I'm looking at purchasing a used skid steer for use on the farm. I have found two that I may go have a look at. First is a Gehl 4640 with around 1600hrs and the next one is a Case 1845c with I think 3000hrs. Gehl priced at 18k, Case at 17900. I have never owned a skid steer so any and all advice would be helpful.
I don't know anything about Gehls, You don't see many of them here in Ok. I've never had a 1845C, but most people will rank those as one of the best skid steers of all time for reliability and simplicity. That being said, 3000hrs and $18K would be a bit high for around here. They made those machines for a very long time, like from the mid 1980s to 2000, so you need to find out if you are looking at a 20 yr old machine or a 35 year old machine.
the 1845C is the classic minimal electronics skidsteer, which is great if you had one bought new and don't like to mess with electronics, but it also means they are overpriced compared to newer better Case's that really don't have that bad of electronics. on the other hand, prices on good clean equipment are crazy, so that may be a fair price in today's market. don't know.
Dunn I see your in Kentucky. Look up Kato equipment in Kentucky. Kato is the old IHI -SS-CTL-excavators ETC . Family business been around along time . We have bought from then in the past CL 45 compact track loaders [IHI] Kick azz units . Iike I said there now 'KATO's....
I'm not sure the c is the same as the older ones but look at the axles and bearings good. They have grease zerks and tend to not be serviced enough. Fairly expensive repair. Other than that they are really tough. The only thing I know about the Gehl is the one I run had terrible controls, so bad I took it back to the rental without finishing job. Buy the best one you can afford, you will have the same money in a cheap one after you fix everything. What are you planning to do with it?
I also have no experience with Gehls, but at the quarry where I worked they had a few Case 1845's over the years. I won't say we never had a problem with any of them but 99% of the problems were caused but the nuts sitting in the seat. They were used for clean-up around the quarry and those using them treated them the same as a shovel, drop it where ever you are when done with it. Now if someone tries to sell you a JCB 185 I would run as fast as you can.
In the mid 80's, we received a brand new Gehl skid steer, at the sand plant I was running. We used it everyday for various cleanup tasks. That thing was a workhorse and never gave us any problems. So, I still kind of like Gehl machines, even though I last used one 10 years ago. I don't know anything about today's Gehl machines. However, I would recommend you buy a brand you know you can get parts for. The good old Case 1845's are getting pretty ancient by todays standards. Jeff