Do You Trust the Hour Meter's

[4 seasons lawn&land]

Im looking at skid steers and confused to see ones with 900 hours look new and ones with 400 hours look like hell in comparison. I know when it comes to the heavier equipment repainting is really common and of course helps the looks alot but when I see the ones with 4 or 500 hours with a beat up and taped up seat, other stuff like that I wonder. Its annoying cause I dont know if the listed hours could be a pile or what.

[Junior M]

With alot of machines having digital clocks its hard to cheat on them.

But what your seeing is how a person cares about their machines and how they operate it..

[Gravel Rat]

The hour meter is just a part of the judgement of the machine. They can be changed easily if it is a standalone unit. If it is part of the electronic display what it reads is probably correct.

Now if a machine has low hours and it looks like its been through a battle and back walk away. If it has high hours and its got a 5 gallon rebuild I would stay away from it too.

The best thing to do is first check the engine oil and take the oil fill cap off. If its a gooey mess it has had a lack of maintenance now take your finger if its got a oil fill in the valve cover and check for sludge.

Now that inspection is done check the other fluids if that checks out start looking for cracks around the pins etc. Look for grease if the grease around the pins looks harder than will knots its never been greased.

Lots of stuff to look for.

If you ever go to a Ritchie Bros auction and watch some of the people interested in the equipment especially excavators there are guys that have a routine they do to check if the machine is good or not.

I don't have much experience with skid steers so I don't really know what is common problems with them. Skid steers are rarely used around here.

When looking at a machine make sure its not running. If the person or the sales person says I will have it warmed up for you is bad news. What you don't see is the half can of starting fluid and the 8D battery with the jumper cables to get the sucker started.

Good Luck :laugh:

[Dirtman2007]

I've trusted every hour meter except for the one on my tractor, I swear the thing moves slow. I've had it almost 10 years and only has 565 hrs on it :dizzy: It don't get used much but still....

[ksss]

The digital dashes can be reflashed if you have the programmer and the coding. Usually only a dealer has such things but its not like you need a security clearance to be a mechanic so those things may get taken home and "hook their brother up" with a bunch of free hours.

Skid steers especially seem to be really susceptible to abuse. 400 hard hours can look like a lifetime. On the other hand there is a landscape company here with a 70XT a with 3K on the ticker. Looks like 500 hours.

It never hurts to take it to a dealer and pay a couple hundred to find out what kind of shape it is really in. Flow test it, compression, oil sampling ect. Sometimes they just look rough but run good, and of course the opposite can be true as well. They are expensive to work on, so you really don't want to buy a problem machine.

[Digdeep]

Im looking at skid steers and confused to see ones with 900 hours look new and ones with 400 hours look like hell in comparison. I know when it comes to the heavier equipment repainting is really common and of course helps the looks alot but when I see the ones with 4 or 500 hours with a beat up and taped up seat, other stuff like that I wonder. Its annoying cause I dont know if the listed hours could be a pile or what.

Unfortunately, skid steer material condition as compared to hours is mostly related to the "monkey in the seat". That being said, hour meter manipulation has been known to happen.

[treadlite]

This seems to be a problem more with skid steers than the bigger equipment....look on iron planet and you'll see dozens of "low hour" skidsteers that are beat to hell....you'll see a machine with 350 hours with the tires worn right off, the seat ripped to shreds, the bushings and pins worn out.... you have to wonder how this happens in only 350 hours. I don't buy the operator abuse story that far..... I think hourmeter abuse is rampant, and something that manufacturers should strive to make as difficult as possible....

[Gravel Rat]

It doesn't take much to buy a new hour meter then use a trigger wire to make it work. Rack up some hours on the new meter and stick it in the machine.

