Is there a defined life for a skidsteer. I know regular maint. plays a role, but at what point does a unit become "junk"? I have been told that anything with more than 5000 hours should be considered thrashed, yet I have seen units with 2000 hours that appear to be worse than units with 4000 hours. Does age of unit play a factor?
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Really hard to say, the pumps will last many thousands of hours. I have heard they last 10,000 or more. The weakest point is the engine, they generally last 6,000 hours before becoming lazy. At that point throwing a new engine at it brings it back to how it was. Things wear, but if you keep the grease on it you should be ok. A few points are re-newable but not all.
So with all that said, the lower the hours the better but check for wear. Work on the 5-6000 hour life span for the engine too. The rest should be ok if maintenance is kept up to date.
So with all that said, the lower the hours the better but check for wear. Work on the 5-6000 hour life span for the engine too. The rest should be ok if maintenance is kept up to date.
Having two different machines with both around five thousand , Tazza is probably right about the usable life of the engines. The yanmar in the mustang takes quite a few cranks to fire on a warm day when you should not have to use any cold start. The Duetz is a lot harder starting when cold but will always start on a normal day. The Mustang lower pins are thrashed but I worked this machine very hard. The Gehl is still pretty tight But with that many hrs I feel like something can go at anytime. That last break down caused about two weeks of headache and machine rental.It's mainly a business decision to get a fresher one. 5000 hr seems to be the time for me. I end up putting a little less than 1000 hr per year. Most people would use a skid a lot less than that so the part time or home/ farm could look forward to a lot of years of service, even with a high hr machine.Scott
For my home machine, i have clocked up under 300 hours in about 3 years! but those hours of use are priceless, i simply couldn't have done it by hand.
Thanks guys.. I have a 4500 hour bobcat. Just picked it up. I am hoping to get a few good years of use out of it..'homeowner use" only. I will follow this forum with great enthusiasm
Earthwerks Unlimited
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The industry standard for equipment is 600 hours per year. How those hour accumulate is not addressed--could be really hard, could be easy. But like anything i life--living or not, just like a human heart--people die at 15 running track just as easily as an 80 year old getting up out of bed. All you can do is preventive maintenance. If you're curious where the life span "ticker" is on your machine you can get it leakdown tested, along with pressure tests for injectors, pump and hydraulics. Even the the engine oil and coolant can be tested for evidence of wear. And 5K hours on a diesel engine is normal before rebuild. And funny thing about "5K"--that also represents the DOLLAR amount it costs to rebuild!
LOL that's so true! with recent times that 5K re-build mark seems to be going up a little....
banzo
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When I was machine shopping, I was told by a dealer 3000H was high. That doesn't mean its the death of a machine though. I think what my salesman was telling me was that for business purposes, especially when first starting out and having 100% reliance on it, I shouldn't look for anything higher than 3000H.
I had a 743 with over 6,000 hours. It was just fine. The engine was hard to start, but when running, it would go all day.
With propper care, i heard from a bobcat mechanic the pumps/motors will easily do 10,000+ hours. There is a member in here that has, i think, over 12,000 on his 743. Its on its third engine, but the hydraulics are still original. The pump is getting a little lazy now, but a few hundred dollars, and it will be back to how it used to be.
The lower the hours, generally the less pin/bushing wear too, but this goes on the operator, if you don't grease it, they will be stuffed real fast. I have a 753G with just over 1,000 hours. The lower pins on the bobtach are totally stuffed, so bad that the bosses need replacing. It has 1,000 hours on it! if you don't service the machine, it will wear, and fast.
skidsteer.ca
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I'd say the life varies greatly depending on how it is used. What does the engines in at a relatively low 6000 hour is that many of these loaders are used inaplications where they don't run for long at any one period, as opposed to many other machines that put in a 8 to 12 hour shift.
Ken
Treekiller66
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We are the guys who run all day long but not digging and pushing . What I Found so far on newholland and cat both. 5 to 6 thousand hours your gonna start to feed them. And the harder ya work the sooner ya feed them parts. Grease, filters and oil changes at the right hour is the cheapest and easiest wrench turning ya can do. But if its something you run all day id get rid of them around 5,500 hours, if ya gonna use it around home, id turn wrenches and keep it till one of us died
gtstang462002
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I have a T300 that has 3900 hours on it, no smoke and no lack of power. The company that I got this machine from has a twin to this machine that has almost 5000 hours on it and is still going strong. That machine stays at the nursary any more doing light duty work, but is used daily none the less. I think that a lot of the life of the machine also depends on the quality of parts that you put into them, for example that machine with 5000 hours gets a set of aftermarket rollers every 300 hours $2000 per set. The OEM rollers run $3040 for a set but last over 1000 hours but they are only focusing on the immediate cost instead of the cost per 1000 hours. Bottom line is you get what you pay for with most of the hard parts. I will spend a little more on the front end and get more life out of the part.
We have put 10000 on a 743. 7500 on a 763 g series. 9000 on a 753 before engine now at 12000. Ran a 250 series2 to 7000. Ran a mustang2044 to 7000. Have a 2044 with4800. Ran a 773 f series to 9800 with 3000 of those with ott on it.
Wow, you sure must have taken good care of your machines getting those hours on an engine
We try but with hired help it is tough. Sometimes I think not using a machine is harder on them than working them. Only once did we wreck a engine under 4000 hrs and that was because the operator kept over riding the shut down
That is very true, when the operator isn't the owner, they really don't care.
All depends what the machine is doing and how it is cared for. The 1835B that my dad bought new is still around yet, in semi-retirement. 13,000 hours. Gasoline engine, never had head or oil pan off. Hydro pumps are original. Double gear pump was replaced. Drive motors have been out for seals and shafts, gerotor components were tight as new yet.
That is some impressive service it has given. I would have expected it to have been on it's second or third engine with those hours.
My T-200 has about 4500 hours. It started as a rental, and I don't know too much about previous maintenance. I have heard that rental companies generally maintain their equipment fairly well. Since I've had it, I redid the undercarriage, put new tracks on it, replaced the timing belt and done the usual filters and oil. Oil pressure is still great, and the last time I ran it, it started fine. The one thing I did lately was hook up a solar charger. I've read a number of posts here about how low/high voltage can lead to controller failure, and if there's no snow, I don't run my machine much in the winter.
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