Looking at buying Takeuchi 26-2

[blawton_25]

I'm looking at a couple of different 26-2s both with less than 2000 hours. I'm looking for an all around machine, little grading, little digging, little clearing, etc. Any opinions of the 26-2? anything to look at specifically? Its easy to tell how much tread is left but how can I determine how worn the rest of the track system is?

 

[mikebramel]

On a machine that old I wouldn't trust the hour meter. Those machines are not cheap new. Hard to find one that did not EARN ITS KEEP LOL. I hope you set aside atleast $5,000 in case if something breaks. Checking for undercarriage wear woudl be are the sprockets pointed or are the teeth wide, do the rollers have a nice deep shoulder on them same for the front idler, are all the brackets still in the rubber track, is there any oil inthe planetaries? does the engine start cold without glow plugs, do the hydraulics sound like your mother in law, etc

 

[blawton_25]

Thanks for the info. I'm not going to use this machine every day, maybe few hours on the weekends. Is there another machine I'd be better off with upkeep cost or otherwise? I suppose I don't really need tracks but would like the joystick controls. looking to spend around $12K.

 

[mikebramel]

No, thats about the best little track loader you can buy. I am just saying something could break tommorow and if you don't do repair work the numbers could get big on any machine

 

[blawton_25]

I looked at one of the machines today, tracks had lots of tread left, were starting to get some cracks. Hyraulics sounde3d good and worked well with the exception of the aux. It would move out at what seemed like the appropriate speed but retracting took considerably longer, is this normal? Also when turning the tracks made some clunking noises, the tracks appeared to be a little loose, maybe with tightening this would solve the problem?