320CL ex with 9500hrs

Hoping to get some advice. I'm in the midst of a big pile of sitework on our own property, about 10 acres. We have quite a bit of shaping and grading to do, and a huge pile of sandstone to distribute around the property for rock walls, water features, and general aesthetics. I've been slowly accumulating older equipment and doing more and more of the work myself as I have the time and inclination. I'm getting ready to buy a smaller dozer and a compactor and just cut the cord from the excavation company

With all the rock work we have to do, I'm contemplating a bigger excavator for 2-3 seasons. I have a 10k and a 20k lb kubota currently (kx-040, kx-080) but many of the rocks are big enough I can't even roll them with the kubota, much less place them. I found a pretty clean 2002 320CL with a 4' bucket, hydraulic thumb, with 9500 hrs for just a touch over 40k. Spoke with my local excavator company who is a friend and looked at the job and he estimaed I'd have 60-80k in having them move and place the rock pretty easy. They recently replaced the idlers, did an injector last year, and rebuilt one of the big hydraulic cylinders last year as well.

Question for the pro's out there, for a machine of that age thats been well cared for and operates really cleanly currently, how much maintenance should I expect worst case scenario if I need to use it for about 200hrs or so? I routinely see those machines with over 11k hours and this one seems really well cared for. I know its always a gamble in that hour range, but curious if people think it should last me for a few hundred hours with just routine maintenance.

$40k seems a little high. Is that Canadian?
After all, it is a 16 year old machine.
I had a 320CL, and still have a 321CLCR. Just enough electronics for efficiency, but not enough to be problematic.
Idlers? At 10k hrs, my rails were shot (on both). I dont ever remember doing an idler on either without doing the rails.

My 320CL cracked the boom just behind the boom jack, hyd tank side. I seem to recall a service letter on that.

I say go for it.

I agree with heymccall on the price it seems a little high but on the flip side if that's what it's worth then my balance sheet looks better for what I've got.

It's a gamble, you might get 1K hours of it and sell it to the next DIY'er or exporter or you may buy it and have to sink $15k into a pump. No way of knowing for sure.

Used heavy equipment is always a gamble.

Those hours wouldn’t worry me if the machine has been looked after over the years. Check the boom for cracking at that back gusset as heymccall said. It happened one of mine but was caught earlier so an easy fix

There are a lot of things to consider and you haven't provided much information on the machine itself other that a year and model number. What does the undercarriage look like? Have you checked for any fault codes on the computer? Are there any cracks or deformations on the boom and stick. Does the heater and AC work. Is the swing bearing loose? For the value side of the machine I checked Machinery Trader which shows average auction at $37,172 and average asking at $55,393.
Post some photos and maybe we can deliver some insights as to condition.

Price wise I think there’s a bit of sunshine tax involved, I live on the beach in Southern California. So, it’s a little high compared to some, but it’s 30 minutes from me, some of my friends actually know the machine and the company, so, fewer unknowns than a lot of older machines, and, delivery is free. They were working it on a job site just two weeks ago, so, they’ve been actively using it as opposed to parking it waiting for someone like me to inherit its problems I’m going to do some more recon and I’ll post pics.

Can someone give me a quick idea of how to evaluate the undercarriage? and the amount of slop in the swing bearing?

Sunshine tax? Are you sure you'll even be able to use it in California?
That has to be a tier 1 or tier 2 unit.

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&sou...Vaw10i5cB68RDL1MNCKB_Ud3m&cshid=1558977583109


It's not that you have a fleet, it's just that the next time around, it'll be worth a whole lot less in CA, if it's even allowed in state

heymccall said:

Sunshine tax? Are you sure you'll even be able to use it in California?
That has to be a tier 1 or tier 2 unit.

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&sou...Vaw10i5cB68RDL1MNCKB_Ud3m&cshid=1558977583109View attachment 197244


It's not that you have a fleet, it's just that the next time around, it'll be worth a whole lot less in CA, if it's even allowed in state

Click to expand...

You are right on that front. I think its already phased out for any fleet to buy it in california (pretty sure its a tier 1). Doesnt apply to our use because its solely agriculture, but I'm figuring if I sell this in a year, it will probably need to go out of state. That said, I'd spending more than that for someone else to do it, so even if I sold it for half at auction, I'd be money ahead.