s2dm
Member
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.
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.