Looking to buy a backhoe loader. Ford 550 price?

[Alexp08]

Hello, so my family just bought some land, a little over an acre. Its covered with rocks/boulders and stumps. Ive been looking at backhoe loaders as theyre a bit cheaper than excavator and should work for what we need.
I found a guy selling a ford 550, looks to be in pretty good condition for the year, has about 3000 hours on it. But he said he doesn't know what its worth so he hasnt gave me a price. So i was wondering if you guys could help.

Here what he says about it "Rear tire Leak's down power steering leak will need battery won't hold a charge one down rigger may need work everything else is good. Have no idea what it's worth I'm sure we could research and come up with a fair price"



What do you guys think? Thanks

 

[ClaySlayer]

Others can correct me if I'm wrong but for only an acre of land I'd hire out or rent a dozer for a day or two. Should make quick work of it... Just not worth the cost of buying equipment in questionable condition for what should be a one time job.

 

[Alexp08]

Well thats actually what we juat got done doing. We rented a excavator, bobcat e42 to be exact and after 3 days hardly anything was done. There are alot of rocks, and i mean alot! And theyre big. And about 60+ stumps. By the time were done paying for a rented machine we could have already bought one

 

[TomSeller]

Others can correct me if I'm wrong but for only an acre of land I'd hire out or rent a dozer for a day or two. Should make quick work of it... Just not worth the cost of buying equipment in questionable condition for what should be a one time job.

Agree. And I would hire it out.

 

[Alexp08]

Agree, but I would hire it out.

I appreciate the advice, but my father made up his mind, he wants to buy one hahah

 

[TomSeller]

I appreciate the advice, but my father made up his mind, he wants to buy one hahah

I don't know how big of rocks you mean by "big", but a backhoe like that is somewhat limited. Any pictures of the 1 acre?

 

[Alexp08]

No pictures at the moment, its night where im at. Id say most of the bigger rocks are about the size of beach balls, give or take, a few much bigger, alot smaller. But what do you mean by limited?

 

[George2615]

Machinery trader and others have a few 550's for sale. Seems they are asking in the 8-12K price range. That's not saying that's what they'll get for them. I think an offer in the 5-7K range is more realistic. From your description it doesn't sound like it needs too many repairs for an older machine. If you get it for a decent price you can always resell it when your work is done and get most of your money back.

 

[Alexp08]

I also got on machinery trader and saw those prices and thought they were quite high, ive found new larger backhoes for about the same price, thats why i came here.

 

[LD1]

Where are you gonna find a new larger backhoe for 8k-12k?

I was gonna say $7k-$8k is fair. Repairs sound minor if the machine runs good and is tight. You aint gonna find a machine of the 70's-80's vintage that doesnt need something. And you arent gonna find much under $6k that is even in usable condition. Just what the market is. They are valuable machines with what they can do. Gotta pay to play.