953 for $2400

[gwiley]

I have been lurking here - figured it's time to toss a question out there since you guys look like you know what you are talking about I am considering a Bobcat 953 that is for sale for $2400. I am told that it runs well, looks clean in the pictures. My question is - is this a reasonable price. I almost feel that something must be wrong with it for it to be sold that cheap. I don't see much traffic on the internet about the 953. Was it not well accepted? Are parts hard to get? I have a 743DS and love it but I find it underpowered at times so this thing looks like what I need.

 

[Tazza]

The only problem is parts are rare which makes them expensive. Its a monster of a machine.

 

[Fishfiles]

The only problem is parts are rare which makes them expensive. Its a monster of a machine.

The 9 series in my opinion from working on them and having spent a lot of time operating them is that is a awasome material moving machine , good for concrete demo with a hammer , but it is not a good machine to do dirt work with in our conditions , very heavy and destroys the ground when turning , they are some hard and expensive things to fix on them , seems to me the motor always has to come out to do repairs and as Tazza said parts can be a " bear " to find , the machines steering is less than to be desired , we have had them set up with solid tires and steel OTT tracks and they are like a tank but found the extra soliod tire weight and the tracks really shortened the life of the axle bearings -------------------I heard what I thought was a really good deal yesterday , even though I am not a Cat fan , 1996 Cat tired loader , grapple and regular bucket , fair condition , with only 1000 hours for $2,800 , times are getting rough think there will be alot more deals going on

 

[m610]

The 9 series in my opinion from working on them and having spent a lot of time operating them is that is a awasome material moving machine , good for concrete demo with a hammer , but it is not a good machine to do dirt work with in our conditions , very heavy and destroys the ground when turning , they are some hard and expensive things to fix on them , seems to me the motor always has to come out to do repairs and as Tazza said parts can be a " bear " to find , the machines steering is less than to be desired , we have had them set up with solid tires and steel OTT tracks and they are like a tank but found the extra soliod tire weight and the tracks really shortened the life of the axle bearings -------------------I heard what I thought was a really good deal yesterday , even though I am not a Cat fan , 1996 Cat tired loader , grapple and regular bucket , fair condition , with only 1000 hours for $2,800 , times are getting rough think there will be alot more deals going on

For some reason around here there are no good deals anymore. The cheapest skid steers I have seen are worn out with an asking price of at least 4K. Perhaps someday the good deals will return, at least I hope so!

 

[Fishfiles]

For some reason around here there are no good deals anymore. The cheapest skid steers I have seen are worn out with an asking price of at least 4K. Perhaps someday the good deals will return, at least I hope so!

Funny how things come around , I never even seen a 9 series in a while , this post comes up and I started rebuilding the two leaking boom cylinders on a 963 Friday , so what do you think happens , not one but both of the cylinder gland nuts ( head) gall up the threads and it takes a 36 inch pipe wrench , a 5 ft cheaper pipe , a torch , half a can of Kroil and two of us pulling on the wrench to get them off , the heads were $236 plus taxes each and on order ( I was just saying how 9 parts are expensive ) and now I have to have the cylinder tubing threads chased at the machine shop , so an easy seal change turns into a major feassco ------I am sure some rust in the threads made it hard but from what I seen I think that when the machine is boomed up all the way the collar which rides on the chrome shaft inside the tube to limit the travel was pounding on the back side of the head as there were some severe depressions on the inside of the aluminum head , this must have smashed the threads as the threads were flatened out on the aluminum head , also I would think that the pounding also must have swollen the head