This winter I will begin looking for a 25,000 - 30,000 lb excavator for use on our rural, forested property. For budget reasons I'll be looking for an early to mid 1990s machine. It won't get a ton of usage but will be used for a variety of project around our place. My problem is that I don't know what brands and specifically the numeric designations I should be looking for. Any suggestion would be greatly appreciated.
If I were looking for a machine in your parameters they would be as follows; 1 Hitachi 120, I think the vintage is a -3 2 John Deere 490 3 Komatsu 120 The machines in the 15T range are all well over 30,000lbs.
I have a Hitachi EX120-5 (2000) on my property and it does everything I need it to. I love the machine and I take good care of it so it has done the same for me.
Cat 312s are also good. They're very quick and capable machines for their size, and are my favourite in that size class.
the big thing with used machines is parts, if you have a final drive go bad your looking at over 5K per side so make sure what your buying has good drives! I would stick with the Cat 120 or the deere or the Komatsu. service is the key to making equipment last , no fluid changes will send a machine to the scrap pile early for sure!