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WC MN | I think that price is reasonable with the attachments assuming everything is in working order. I paid mid twenties for mine with bucket and pallet forks. I would rate the condition as "good" to "excellent". I had extremely detailed service records since it was new. When I buy used that means a lot. I know it doesn't mean the operator was good but it does show at least an effort was made to keep the machine in working order. As I stated earlier, used CTL prices are pretty soft. I would try to negotiate hard. You'd be surprised what some bring on auction so use that to your benefit (low prices).
I "expect" roughly 1200 hours on a set of tracks doing what I do where I do it. I think that's reasonable if you are a decent operator in field conditions. I am gauging this purely on the fact that mine had 1800 hours on it before the tracks had been replaced and the dealer had the 3 sisters to it with hours ranging from 1,200-2,000 and they ranged from fair to poor track condition. Replacing the sprocket is recommended at track replacement and those are $250 each. So you are looking at $2,900 plus labor assuming you don't have to replace idlers. With tools you can do tracks in about 5 hours or so I'd say. That's around $2.50/hr give or take. I look at what I get done in an hour and find that acceptable. People complain about the cost of tracks but tires aren't free either. Last I checked you are looking at $600-$1,200 for decent rubber so the net difference is less than $2/hour in my situation. If you are "rodding" on the machine in rock, concrete or asphalt. I CAN see how you can tear up a set of tracks in 200 hours or less. And of course, you can have those freak accidents where you run over something and tear a hole in it making it useless but with good "tread" left.
Manure is NOT good for the undercarriage on either the CTL or MTL's so keep that in mind of you have cattle and plan on using it to clean pens. It's easy to get snow caught up in there as well so be sure to clean it out when done using it. And yes, they are not good on ice. I didn't expect them to be. On snow they bite awesome. In fact, I can drive on top of hard snow drifts which is quite interesting.
One thing you won't like is the swinging door. I am used to the ASV vertical lift door. I wish the case would have had that. It would make life a lot nicer. The boom has to be completely down to open the door. No machine is perfect so I just deal with it.
One thing the 450ct does have is a self leveling boom. I use mine like a forklift to move totes and proboxes. The self leveling boom is great in that respect. You do lose a small amount of visibility due to the extra linkage but it's not drastic. Keep the linkage pins greased and you should be fine. | |
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Has anyone operated or owned a case 450ct skid steer?
