I have a friend who owns an excavation business and are selling their 2000 Caterpiller 315bl excavator (with mechanical thumb) and they are asking $35K. They recently replaced this unit with a newer one. The Cat 315bl has 9400 hours and has been well maintained. They bought the excavator about 18 years ago when it had about 1800 hours on it and have owned it since. The owner indicates they use it around 500 hours per year and have maintained it according to the hour recommendations in the owners manuals. About 1500 machine hours ago, they replaced the undercarriage to include sprockets, final drives, track. About 500 machine hours ago, they serviced the swivel motor. They also recently rebuilt the bucket and have had several of the hydraulic RAMS professionally rebuilt. Although I haven't looked at them, the owner said they have most of the receipts of previous work done. Since I'm new to excavators, I have a few questions for the group. I realize that 9400 hours is lots of hours, but it also appears this unit still has plenty of life left in it. Since I won't be using the excavator in a business, 100% up time isn't required, but I also don't want to sink huge sums of money into it either. My main use of the excavator is to semi clear about 50 acres of land that has been previously select logged and turn it into a Silvopasture/Agroforest. I have 15 Scottish Highland cattle that I plan to locate on this land (Northern Michigan). Since I'm a newbie, I've spent some time trying to somewhat educate myself on buying a used excavator. I've watched youtube videos and have spent some time perusing this forum. Today, I visited the unit and ran it. While the owner was moving the stick, I inspected all the bucket pins as they owner moved it around. I watched the turntable and didn't see any major play. It appears to be tight and didn't see anything obvious that would indicate major problems. But then again, I'm a newbie so what would I know. I inspected the undercarriage, and from what I know, it appears to be in very good condition. I stood on the tracks and they were very solid and didn't move at all. I weigh 250 lbs, so that was a good sign. In a worst case scenario;if the engine needed to be rebuilt or perhaps the swivel motor needed an overhaul, can anyone provide a ball park cost estimate on what something like this might be? I understand that ideally, I should have an experienced heavy equipment mechanic inspect the excavator before dropping $35,000 on it, but I don't know who'd I'd talk to. Any suggestions?
Standing on the track is no measure of the condition of it, regardless of weight. It might mean they are too tight. Don't buy a machine with a mechanical thumb, if the primary job is clearing. Sure you can work it but there is no comparison with how much faster you can clear and grub with a progressive thumb. That's all I have for the subject. If you said you were going to do a lot of utility trenching and might pull out a stump now and then, that would be different. Start looking for something with a progressive thumb, and bigger is better when clearing.
Agree with Skyking, At least a hydraulic thumb but if you can, get a progressive link and a 20 tonne class machine. What is your budget? 50 acres ain’t no small amount and paying more than you might have planned will likely save you money and headaches in the long run, clearing is hard on machines. This machine you mention sounds decent but a tad small and with a fixed thumb so I’d pass it up and keep looking.
You mentioned he’s a friend, would he help you install a hydraulic thumb? If so it could be worth it if you can find a secondhand one in good shape.
As a "newbie" I guess I'll talk about heavy iron in a relation of odds. 50-60% chance in the next year, it will need at least $2,500 in repairs. 10% chance in the next year it will need a $20,000 repair. 50% chance in the next 5 that it will need $10,000-20,000 in repairs. 90% chance in the next 10 that it will cost $20,000 in repairs. If you budgeted $2,500 per year in repair costs, it would likely average out over a 10 year period. But you might spend the 10 year period of money in the second year..... You can cut repair costs in half if you can do all the work yourself. If you want some better advice on the machine's condition, go take 5-10 pictures of the machine, post them up on here with a serial # and see what these guys have to say about how it looks. Better off - pay a local heavy equipment mechanic $1,000 for him to go look at it. He can't make any guarantees on engine or hydraulic system life, but it might make you feel better about it, and could save you from making a $10,000 mistake.
I would consider a long term rental and see if it makes sense. I have no idea how the money works on this, and I have no idea what this is " and turn it into a Silvopasture/Agroforest. I have 15 Scottish Highland cattle that I plan to locate on this land (Northern Michigan)". Your taking a chance on the excavator, maybe you win and get all the work done with minimal issues with the excavator. You also could spend tens of thousands on it. If you have enough capital to cover fixing the excavator if it goes down, and your not selling the Scottish cattle to fix it, then maybe its worth the risk. By renting you don't worry about any maintenance and you get the machine you want at a known expense (unless you jack it up some how). Lastly, hire it done, (not that you cant figure out how to pull a stump) but it maybe worth getting bids and see what it would cost to have someone else take care of it.
