Thinking about buying a drott 40 for 9500.00. I want to dig a foundation build some stone walls and dig out a small pond. Machine is a two owner and supposed to be in very good condition . What do you think?
from a past owner of several Drott 40 & 50. I would stay away from the Drott. They were alright in their day, but we are talking about 1960/70 I have never worked so hard to keep any piece of equipment running, as I did the Drotts. If you dont mine working 6-8 a day on the excavator, so you can work one hour a day on the foundation A friend of mine, didnt take my advise and he bought a Drott 40, to clear a lot and dig a pond. He paid $9000 for it and spend $4000 on it, trying to get the hydraulics fixed (he never was able to dig anything) he sold it for $3000 scrap TOOOOOO Many issues with these old machine Beware
This is a mid 80s unit same problems?
same problems with all them, they never got it figured out
I have had a wheeled Drott 40 for years. Mine was setup originally as a feller buncher? Then it was a county machine cleaning ditches, it has a tilt wrist. It has so many pedals, switchs, I have to look at the diagram every time I run it. We had an old timer that could run like he was born in it and he broke everything including the extenda boom. No lights no heat stuck in second high patched up boom and outriggers etc etc. We have not had the bucket on it in years, we use it as a crane. If its moving I think its gonna tip I hate running it. On the other hand it always starts, 4 weeks a year I run it 10 hrs a day and it does the job. Around here we like old Detroits... but you have to like fixing crap! We put an additional counterweight on it and drive it around on two wheels, it has crazy power. Dig a pond no sweat, 9500 no way! As far as scrap goes the counterweight is concrete.
Thanks guys , l'll be staying away from this. Even at 6500.00-7000.00, the most i was planing spending on this old timer , it sounds like trouble than its worth!
If you want to have a good machine from the 70's or early 80's I'd go with a Bantam. I had a 1973 C-451 which became a C-166. The only reason they changed from a 451 to a 166 was the 66 series was Koehring's system for models. Koehring was the company that owned Bantam then. Mine had a 453 Detroit (noisy, but a good engine). I had it for 15 years, not everyday use, but I did use it quite a bit. A friend bought it and still uses it around his house and lot. I used it a lot more than him as I was in business. FWD