This was early spring 2013.....After all the skid steer rental mishaps I had started saving up my money to buy a skid steer. I knew which ones were the good ones, but I didn't have or want to spend that much. Well, the ones I could afford were junk or too small...and junk. I looked around and was finding for what I was wanting to spend I could get an 864 Bobcat or a New Holland or even a Case. I was not going to buy a New Holland or Case. The 864's were in need of a lot a my budget. So, I kept saving. The same place that I bought my 312 and dump truck and trailer had one listed on machinery trader. I was a 2004 Takeuchi TL150 with enclosed cab. It was on consignment. So I got a meeting with the owner to look at it. I didn't have but half the money he wanted. I was possibly going to try to finance the rest. When I met him at his house we connected pretty quick. He had black sterling pulling a 20XPT with a Hyundai 140. A setup basically like mine only he bought them brand new. He had two Takeuchi TL 150's and wanted to sell one. He was a one man show like me now. He was the original owner and the machine was very straight and very strong. It just hadn't been washed in a long, long time.
We were about the same age, only he'd been married and was going through a divorce and the greedy ex wife had won a settlement against him. Another sad story. I've worked for so many guys that their ex gets part of the company or equipment. That's why I wont get married. Anyway, the guy liked me and trusted me and I felt the same about him. He called me back the next day and suggested I give him half the money and he would let me pay him off if I could do it in less than a month. WOW!, what a blessing. Just another of many blessings that have aligned for me. I went and picked it up and gave him half the price and two post dated checks that would cover the rest. Shook hands and couldn't thank him enough. Really, I couldn't have been more grateful. He was a great guy and I hate that that money went straight to that b!#@&, but he just wanted her gone and off his back. He still had another TL150 and was looking forward to a good 2013 work year.
So we made the deal and I owned a 2004 Takeuchi TL150 with cab and air. He also had one of the best bucket guards already fabricated and welded on the bucket. I always loved a Takeuchi personally, and at roughly 6 tons and 100 HP it is as much as you're going to get out of any brand skid steer and I also knew how dependable they were. It's a heck of a machine. Well during the summer I got contacted by a builder downtown. I met with him and we rode around in his truck looking at some backed up projects like basement backfills and house demos. I was excited about the work till he told me the name of his grader. It was the guy that sold me the Takeuchi. I said no way sir, I can't take this work. He said why not, and I just said that guy did me a huge favor in life and I'd never take his work. Good news was the guy was so busy he couldn't keep up.
Had to put it to work before I could re paint it.
This was one of the hardest jobs I've ever taken on. Trying to work full time and doing this in my shanty garage. I had to sand, prep, and mask more than I could've ever imagined. I went through at least ten rolls of blue masking tape and probably 1000' of paper. It was three colors plus the black rear light sections and the bucket. The machine was straight. No bent grab bars or anything. I had to bondo one area in the rear where a dump truck backed into it.