I'm wondering if anyone has tried buying like a burned out backhoe for large or expensive parts? I've seen like 10 burned ones that got ripped apart for parts and then the parts are sold at a decent discount, but how do you find the ruined backhoes before salvage yards tear into them? I would love to buy a burned or wrecked backhoe to replace a lot of damaged parts on my backhoe, loader arms, clamshell, extendahoe shell, doors on cab... the list goes on for parts that I can work with on my 580 but are obviously damaged and need repairing or replacing so it was a curiosity if others had tried and also how you actually find them to buy them before salvage or scrap yards get them
Find a area where there is a lot of construction going on, pull out a lawn chair , grab yourself an ice cold beer, make yourself really comfortable...……..and look for smoke signals. LOL
You need to have a in with insurance adjusters
What model 580 do you have?
The insurance companies move the damaged iron through auctions. Insurance Auto Auctions https://www.iaai.com Copart Auto Auctions https://www.copart.com Explore the web sites for a whole lot more than cars.
Just last week I saw a big John Deere excavator that had rolled being looked at by insurance adjuster at dealership. I wondered if dealership might buy it from insurance co. I imagine a backhoe is worth much more parted out than whole.
I have a 580k, Im guessing it was a rental (made mistake of buying it from a out of state company that had great reviews without looking at it as they said it was in great shape) Extendahoe was banana peeled at some point, repair welds are failing, 4-1 is a mess and 2 cylinders are totally ruined and capped off, loader arms were ripped off the frame at some point somehow, resulting in several weld patches, and both tanks leak from the tear if filled full, cylinders hold their pressure for about 30 mins before sagging even after being repacked and a bunch of other things. I'm making it work, but it would be cheaper and better probably to go and just replace all those parts off a burned if I could get it affordably, a lot of work but not so much cash. Yeah I do believe from what I've seen it sounds like most scrapped ones sell for about 3.5-7k, and parted out are worth around 10k+ I'd just use so many parts off one that it seems to make more sense to try and get a whole one vs parts from one. Makes sense though that having an in with the insurance adjusters would be the best way probably
Maybe you can find a real bargain on a nice 580K and use the one you have now for spare parts? Also, it sounds like your motor/transmission is good? The trans is probably the single most expensive thing on the machine. Find a real nice one with a bad motor or trans.