Mini excavator purchase

[fatallis]

Hello - I am considering buying a used Deere 35D and am looking for some valued opinions and experienced advice...
How many hours are alot for a mini? Are there specific problem areas that I should pay special attention to? Do pin grabber couplers on long dipper sticks with hydraulic thumbs greatly reduce the machines hydraulic strength? I have many such questions, and would appreciate any input.
Thanks

 

[KSSS]

The common theme especially for compact equipment is condition trumps hours. Compact equipment is more susceptible to abuse, so I don't think you can put an hour limit on a mini ex. I have seen some at auction that were destroyed at 1500 hours and I have seen some with 3000 hours that were still in good shape. The first place I would look is the swing boom and bucket area then migrate from there. Those items that you mentioned don't reduce the hydraulic strength but they do take away from your available payload. Long sticks are great, but they reduce digging performance. Couplers are great but its a wear point and most (depending on design) reduce breakout force. If you have a long stick with a coupler, thumb and coupler, you can expect the machine to be a little tippy with a full bucket especially over the side. Sometimes you can add counter weight (don't know about the Deere specifically) to counter the added weight on the end of the stick. All that being said a mini with all these add ons is like a swiss army knife so while there are some downsides to adding them, they greatly increase the machines usefulness and allow for a much higher ROI.

 

[clintm]

there's a large contractor in town 200+ pieces that has some of those 35D 's with 6,000-8,000hrs and still on jobs every day with unlimited unskilled operators with that said I would like to stay under 3,000hrs for a daily runner.most of the jd's I have seen have a wedge style coupler that's lite weight and does not kill your breakout force they also have hyd thumb .also check the swing bearing for play what kinda shape is the tracks in and rollers. some of the after market rubber tracks are pretty cheap and easier change than pin and bushings in the boom

 

[JBGASH]

We have ordered a new Deere 27D to be in sometime in September. This is the first new piece of equipment we have ever bought, found a few good used ones, but at near new cost.

 

[fatallis]

Thanks for the help...Now let me throw a little wrench in the mix - I just looked at an '09 Komatsu PC35 - and was impressed with it. The Deere is also an '09, and the hours are almost identical at about 1400, with the Komatsu being considerably cheaper by almost $10,000! Both have been owned by individuals and also rental units. The PC is being sold by an individual, the 35D by a rental company. What to do??!!

 

[lumberjack]

For $10k less, you would be way way ahead ROI wise on the Komatsu over the dear Deere. That should be over a third cheaper I'm figuring.


No doubt what I would do if I was happy with the appearance/performance of the cheaper machine.

 

[clintm]

dido on the full size machines(#30,000 +) the komatsu is a better machineby far anyway

 

[doug dirt]

Have pc35-2 purchased new , Purchased a pc35-3 last year new. Had a few problems with old machine but all and all am very satisfied and dealer support is also good.

 

[dschumacher]

for a mini you want a wedge style manual coupler to keep stick weight down. get the hydraulic thumb, and i would recomend a cab/heat. also need 2 buckets.

beat to **** or not, its industrial equipment and as long as there has not been a pump failure it will be solid, most techs wouldnt recomend a hyd. flush until 2000h anyway. i would say 5000h is getting up there for a mini, as i would say 10,000 is for a crawler.

you get up over 3000h+ and you will start to see hose failures and stuff like that.

treat anything good and it will you!

 

[zborewik]

I don't know how deere works, but few times I work on a Komatsu PC35 with close cab, 2300 mth, quite powerfull and fast.