I've been looking for a used Case 580SL for a long time, something in good shape in the 3000 hour range. This morning I came across a 1997 JCB 217s with only 1100 hrs on it and all the options (exendahoe, 4 in 1 bucket, thumb, forks, etc) for about the same price as the 580's I've been looking at with a lot more hours. It was owned by a retired farmer and it was his toy, so I don't think it's been worked very hard. Is this worth considering? Anything to watch out for? I've heard a lot of bad things about the JCB's. I know it is a larger machine than the 580, but I consider that an advantage. I just don't want to buy something that's going to give me a lot of problems later on. It seems like Case has a great reputation but I'm not so sure about JCB. One good thing is that in my area we have a pretty good dealer network for JCB's.
I cant tell ya what they are like, but I would like to subscribe to this thread to see.
In my expirience JCBs are nice machines if they were taken care of and it sounds like this one was.
I went and looked at it last night. Nice tight machine that appears to have been babied by its owner. I can see why it might not be everyone's cup of tea as it is a big machine and might be a bit clumsy in close quarters. I think it will make a great loader with the big front tires and all that weight. Only thing that I could find wrong with is was that the a/c didn't blow cold. He's got two extra buckets for the hoe and a spare wheel rim he's going to include. At $35K, it seems like a great deal. I bought it pending a passing grade on some oil analysis work.
what other equipment do you have Mike?
This is my first piece of equipment. I grew up on a farm and loved working with the machinery. We had a dozer, several front end loaders, and lots of tractors but never a backhoe. I've been working in an office the last 10 years but just bought some land out in the county and plan to build a house and a pole barn. I'm planning on doing most of the construction work myself except for the foundation and rough framing. Eventually I would like to get enough land to be able to farm again.
thats really cool Mike, getting to operate machinery is always fun, good luck with your venture!
Mike, PM me the S/N and I can get you the service history. JCB's a/c was not so great until the last few years. They up'ed the capacity about 4 years ago. S machines are beasts. 9,000lb+ loader capacity. A new one sells for $100k plus. We generally don't see many problems with them. Make sure the check the 4-in-1. Not uncommon for the holding valves to fail and the bucket won't stay closed. Also put the 4ws to the test. Occasionally we see bad proportioning valves for the 4ws and the front and back get out of sync. Not a big deal. We have a customer trying to sell his 2900 hour machine for $19,900. I'd say that's a good price. Let me know if you have any specific questions.
Thanks JCBgm, I sent you a pm.
Sounds like a good machine for what you are doing. Best to spend a little bit for something that isn't going to need expensive repairs, and will resell well, relative to what you have in it.
I'm also looking for a good used JCB 217S. Are either of the units mentioned still available? Thanks, Jeff
JCBgm, I would like to get in touch with you about getting some info on a JCB machine. I can't seem to figure out how to PM on this website. thanks tim
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