I was having a discussion with a guy about the life of equipment. It stemmed from the auction prices of some newer units. He said construction equipment had a life of 20 years just like cars had a life of 10 years. I said it had more to do with how it was run and the hours on it. It seems that most equipment is being retired at around 10 years. What do you think?
Most equipment is retired at 10 years? Are you kidding? Here is a link to a video with a 30 year old excavator and a 20 year old dozer. YouTube - Cat 245B & Cat D11N
Oh - forgot to mention, I was setting 14 x 6 trench boxes a couple hours ago today with a 32 year old Cat excavator. She's a creampuff. Not one dent or scratch on her, pins tighter than a Tiger Woods endorsement.
If that was true my 1988 580K with 4800 hrs. would be considered worn out. I can assure you it has a lot of life left in it and will work the same as a new one. It is not as pretty and does not have a/c but it will dig just fine and load dirt all day long.
The newest piece I own will be 10 next year, There's probably 10 year old machines out there that are junk either from extreme conditions or poor maintaince or both but not in my yard.
Seems like accountants make the decision on life expectancy of equipment. Has nothing to do with the real world. I'd hate to guess for example, how many 8H's are still earning a pretty good living for their owners.
Im hanging on to my older equipment. If im doing a job and have equipment problems my mechanic can usually rig and older piece of equipment to go long enough to finish the job. The newer stuff when its down its down. Now you tell me which piece of equipment you want on the line when downtime comes out of your pocket?
That's right its down! Till you get the NASA scientist out there with 14 computers and one screwdriver:lmao
and...when the lab coat techs find the problem, the needed replacement part will not be in stock. "We can have it for you in the morning!" :Banghead
I see a lot of equipment in my job. I see more abuse retiring machines than anything. Yes accountants can depreciate a machine out but someone else will buy it therefore extending it's life to the next guy.
If you're like me, by the time the machine needs replacing, the job that needs doing has changed enough that simply replacing the unit with a new one won't do. You need something completely different, always some other thing you need to buy so you can do this or that a little better or easier. So you hang onto the old piece a while longer and go get the next 'big thing' Eventually the old unit is worthless, and thats when it finally starts to make you money!
Sell at 10,000 hrs while there still is good resale value and before you start doing major repairs like swing drives, final drives, engines, pumps and undercarriages. That was the philosophy of my previous bosses and they are now GaZillionaires
I have 4 Lulls 85 86 87 90 They have their issues small most of the time but they have no payments in many years I have had them. They were bought new or with less than a few hundred hours. They blow a hose and I'm dowm an hour once in a while. They get a few repairs but have been taken care of fairly well. New one with a problem I would not have a clue how to fix with a computer. Telehandler should last 10,000 hrs easy with some normal care with out major repairs. Local mason who has had as many as 450 bricklayers and laborers will no longer buy a new machine with computers. Guy is worth multi millions of dollars. He buys older machines and goes through them and uses them. He has his own mechanics and has about 20-35 Lulls. Buying a new machine and getting a one year warranty sucks. My flatbed GMC 7000 is an 84 gasser. One paint job, radiator, fuel tank, brakes, brake hoses, tires, and that's it runs like new. Now I had it since new and there is no emissions testings after 25 years
Have a 1983 Cat 966D with over 24,000 hrs.on it.One exchange long block assembly about 1995,overhauled it a couple years ag verhauled the transmission once.Cylinders have been re-sealed a few times,rods re-chromed als ne rebuilt front diff.Original centre pins,still tight also.Plus tires,brakes/drums,bucket teeth,associated welding on bucket,the odd hose,main hydraulic pump.Would I part with it? Not a chance.Tough,reliable and paid for many times over.With a decent maintenance schedule most machines should get well over 20,000 hours of productive life.There is a D8K at a pulp mill not far from here that is said to have over 100,000 hrs. on it. Dominion:canada
It's all about Maintenance them1677. Heavy equipment will go long past 20 years if well operated & taken care of as long as you can get parts for it.Take a look at aircraft,there are allot of helecopters & planes flying that are well past 20 years old.It's beacause of good maintenance.I posted a thread in the agricultural equipment section called "Helecopter in my barn lot".They were trimming power lines with a 1978 Bell-Hughs chopper.20 year old bulldozer is just getting "broke in".
