Advice needed please, buying used CAT 304

[One guy construction]

going to look at a 2006 CAT 304 with 3000 hrs. Machine is on second owner. current has had it 4 years and has 4 other excavators says he selling to buy a bigger one. Other than sloppy pins which would be expected for a machine with that many hours on what are some of the things to look for? It will be used for small landscape jobs/anything that we wouldnt use our bigger machine for. I had cat rep go look at other machines I purchased before but at $2000 for that it seems a little high for no more than paying for this machine. any ideas would be helpfull. thanks in advance.

 

[CM1995]

At the age and 3K hours I would expect a mini-ex to be around it's 1/2 life.

Check the obvious -

Hydraulic lines and cylinders for wear/damage/leakage
Engine blow by
Operate the machine until it is operating temp and see if everything performs as it should
Look over the structure, boom, stick, carbody, etc for any cracks and prior repairs/welds
Sprockets and tracks are wear items so those items are relative to the machine price
Sample the oil, hydraulic and coolant and send it to the lab. It's cheap insurance.

My rule of thumb is to first look over the sheet metal and cosmetics first. If the machine looks like it's been put through hell for its age and hours, then how well did they perform PM? Of course this is subjective and relative to price, end use, etc but just my $.02.

On a side note the Cat dealer rep was going to charge $2000 to inspect the machine?! If they are getting that I'm on the wrong side of this heavy equipment game.

 

[John C.]

If it isn't a C model then walk away from it. The A model machines have the hydraulic valves under the cab floor pan and are just a mess to try and fix any of the leaks that always crop up when the systems get warm. The C model machines have the valves out in the open on the right side of the house and are easy to work on.

 

[One guy construction]

thank you guys, My local cat dealer is awesome to work with. Called the dealer near this machine and they gave us all the reasons why it was gonna be so much. I think they didnt want to do it.... when the inspection was gonna be close to 10% of cost of machine I thought that was high for what one is buying. Oil samples and visual inspection and run the machine i figured would be good enough. Just was looking for anything that these were known for. It is a C machine
thank again

 

[John C.]

Look the boom over for cracks around the cylinder boss bracket on each side and along the top edges of the welding on the boom. Also make sure you check the slewing bearing for up and down movement. Some of the Cat minis have been having issues with slewing bearing bolts breaking.

 

[jbernielh]

cracked exhaust manifold
looking at the engine as though you were checking the oil, farthest RH cylinder, around the underside of the manifold.. will be a black soot line.. replaced mine and found a few on line that had similar issues.. the manifold isn't cheap and couldn't find anything aftermarket..

Bernie

 

[One guy construction]

thank you guys for the input. Brought the machine home last friday. Its working great. checked all the things everyone said to look for and found no issues. other than some play in the bucket pins which one would expect for a used machine it seems fine. I looked at the other machines this guy owned that he was using at job site where we picked it up at and they were greased allso. wanted to make sure they just didnt service this machine befor we got there. bought and extra bucket which we had to go to his shop and I checked out his skid loader too and it was freshly greased so it did look like he took care of his equipment.

 

[f311fr1]

When you have to change a hose from the valve bank through the knuckle and up the boom a heavy string will be your best friend. Pull from the valve bank side. Get some flat face oring caps and plugs.