Never before have I physically witnessed so much plant in one place, and every bit was for sale over the three days. The catalogue ran to 400 pages with over 300 excavators in the over 10t category and over 3200 lots in total. Plenty of smaller ones to. I attended as much for the experience but armed with a deposit so I could get a bidder number. I reasoned it would have been a bit sad to have the oppertunity to get what we really needed but not be able to if I wasn’t prepared. I found a couple of Hitachi EX135 that I expected to fetch around £12-15000 which was above my limit of £8000, they actually went for 9 & 10,000. I fell for this FH130-3 which finally went for £8500 and would have been perfect for the canal.
I was tempted by the Kobelco SK120-2. The hitch had to be disregarded as it was in bits but that was not an issue. The machine really looked original, paint around pump, pump bolts etc etc looked original. The chains were on their limit but not hard to sort and the oil leak I traced back to the drain tap on the bottom of the hyd tank. A slight concern was the battery being disconnected so no chance of testing it, and there were one or two wires that needed a bit more investigation. Several people I chatted to warned me off once they knew what and why I was looking. It finally went for £5500 and made the journey to and over the ramp without drama but could have cost a lot of money to keep going. On the other hand it could have been just right. Everything machine goes over the ramp, one way or the other. Not all was used. Some brand new and some with demonstrater hours
its a wonderful experience i must tell u ive been to two construction machine auctions and its great just being able to operate (limited) all the different kinds of machines ..
I was at the big Hewden sale last year did you go to that.
No, I was lucky to get to this one for the last day, the Friday and made a break of it with a visit to family in the area, The only other one I have attended was a Richie Brothers at Milton Keynes around 2002. They are a dangerous place if you have money in your pocket
Rob, do you recall what 20-24 ton excavators were fetching? Komatsu, Volvo? It looks like a tempting place.
Lucky for you I kept a note in the program of the ones I witnessed and the easiest thing is to photo that, which I am in the process of doing. All prices are UK Pounds. Refering back to the picture of the big Hitachi, I posted earlier in this thread, 2002 ZX650LCH it was first over the ramp at £56,000. The Unused Doosan DX420LC behind it in the photo got £94,000. Two very intresting pictures here as it picks up on a thread about machines not showing thier true markings This was a Case CX330LC £50,000 and this was a New Holland Kobelco E335 £33,000 This Unused Cat 320DL complete with vandal guards, Check valves, Quick Hitch and piped, made £72,000
Heres the others.
They practically gave away those 1997 Daewoos. Thanks for sharing! :drinkup
That is very true. I made a mental note to next time look at some of the bigger stuff ( if time permits ) as a couple of 20tonners were well within my budget but too big for where we want top use them. I suppose that is always the way though
With those prices, you´d have enough money left over for a few rattle cans of paint to keep the counterweight pretty.
Great deals to have been had there! :drinkup
:lmao Man that was sharp/quick :notworthy. We want a machine around about 12t size for a canal restoration project I work on as a volunteer at weekends. As you can probably imagine space at times is a fine line between tight too tight and non existant
Operating (driving) in confined spaces doesn´t have to be as hard as it looks. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iLKR9tCiwvA
This is my idea of heaven . Shane
Some great deals.
i have to agree with shane on this one looks like alot of fun to be there lachlan