20 years old up here it's hard to find guys to run stuff thats 5 years old
It used to be equipment ran until the owner didn't have the money to keep it running. Once the suits and college degrees got involved the iron became subject to cost benefit analysis and lots of mathematical formulas. The green movement appears to be the coming determiner of equipment life with the threat of killing use by emissions regulations. From my point of view, anything built before 1996 is subject to regulatory extinction.
Well, yeah of course - you're up in the cosmopolitan center of the globe.....EDMONTON, CANADA!! I am surprised you can find someone to run a machine without the original oil!
I run into that a lot too. If it's not brand new the operators start making up "problems" with it until the machine goes away. Managment knows what's going on (I've been very vocal about it) but it must not be cutting into their bottom line too much because they haven't put a stop to it. :beatsme Having said that, we just recently retired an 1976 825 Bobcat with 18,000 hours on it, and a 93 Ford CF7000 with 27,000+ hours on a Cummins 5.9 - all that engine ever had was a head gasket, injection pump & injectors, and a couple water pumps. Scheduled maintanence works.
Wow! Did I hit the jack pot. I forgot to mention that we were also disussing the new tier 4 regs, multiple computers as well as the new crop of operators. The so called "nintendo" generation. That had alot to do with the idea of moving equipment earlier to keep the gameboys productive as well as dump the unit before any exspensive repairs due to computer codes. A friend of mine was telling me that some excavators were being turned in for new units when the 3 or 5 year warrant was up. The new car mentality.
I see mostly new equipment in this area. There are a hands full of large contractors that run stuff that is older then most of there operators. It kind of depends on the way your company is set up. Where I'm working now we don't have a mechanic, but where a small outfit. So we have newer equipment that is worked on by the dealer other then basic maintenance. I am seeing a lot more companies kind of going the same route. The last 3 I've worked for didn't have a good mechanic. This one and the 3rd one didn't have any, but it too was small I was the sole operator.
Its not how old (years) the equipment is its how many hours it has. That being said as long as you can get parts and the frame is worth repairing you can pretty much run this stuff for as long as you want. Maintenance is key.
Today, a plethora of management tools exists to manage capital equipment lifecycles and maximize return on investment.
MikeL06, That's a pretty general statement. Care to elaborate?
that's the way i look at it
IMHO The operator is important to equipment life too. From a mechanic's point of view you need an operator that's middle of the road. Somewhere between someone being a pest and calling you out to the job site everytime the thing hicups, and the guy who totally ignors everything & drives it into the ground (until there's nothing left worth fixing) before letting anyone know there's an issue. :beatsme
Life Span of Heavy Construction Equipment It depends on how well the equipment was maintained and the environment it worked in
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There are so many factors in eguipment life. I used to go to a suger company every summer and completely go threw there machines most were 20 -30 yrs old but they only ran 4 months a year loaded sugar beats. but took alot of maintanance to keep going. If you have a buisness were you need 98% uptime that old slow eguipment wont cut it. weres the tiping point 12-14thousand hours on the big stuff unless you do a total rebuild not patch and go then 24-28 thousand hrs Ive seen 24-7 operations put 8000 hrs on in a year. ive seen 25yr old machies with less than a1000 hrs.
Equipment life made shorter Hate to be a bearer of bad news ,but the days of using older equipment in California are coming to an end. If the current US EPA director and her group has anything to do with it, this BS will spread like a cancer to the rest of the US. To make business work here these days in what used to be the Golden State, and now the Sick Pea Green State,the Air Resources Board in California is looking at making the average fleet age 5 years old and your "oldest" equipment gone out of the state by it's 12th birthday. I love old iron and always have. Something you knew if you kept in good shape would last a LONG TIME. To me now, an OLD piece of equipment is 20 years old. Something we can look at, but not use to make our livings. Rod Michaelson http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/CARBoffroaddiesel/ " Global Warming " has become the grand political narrative of the age, replacing Marxism as a dominant force for controlling liberty and human choices." - Professor P. Scott
It's all in the maintance, I still have a Case 580B in good working order with 15,000 hrs on it, yes it is slower than my Super L,
So i Guess they wore out pretty fast did they?