When is excavator too old?

[TnAndy]

I have a mid 90's IHI 35J for around the farm. For 4k, it was a lot cheaper than a tractor backhoe, and has a LOT more ability. It's had an engine (Izuzu) replaced at some point, and it needed some under carriage work along with pins/bushings in the stick, but that cost me less than 1k for all the parts. Good little machine, and I'm sure I could get 5k back out of today.

 

[ovrszd]

You did good. Would be very handy.

The limited reach of a mini would be the concern for my farm use. I frequently have my boom fully extended. 17' boom plus 3' extendable.

 

[Big Barn]

Messicks says they can help with grey market on some, from my limited experience with excavators those machines sometimes require lots of help...
All about Gray market equipment - TMT - YouTube

Great vid . Thanks for posting !

 

[Rustyiron]

You did good. Would be very handy.

The limited reach of a mini would be the concern for my farm use. I frequently have my boom fully extended. 17' boom plus 3' extendable.

But (I'm sure you know Richard) remember moving an excavator does not involve;
1 tucking in the bucket, stick and boom.
2 retracting the outriggers
3 turning the seat around
4 picking up the loader
5 drive up 15'
Then you get to "undo 4 of those 5 steps and return to work. Now I know you can "cowboy" around a backhoe with - the backhoe, and if you're on decent conditions that 500' of this is no problem, but you get my point. :thumbsup:

 

[ovrszd]

Yep, absolutely get your point Eric. Excavator definitely has it's advantages. Just not a mini for me.

If I have a stump to remove half mile away I can be done and back in shed before the Excavator gets there.

And if the hole needs a bucket of dirt I don't have to go to the machine shed and get the loader.

 

[Mat4644]

For this reason it's worth less than a similar model that's supported.

 

[Tomtint]

A god mini x is always going to have value. I think its less about age and more about overall condition. there is always someone looking for a sub 15K dollar digger. About 4 years ago I bought a 6K hour KX121-3. It ran like a top then and still does today. I paid like 16500 for it then and turned down 17k a few months ago because I probably couldn't replace it for that if I wanted to. !2k for a good mini is almost a no brainer