Opinions on mobile screen plants .......Who likes what

[GabbyVice27]

I am looking at a Finn-tec 540 tracked screener , to be used in our gravel pit. It will be screening inch and a half minus . The average of 30% gravel or better from my tests. This will not be a super high production operation, just a little side gig. From what I can tell sandvik bought extec and fintec and combined the two ,there is a dealer within a reasonable distance and they seem to be decent enough folks. its an older machine but very low hrs . there will be some minor tidying up to be done but nothing major. I would love to here from someone that has experience with this particular machine and could tell me the good, bad the ugly on it. there are a bunch of different manufacturers making these screens but I have not found any sort of comparisons on different models side by side. So the question remains is this a ford vs chevy deal are ar there real differences , any help appreciated , especially ''BEFORE'' I go to the Bank

 

[clintm]

I have some older extec's no computers on them that work pretty good i'm not a fan of computers on equipment definetly not a screening plant that shakes it's self to pieces any way. the old extec's seem to be built a little heavyer than the power screen's .I have one of the first a extec 5000 on tires they are great because it has a big feed hopper on it. also have a turbo track it one of the first extec's on tracks it's feed hopper is smaller but with a larger screen box it gets kind of aggervating because you can't get enough in the hopper to go do something else with out it running out

 

[GabbyVice27]

thanks for the response Clintm,, The finntek has about a 10 yd hopper on it. I think its about the same size as the extec s5 I looked at, it may be a little bigger but I don't think by much, if any. I'm planning to feed the plant with my 405c koering dragline ,60' boom and 1.5yd bucket so the hopper shouldn't be too much of an issue as it will be fed by a dedicated machine. there is about 25ft of sand gravel from ground level to the water so I plan to dig down to within 2 or 3 ft of the water table to keep a dry feed , after I get an acre or two stripped I'm gonna throw the dredge overboard and pump the rest. the gent that has it seams real eager to sell , I didn't know whether he just needs the money or it was just a P.O.S. thanks again