Where to find stamped serial on Bandit 250?

[BoominSVX]

Good evening friends. I have a question that I'm hopeful someone here has the answer to. I recently purchased a Bandit 250 in pieces. It had been disassembled by the previous owner for knife, bearing and anvil work. He passed away without putting it back together about 3 years ago. I've finished putting it back together and sent some pine through it today. Much easier than my Morbark 8" disc and made me giddy to hear that turbo spool down after each log. Anyway, I built a torque arm, an engine door, refaced the anvil, flipped the blades to the new side (Only has 1100 hours on the machine so probably original as they were bad on the used edge) and put it all back together. I started thinking about MA and their crappy money grab tactics and realized that I had not yet found the serial. Whether I keep it or sell it, having more than just a bill of sale would be necessary. I called Bandit and asked where an early model (pre 95 by the lack of safety additions) would have the serial or build number. They told me it was somewhere on the top of the tongue looking down. I stripped every bit of paint off the tongue and could find no numbers, no grind marks, no funny areas, nothing. The machine was repainted at some point with a very heavy layer of single stage paint. I really don't want to strip this thing down to bare metal to find a vin. I gave Bandit the engine serial, but they said nothing is coming up as that was "before computers". I don't even know if this machine was titled prior, but I bought it from the deceased man's son and he's not sure where the bolts or parts (let alone the paperwork) went to the machine. He had it in dry storage with only the chipper and large parts.

Who knows where I can find this build number to identify this machine? I have engine and axle, but no vin or build. Thanks, Mike

 

[BoominSVX]

Well, I was laying in bed and had a thought. There was a plate on the clutch housing with numbers on it. I did a quick search when I got it home and found that the model number was of that particular clutch and figured that plate only contained clutch information, but I had to get out of bed right now when it hit me that there other numbers on it. After another look, I think I know serial of the machine. 1B3127. Does this seem like the correct number? I gave the engine serial and they could not find any information, so I'm hoping that the clutch serial is actually the machine serial. I guess there's a new question. Will Bandit Industries be able to give me a build sheet on this machine including the VIN, year and options? The registry will want something stating Year/Make/Model/Weight, I'm sure.

Who knows where I can find this build number to identify this machine? I have engine and axle, but no vin or build. Thanks, Mike

 

[Eq Broker]

There are a few places to look for the s/n. It's usually on the belt guard, under the radiator, or stamped on top of the tongue. You can also get the engine s/n and call Bandit and find out the serial number of the machine. The numbers on the clutch bell housing a particular to the clutch.

Hope this helps!

Dave
Global Equipment Exporters
770-420-6400

 

[Erwin]

most of the pre-95 250s have the build spec number stamped on the plate where the in-feed main bearing sits. It's a 4 digit number.

 

[BoominSVX]

You were right Erwin, I just went out and looked around that plate, and sure enough in the light reflection, I just barely caught a 4. Angled the light and caught it in the paint. Build number is 5141. I'll have to call them when I get a few minutes in the day and see if they can dig me up a build sheet. Thank you very much!

most of the pre-95 250s have the build spec number stamped on the plate where the in-feed main bearing sits. It's a 4 digit number.