Used 48 BH Purchase

[JEP]

Every since I started dreaming about a new tractor, I knew I would like to have a BH for it. I just can't justify the $7k for a new one for an attachment that gets used the least! The dealer says the 48 works much better than a 3pt type BH. He has none to rent.

I've been looking around, may have some leads on used ones and wondered what I should be careful of and look for? If I saw it operate and there are no leaks, I would feel fairly comfortable.

Several have just a few hours on them, what should I offer the seller if have to pick it up in some other state?

 

[ScottAR]

Check for excessive play in the various joints. Use your FEL joints for comparison. It will have a little play but lots of slop indicates poor maintence or abuse.
Check the hoses. Look for weather cracking and/or chaffing.
Check the cylinder rams. Look for scratchs on the ram pistons. If you see many scratches, if they aren't already leaking, they soon will be.
Look for any weld repairs or cracks. This indicates abuse.
That's about all I can think offhand.

 

[dmccarty]

JEP,

Check the bolts as well. I managed to bust the bolt that holds
the pin which in turn holds the boom and dipper stick togather.
There are bolts on the base of the BH as well make sure they
are not stripped. I had a moron mechanic doing my setup
and he managed to strip the bolts in such a way that kept the
bolts from being tight.

Also look at the stabilizers. Make sure that they are not bent.
Its easy to forget to put them all the way up and they do leak
down. If you drive off when they are not fully up it would be
easy to hit them on something that does not want to move.

Make sure that the teeth in the bucket are secure. I saw a
rental miniexcavator the other day that had very loose teeth.
The bolts holding the teeth looked real cheap. I doubt you
would see this on a BH48 but who knows.

There are MANY different grease fittings on the 48. Crawl all
over the thing and make sure they have been used. There
are fittings on/near the bottom on the backhoe, the joints
for the boom/dipperstick, and bucket. Some of them are not
obvious.

Hope this helps,
Dan