What to look for in a 1430 purchase

[jfischer]

I have the chance to purchase a 2003 PT-1430 with about 5 or 6 attachments and owner says it has around 820 hours on it.

I am new to this machine, and would like to hear from all what I should be on the look out for when I go to check it out?

What are common things that seem to go wrong, or things that might leak, or have problems with a machine of this age.

Picture wise it looks in pretty good shape, but have seen that before, and seem to be totally different when you get there and look at them.

Any help on this would be appreciated.

 

[MossRoad]

Welcome to TBN and the Power Trac forum. :thumbsup:

Can't help you with specifics on the 1430 as I have a 425. In general, the beast is all hydraulic, so it has LOTS of hoses. Check for wear on the hoses where they bend, where they pass through tunnels, etc... Check the level in the hydraulic tank. If you get a chance to drive it, make sure it will go up a hill, or push the bucket against an immovable object and see if you can spin the tires. Make sure you do this after the hydraulics are warmed up. Thinner, warmer oil passes by weak seals in the drive motors more easily. Check the hydraulic rams for scoring. The joints on the ends of the rams have eyes. Make sure you can twist them side-to-side when pressure is off the cylinders. This goes for both the lift and curl/dump rams as well as the steering ram. Check the center joint for slop. Look for cracks in the welds in the center joints, the steering joints, and where the front end loader arms attach to the frame of the unit.

I'm sure other more knowledgeable people will chime in when they read this. Good luck with your purchase, if you do choose to get it.

 

[PTWannaHave]

Well, with 820hrs. on the clock, it should have lots of life left...!

If well taken care of, compare to price of new one, and you'll probably go for it.

I don't think the machines have changed much; you might have a 3-pin hookup for attachments as opposed to the more recent QA plate...

 

[RegL]

I have a 2003 with over 2000 hours. I've had a couple wheel motors rebuilt, replaced wheel motor hoses, replaced hydroback cable, replaced starter and solenoid, and some other miscellaneous stuff. Check all the things Moss mentioned and if there's a powered attachment, hook it up and make sure the pto circuit works. After all that, offer a price where you would not mind paying another thousand or two for any unforeseen repairs that might come up after you purchase the tractor. Good luck.

 

[MossRoad]

Well, with 820hrs. on the clock, it should have lots of life left...!

If well taken care of, compare to price of new one, and you'll probably go for it.

I don't think the machines have changed much; you might have a 3-pin hookup for attachments as opposed to the more recent QA plate...

It should have the quick attach system. My 2001 425 did, so I'd assume a newer 1430 would. But that's definitely a good question to ask.

 

[kjm3232]

our 1430 has almost 600 hrs on it and it was purchased in 05. we have had to replace a couple of wheel motors, the on/off switch and the starter last year and the pt solenoid (sits in front of the starter) just yesterday. things I would also check is make sure all the attachments attach easy enough. I have one that's harder than all the rest to do the quick attach with and that came straight from the factory like that. also I would have them remove one of the wheels to make sure it comes off quickly and easily. also if you do buy it, have some welded shields put around the zerk grease fitting on the bucket or remove them and put in allen screws and then take the allens out and put the zerks back in to grease it because I had one top of the zerk break off and the threads were left inside when a log rolled onto it. it took a while to get the remains out.

 

[jfischer]

Thanks for all that have responded to my post.

This is giving me a lot of good things to look for, and to ask.

It is a bit cold here now, so will be a little time before I can make it down to check all out, but looking forward to hearing from all, and what to look for, or what to check out.
I know this should save me some hassles down the road if I decide to get it.

How have the timing belts been holding up on your machines, I rememeber working on them years ago, and that was somthing to always pay attention to?

What kind of price are they asking, or getting for wheel motors now, that seems to be something that most have problems with?

 

[BobRip]

I would check on the hydraulic filter. If it looks really dirty then he may not have changed it often enough. It should be done every 50 hours.

 

[MossRoad]

From the outside of mine, you couldn't tell I change it every 50. Of course, if I was selling mine, I'd clean the thing up pretty good. Definitely look at the condition of the oil in the hydraulic tank.

 

[IrTxRx]

If you do not have ground engaging work to do (e.g. Plowing), buy it a a price you are comfortable with. Run it, break it, fix it and run it some more

When i was sweating over buying mine, a good ole boy who spent his whole life running heavy equipment told me, "if you're worried about it breaking... Quit worrying... It will break if you use it. I've never used a backhoe, dozer, blade, etc that didn't need to be fixed at some point."

Seven years and 800 hrs later i've learned how to fix a few things and am super pleased with my tooyl (that's tool+toy)