills. I plan to help him get it unstuck and then he said i could use it for helping him so then I guess I'll see if it has issues.
That sounds like a good plan. How bad is it stuck?
Agree good plan Hope once its unstuck he doesn't decide not to sell
The left track rolled onto a stump throwing the weight onto the right side in some real soft dirt burying the track.Yeah I'll be dissapointed if he doesnt sell but either way for helping him get it unstuck I get to borrow it for a month.
Might be able to lift it up with the bucket and put some boards under it. May need some boards under the right side of the bucket too.
Thats what we were thinking. He has a 450 there we are going to use it to help get it out
Do these pictures help identify the year
Pedals come from the floor up. What year do y'all think.?
Also it does not have a skid plate on it. Just wanting to make sure 12500 aint too steep if everything else checks out
If it runs and operates ok without issue, 12500 is cheap There should be a serail number plate on it
11k7825 is all I could find so far
Take a look at the final drives to see if they are leaking. In my opinion they are the 'weak link' on those machines. That being said, at that price it probably wouldn't be a deal breaker if one was leaking a little as long as the rest of the machine was ok.
That makes it a 1976 model Select crawler loader, then find 977K 11K (is prefix) http://www.ironrecord.com/index.php
My little serial number book shows it as a late 1975 which I posted. 1967 didn't come until 11K7871. There is no way to tell the year from pictures though. It looks nice but there are many things that can go wrong on a crawler. It would be money well spent to have someone with Cat experience check it out for you. The price is great AS long as it doesn't need any major work. I think even it needed a few thousand in repairs would still be a good deal. You just have to be prepared if it needs work on the steering clutches or final drives. Even 20K would be a good deal to have everything up to snuff.
Thank you all for the help and information.
I'll post what I find with borrowing it.
Alright the loader needs a skid plate. Also the hour meter on it shows 1100 hours. Which is Iow I know, the owner said when Cat rebuilt motor and transmission ( supposedly) they put in a new hour meter to track the hours on rebuild.Is this so? I called the Cat dealership he would have taken it to and with the 11k7825 serial number they couldnt find anything . The woman said the serial number should be 14x something or something similar.any help is appreciated.
The pics of the machine you posted looks like an 11K machine. The 14X machines that I have seen have a different hydraulic tank and the clutch/ brake pedals are suspended from the dash where as the 11K pedals go down through the floor. Personally on a machine of that vintage I would be more interested in the condition of the machine and not so much on the hours.
Very true statement. Thank you,you make a very good point.
It's not uncommon to put a new hour meter at rebuild time but unless you're the original owner or know the complete history of the machine, the hour meter doesn't mean much. See how it runs and have a Cat mechanic check it out before you buy it.
1 ) how much wear is on the pedals and power shift lever 2 ) what shape is the under carriage in- pictures of the rails and sprockets would help 3 ) renting to people bad idea - you will have a broke up machine in a short time
Renting with your operator on board - different story.........
I was thinking if I do get the machine I will haul and operate it myself.