Thread: Excavators

Now that the Carbon cheque has cleared we may be looking at sinking some of that ill gotten loot into an excavator. We have quite a few long term projects on the farm and in the forest that need doing to keep us solvent in our old age, and looking at what hourly rates have rocketed to, it strikes me that owning a medium sized one (10-13 tonne) could be the way to go.

Rather than a "what should I buy ?" question it may be better to look at "what should I avoid ?"

I see some reasonably new excavators rack up the hours at an alarming rate. I don't know if a 7 year old high hour digger is better value than a 25 year old digger with less hours? That sort of thing. And what is considered high hours?? anything over 10K?, or is that still just run in with some of these machines.

Any brands to avoid??

Most probably have 50-60K to sink into the project.

Cheers in advance

XR

A very rough rule of thumb is the digger can be used until its weight x1000 hours so about 13,000 for a 13 ton machine. Dealers have a age×hours formula they use to value diggers but I don't know the constants they use.

Everyone wants 12/13 ton diggers so a 20 will probably work out more cost effective.
I bought a tidy 20 ton Volvo with auto grease, two buckets and thumb for $80. 7000 hours
If your work is predominantly tracks or shifting dirt, a 20 will be streets ahead of a little one.
Need to be a bit careful in swamps though.

Was just going to suggest that same thing, 20 ton once you have it on site...

Look on Porters website, they will be open for a haggle.
I have had quite a few Hyundais over the years, always had a good run out of them, the earlier models were rust buckets.
Got two Hyundais and two Doosans at the moment, all mechanically sound, bought all 4 new 6 years ago and they haven’t missed a beat.
If you buy a high hour machine look for track wear, slew ring wear and good hydraulics.

Originally Posted by 300winmag

Look on Porters website, they will be open for a haggle.
I have had quite a few Hyundais over the years, always had a good run out of them, the earlier models were rust buckets.
Got two Hyundais and two Doosans at the moment, all mechanically sound, bought all 4 new 6 years ago and they haven’t missed a beat.
If you buy a high hour machine look for track wear, slew ring wear and good hydraulics.

Drive past Porters yard in Hamilton, will make you wonder is there still a market for machinery, other lease, hire outfits don't look any better.

You get better value from a bigger machine. They shift more in less time and if hiring, the rates don't reflect that. 10k hrs on a machine and track gear should be stuffed as a rule. So a big cost is waiting. Kobelco, Cat, Hitachi, volvo are all good and hold there value. Hyundai that had anything to do with haven't impressed or lasted. Komatsu you either like or don't. Cat's are expensive and new ones feel more like kittens.
Sitting in a 7t Hitachi doing farm work as I write this. Quite impressed what it can do for a small machine. 3k hrs and looked after. Maximum for working on lane ways to dig water tables and slew round without hitting a fence.
Essentially look for the lowest hr machine you can find invthe best condition and one of the main brands. Get someone to check over for track gear condition, pin wear , table movement and general problems. Anything you touch on one will be in the thousands, so due diligence is really worth it.

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We've got five 13T Sumitomo excavators, the oldest being 2013 at 9k hours and getting tired for our line of work.

Good machines when maintained and serviced - something to look for in what ever you purchase. AB equipment is in most towns and should be able to inspect and advise on what you're serious about buying.

I've got a baby 1.7T Hyundai which can do quite a bit of work, but like sheds and freezers, you always want to get the biggest you can afford. I was limited by what I could tow behind my van but if it is going to stay on your property than a 20 ton would be the go I reckon. As mentioned you can get them at a semi reasonable price since the mid sized machines seem to be in demand. I would much rather have a big machine working at 30 0r 40% than a smaller machine working at 80 or higher. Things last a bit longer if they aren't working close to capacity.

You might want to increase your budget a little to get a good low hour machine which will see you through to popping your cloggs.
Still a few companies going through tough times quitting a bit of gear or getting re-possessed, might get a good deal or two.
One with a blade would come in handy but at a cost.
You won't need zero swing unless you collar a cheap one.

The other thing to be looking for apart from track gear, slew rings and the other obvious wear points is seeing if you can find the type of work it was used for - one machine I saw spent a considerable amount of time getting the boom sections rebuilt. Was used with a vibratory hammer forcing in piles and the boom ends eventually failed with cracking, just too bloody hard on it.

Some of the operating environments are bloody hard on gear, some mining areas eat track gear and the ground contact gear just doesn't last.

Thanks guys for all the input. Sounds like the bigger ones will be the ones to look out for. We are not under much time pressure, sometime this FY will do.

And I get the "what has it been used for?" line. 6000 hours in a quarry vs 6000 hours moving dirt on a motorway alignment can mean an awful lot less wear and tear on the expensive bits. We already have a 12 ton dozer, but it gets tired quickly trying to do digger stuff with a dozer: trenches being the fun one!

There's the possibility It could get used for recovering thinnings from our 100 acre pine forest. Its just there's bugger all market for thinnings at the mo.

And yeah, @300winmag, I do get the feeling there will be more carnage with companies going belly up, so I hope we can take advantage there. But going much higher with the budget will definitely eat into the "buying other toys" category

Then again there's next years Carbon payment.....if its still a thing then

You want something nice and tight and low hours, piece of mind, that's coming from a contractor where down time costs $$$

I would stay away from ex forestry, Hyundai s I was on had final drive problems, Brandt in Rotorua did a evaluation on a machine for the boss, picked up things like hyd oil overheated and damaged pump, pressures down on one pump, hoses stiff because of hot oil, leak off on motors, generally it was money well spent.

Most machines will have had regular oil analysis reports in their service records, make sure you ask to see these. One large hire firm down here tried to substitute reports when I was assessing a machine they were selling, I caught them out by accident when I requested further data from the analyzing company. Just plain fraud.