Bobcat 743 fair price?

[georgia088]

A friend of mine has a 743 bobcat that I am interested in. He痴 had it for years and it has been a good one. Ive borrowed and used it a few times. He now says it won稚 start. He thinks the starter isn稚 turning the motor over fast enough to crank but doesn稚 want to fool with fixing it. Cosmetically it looks awful. (I know he has used ether on mire than a couple of occasions to start.
He痴 asking $1500. I haven稚 fooled with it but know it痴 very possible it could need a ring/piston/sleeve job. Is it worth this gamble? I mean surely if it痴 just the starter then yes? Would it be worth it if I have to rebuild it?
Thanks for your input!

 

[flyerdan]

If it has needed either to start in the past, it could be that it's losing compression (north of 7500 hours?) or maybe some or all of the glow plugs aren't working. If you can do the work yourself, it could be a good deal if the rest of the machine is in good mechanical shape.
They used those Kubota engines in reefers, so there should be plenty of parts available, perhaps even a good running take out can be found for the about the same cost as new parts.

 

[laurencen]

the 743 I had was a bad starter, the guy used either also and finally ran rough and blew smoke, long story short he cracked the head, did the work ourselves but with a head, gaskets and glow plugs pluss other odds it was 2000 in parts, for me its worth it, it all comes down to the rest of the machines condition