[4 seasons lawn&land]

Thanks can you guys tell me what you think about the 2 rc30s on ebay in pa
Posted via Mobile Device

[4 seasons lawn&land]

http://cgi.ebay.com/2003-CATERPILLAR-ASV-RC30-TRACK-SKID-STEER-LOADER-NICE_W0QQitemZ260461844945QQcmdZViewItemQQptZSkid_Steel_Loaders?hash=item3ca4bc59d1



link for the ASV RC

[treadlite]

I'd steer clear of that RC 30.... look at the loader arms and bucket... something is tweaked there, the bucket won't sit flat and one loader arm is higher than the other....

[Gravel Rat]

There is something wrong with that machine. The lift cylinders are bottomed out but the bucket isn't sitting flat on the ground and the machine looks like it is sitting level.

It must have been used for snow removal and moving road salt it sure has lots of rust.

[4 seasons lawn&land]

http://cgi.ebay.com/2003-CATERPILLAR-ASV-RC30-TRACK-SKID-STEER-LOADER-NICE_W0QQitemZ260461844273QQihZ016QQcategoryZ95494QQcmdZViewItemQQ_trksidZp3286.m7QQ_trkparmsZalgo%3 DLVI%26itu%3DUCI%26otn%3D3%26ps%3D6





Thanks guys. He actually has 2 for sale. Here is the other. They were used for snow. Supposedly just snow for 5 years...

[treadlite]

the second one looks better, but i'd still want to see a front-on picture with a bucket on it..... the RC 30 is prone to lift arm damage if rammed into stuff....also see if he's got any oil sampling done....

[DiyDave]

Asv check list: First, grab a grease gun, and see if all the grease fittings on the suspension system on the tracks take grease.(1 up front, and 2 in the back on each side) Next, check the drive rollers, on each drive sprocket, for rollers that are frozen to the bolt. Check the tracks for missing or damaged drive lugs that could indicate a lot of hillside use, or just improper track tension. While on the subject of track tension, take a 18" adjustable wrench with you and see if you can get the track adjusters to move. Check to see if the bogey wheels in the undercarriage are chewed up, loose, or misaligned. The bogey wheels on a 30 are factory greased, and are supposedly not regreasable, though I have found a cheap method of doing this. The grease in these bearings will start to separate and fail about 6-8 years from new, and either need regreasing, or replacement, if not regreased occasionally. Shoot me a PM, about dealers in Pa, I can tell a few things more than I can say on an open forum. Prices sound about right for what I've seen at auction. Dave:waving::waving:

[SpecOne]

This seems to be a problem more with skid steers than the bigger equipment....look on iron planet and you'll see dozens of "low hour" skidsteers that are beat to hell....you'll see a machine with 350 hours with the tires worn right off, the seat ripped to shreds, the bushings and pins worn out.... you have to wonder how this happens in only 350 hours. I don't buy the operator abuse story that far..... I think hourmeter abuse is rampant, and something that manufacturers should strive to make as difficult as possible....

There were a couple of units on an IronPlanet auction recently, a Cat dozer and Cat motor grader, early eighties units that showed low hours, but you could tell were rode hard and put up wet. IronPlanet even noted on their inspection that hourmeter reading was not consistent with age, condition, and wear.

[jimmyjack]

my first skid was in the dealers rental fleet , they said it wasnt used much and the hour meter only said 140hrs which didnt seem to weird cause the machine was only 2 years old, but then shortly after we bought it the problems started , first the head gasket went which the dealer fixed for nothing, then the altenater died, now it had a little over 200hrs ,so then the support bearing for the drive motor went on the right side ,the next week the left one went,then was the oil return line from the turbo, it developed a problem where it would stall under a load if ithad less then a half tank....i forgot what i was doing but we had the seat out and behind it was an old dealer service sticker that read next service 1000hrs and the date seemed right but the hrs were way off?....made us wonder if they changed out the hr meter to get more when selling it, anyway we ended up trading it back to them for a pretty good price and bought the pt80 for a really good deal..........so all and all i wouldnt always trust an hr meter