How many hours?

[Ghillie]

How many hours do you judge to be too many on used equipment when you are looking to buy?

We are looking at bucket trucks right now (another thread) but also looking at a new chipper and mayber a stump grinder.

I have been taking the hours divided by the years dived by 52 (# of weeks).

Going by how much we use our equipment we already have, say a bucket truck, it is idleing about half the time that we are using it. Using the lift for half the day and shut it off for clean up the other half.

But our chipper is used alot less, we stage the brush and try to run it all at once so it maybe runs 1-2 hours out of a 8 hour day.

Am I way off on my figuring?

Thanks,

Fred

 

[spencerhenry]

hours can be a deceptive thing. i know a guy with a skidsteer that doesnt even own a grease gun, he asks my why the thing groans when you dump the bucket? i have an old skidder with no hour meter, i would guess its got 15,000 hours or more on it. i have had it for 7 years, grease it, change the oil now and then, and it will probably last me another 7 years, it is 34 years old now. a machine run by the owner can last damn near forever, a machine run by an employee, might run for 5,000 hours and be junk. best way is to look the machine over real well, on a big machine, have oil, and antifreeze samples analyzed.

 

[mckeetree]

You might be better off to hire someone who knows something about equipment to check it out and make your deal because the questions you are asking make you appear to be a salesman's dream. You will of course want an unbiased third party. One guy here has hired me once and my foreman once to check out equipment for him. He started out asking me questions and saying he knew but wanted my opinion. I had to ask if you know why do you keep asking for opinions and that is when he offered me $300.00 to check out a dozer for him. Claims it is the best money he ever spent.

 

[Ghillie]

You might be better off to hire someone who knows something about equipment to check it out and make your deal because the questions you are asking make you appear to be a salesman's dream. You will of course want an unbiased third party. One guy here has hired me once and my foreman once to check out equipment for him. He started out asking me questions and saying he knew but wanted my opinion. I had to ask if you know why do you keep asking for opinions and that is when he offered me $300.00 to check out a dozer for him. Claims it is the best money he ever spent.

The original question I was asking (I am sorry if I was not clear) was specific problems with that chassis or lift. I have been trained in engine and drivetrain (gas and diesal) but have no experience with the truck I was asking about.

None of my partners have run an ALC boom but was impressed with the smoothness. But you cannot judge a book by its cover. That is why I asked about this particular truck. To find someone with experience to let me know what to look forward to.

There were so many objections to the price and hours that I wondered what everybody was basing their opinion on. I don't know that I really got a reason, just knee-jerk reactions. I would hope you would not just take my technical advice without knowing the reasons either.

We are not taking the word of the dealer alone. We drove 7 hours just to look at his trucks. We saw the shape they were in when he recieved them. We saw them in the process of being "updated". We drove them. We flew them. We crawled in and out of them. I am not a "salesman's dream".

On the other hand, we cannot wait for the "perfect" deal. Our only bucket truck is broken and out of service life. We have been without it for a week and are losing money everyday. So a truck that has all of the manufacturer's required updates and is ready to work is worth a little more.

I also know that I do not know everything and am willing to listen to constructive advice with information to back it up.

I am sorry if my original post was not clear as to what I was asking.

Thank you for everybodies replies,

Fred

 

[mckeetree]

There were so many objections to the price and hours that I wondered what everybody was basing their opinion on.

They were basing their opinions on ex-line clearance truck with 11,000 hours on it. (It's the hours.) And then when you posted a question about how many hours does anybody think is too many hours I just thought you may need some help from someone in your area in picking a truck.

 

[chucknduck]

Well the hours aren't a problem if you don't mind spending time replacing ptos, clutches,hoses, and turret bearings. If you like working on the truck, then get one with lots of hours, like me, then you can work on it every day for several weeks! Then you know the PTO won't go out of gear because you put a new one in yourself!