Great advice as usual from @KSSS Alta equipment will give you a quote at this link Medium 14-30 ton excavator rental request another nearby vendor link https://contractorsrental.com/equipment/excavators/standard/pc200/ If they wanted $10,000 for a month for a 20 ton, you could get a lot done. If you auditioned the idea for a week, that might run about $4000 with pick up and delivery. Look at that objectively. The advice above is sound for paying $1000 to get an inspection. Now that $4000 does not sting so bad, and keep in mind you are renting the best size and type of equipment for the task. It will be nearly new, tight, and trouble free. Any issues it has are not yours, as long as you don't break it being stupid. You can spread the costs out over several years if you wish. Most farming is like that. Get a week of work done, take a breath and adjust your plans, get some fence built and the cattle moved, then attack it again. Work the dry seasons for the best efficiency.
Here's some pics of the excavator. I forgot to get the serial number.
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A silvopasture is the technical term where instead of completely clearing the land, you select cut the trees so that you reduce the canopy so sunlight can hit the forest floor. Cattle can then graze the new plant growth. Or perhaps you could plant grass seed and establish grass for cattle feed.
I would run not walk away from that machine. First off the hydraulic filters haven't been changed in over 3 years and have 765 hrs on them. Second $35K is high for the age, hours and condition. That machine should be in the $25-28K range IMO. The question I would ask my self is - "Am I going to be a cattle farmer or heavy equipment mechanic?" As others have stated rental or hiring it out seems the better way to go. Don't know if Sunbelt Rentals is in the area but a quick search here I can get a JD 250G for $7K a month plus the normal fees and pickup/delivery.
Last I checked, 15 head and 50 acres is not enough to live on as a cattle farmer. But I'm guessing this is a retirement hobby farm situation. And he's playing the 'if it costs $30k to get the work done, I can buy a $30k excavator, do the work myself, and resell excavator when I'm done" game. And on that note, I'll just say this, if you can't afford a $20,000 repair bill, on top of the cost of the machine, you shouldn't buy it. Because if it needs a engine, its a $30,000 paperweight, until you spend the $20k fixing the engine. Or the hyd. pumps and manifold, or the leaking cylinders, etc. etc. etc. Here's a quote from a guy just this week, with issues with a 315, and I just want you to read it. There's guys here all the time with hobby equipment and troubles, and none of it is free to fix. Several questions/issues CAT 315L 1 - A while back I had to change the engine speed control module with the cable. It was a plug and play deal. Before I changed it, the AES would work like it was supposed to. 3 seconds and no demand, goes to idle. Now I have to keep the switch in MANUAL mode and use the RABBIT /... HeavyEquipmentForums
@CM1995 that's a great deal on a 250. It would be the easy chair compared to that 315! @landrand Until you've jumped around with excavators from machine to job, it is hard to describe how much SIMPLER and EASIER it is to clear with a bigger machine and a progressive thumb. Rather than track over and get square and set yourself for maximum effort, you casually reach over and snatch that little thing at the end of your reach with the bigger iron. the progressive thumb is effective at any range for grubbing and stacking. The fixed thumb works in a far narrower range and you spend a lot of time tracking to get into that radius. Your reach is more than halved with it, imo. Not only do you lose the far reach, you lose the close in cleanup of that annoying bit that you missed.
Same difference. Does OP want to mechanic or pay others to mechanic on a 24 year old, 9K hour excavator or tend his cows?
Actually, it looks like the filters have 824 hours on them as the hour meter reads 9459 hrs. How many hours does caterpillar recommend to change hydraulic filters on this unit?
Yes, this is a retirement hobby thing for me.
sounds fun! I'll be straight up, I won't bother looking at the 315 picture because it's the wrong machine for the job. I'd be interested in pictures of the woods and property, if you want to share.
Around here 50 acres is enough land for 2-3 cows even if it is all grass.
The property has a 6.5 acre field. For the last two summers I was able to rotationally graze 7 cows and a few of their calves. I just rotate them every 5 days or so.
By the book - 1000 hours or every 6 months, whichever comes first. The 6 months could probably stretch to 1 year for someone with short arms and deep pockets. 1000-hour filter changes would generally be for machines on a steady 50-hour work week.
We change engine oil and filter at 200 and hydros at 500. EDIT - didn't see Niges response. I might be wasting oil and filters but it's cheap insurance IMO. Either way 3 years and 824 hrs is way too much on a hydro filter on a machine that age. If they haven't changed the oil in 3 years I doubt they sampled the fluid either. Makes one wonder what else they didn't take care of or how they've operated the machine.
He said they run about 500 hours per year operating the excavator. It's a trucking and excavating business. He uses the excavator mainly for clearing lots or perhaps digging basements.