Your opinion on Case 1845C Skidsteer

[ErnestT]

I'm looking at a one owner late 1990s (grey cab) Case 1845C skidsteer with a little over 3700 hrs for $12k. Everything seems to work as it should, controls are tight, no creep in steering owner has all maintenance & repair records. The machine has basically been a yard machine for a guy that runs a dump truck service and around his farm and always stored in shop. The only "issue" is what seems to be a small leak coming from right side drive motor. The pan under the machine had what I would call heavy greasy film in the bottom of it, not a puddle of oil as one would expect from a serious problem. The current owner is a friend/neighbor of a friend who says the owner always takes good care of his equipment. I intend to use the machine for some cleanup and light grading work on my personal property and sell the machine in a year or so when the work is complete. I'm just outside the metro Atlanta area and it seems skidsteers are going for a premium in this area. I've been looking for a machine for about 3 months and 40-50 hp machines with 3000+ hours are running $15-16k+ and few have service records or history. It's a bigger machine than I really need but it seems to be the best deal I've seen. I've ran several machines (rentals or friends allowing me to use their machine) but I don't have extensive experience with them. Any thoughts are appreciated.

 

[Phil314]

I may be a little bias, but I love my 1845c. I've had mine for 22+ years. In general they are extremely reliable and dependable machine. Very simple to work on and repair. Perfect for homeowner use.
I use mine for around the yard and for plowing snow (and everything else). I think you'll find that it isn't 'bigger than you need'. I can't imagine using a smaller machine at this point.
Anyway, 3700hrs isn't anything to worry about, they can go as high as 10000 hrs. And if it's been taken care of, then that seems like a good price too. Most likely you'd be able to sell it later for almost what you paid for it.