I am looking a few 310SJ hoes. Appearance and mechanically they seem very similar but one has around 1600 hrs, one has 2500, and the third 3300. Year wise they are all 2010-2011. How would you value them according to hours? In other words how much more would you pay for the one with 1600 hrs vs the 3300 hr machine assuming appearance and mechanically they appear very similar?
in my opinion, hours don't mean much. I have seen machines with 7000+ hours look near new and I have seen 2000 hour machines beat to the ground. It all comes back to operator, maintenance, and care for the machine. If you're thinking about buying used hoses, I would seriously consider shooting at least 5-10 projectiles (some call them "pigs") through each hose to get all the gunk out and to check for metal, then clean them again. You never know if those machines destroyed a piston or piston seals in one of the cylinders and sent it all through the system (most likely embedding them on the inside of the hose). Grainger might sell a projectile gun, but Caterpillar is the only one I've seen and used. Its basically an air gun that hooks up to air (obviously) that uses a nozzle. You pack the projectile into the nozzle, stuff the nozzle into the hose, and shoot it through. Each hose uses a different size nozzle and projector size.
Agree completely. You might be on track for a smoking hot deal here. Make sure you check every pin joint on each machine. In my experience, the swing tower pins/bushings tell the story. Get a buddy to help. That way you can be up close and focus on the movement.
The best way I know to establish retail value is to plug in the year model and hours on Machinery Trader and track the sales price they are asking. MT will give you an idea of the upper side of retail value, not necessarily the actual value but gives you a baseline to start from. More importantly the value of the machine compared to the hours on the clock. Now MT that is just a quick and easy guide. As D Grade said, hours doesn't establish a value compared to condition nor represent local markets. That being said the more hours on the clock regardless of how it's been taken care of will reduce the life of the components, hence more hours on the clock equals a cheaper value. I know that doesn't give you much to go by but used equipment and it's value enters into the voodoo realm.
Along the lines of what CM said, Ritchie brothers has auction results as well.
Well decided on the 3000 hr machine. It had new pins and bushings put on the hoe in the last 100 hours and the machine is still under factory warranty until February. I went and used the machine a bit yesterday and it feels good. One owner, one operator machine and he traded it in on a new one. Salesman said this guy gets a new one every 3 years or so. The dealer is doing the 1000 hr service on it for me and I hope to pick it up Friday.
Why did they replace pins and bushings at 3000 hrs?
They were probably never introduced to a grease gun.. Bdog1234 what was the price difference between the machines you were looking at?
About $5,000. There were some other factors as well. The one I settled on is from my local dealer who I will be relying on for support in the future. The others were not local. I would have probably another $1000 in costs involved in getting them. As to the pins and bushings my dealer said they go through everything they sell and fix anything they see that needs attention. I don't know how bad they were before they fixed them but it is kind of comforting knowing they thoroughly went through the machine fixing what needed it and also that it has warranty for 5 months. If anything is major wrong hopefully it will pop up before then.