Hello,
Longtime lurker, first time poster here. I recently bought 160 acres of hilly timberland here in SW Washington state (Washougal, WA area). We're preparing to build a home on it, a barn, and clear pastures for our horses. We currently live down the road and will be doing much of the work ourselves. The area we want to clear for the pastures is about 10 acres of vine maple bushes, sword ferns, and 6 inch and under Alders. There are some bigger trees but we plan to leave those in that area. The rest of the property is 30-80 year old Fir/Cedar/Hemlock/Maple - we chose this area for our home and pastures because it is basically all junk trees and bushes as it was not replanted after the last time it was logged.
I've done alot of reading on here and came to the conclusion that a about 200 size machine would be a good tool for this job. I'd like to buy a machine because I plan to clear another 20 acres eventually (also the same mix of vine maple bushes and small alders) and also would like to be able to dig my crawl space (I have a neighbor who is in the trade and will help me get it all level and all that), dig ditches, and I also have a 1/2 acre gravel pit on the property.
I've been looking at excavators in the 160-220 size range for that reason - does that seem right? I'm looking in the $20-30k range which I know limits me to older machines or machines with lots of hours, thanks to reading here and some help from friends I think I have a good idea of what to look for and will have a mechanic check out any machine before I buy it. I imagine once the first 10 acres and later the other 20 acres are cleared the machine won't see more than say 10 hours or so a month of use. I will also be using a 75hp 4wd tractor with grapple to help me move the brush/logs/piles - the plan is to grub and pile the brush and then push it into a canyon on the property, give the larger alders to a local firewood processor who will help and pick them up, and burn the branches and root balls (or bury them if they won't burn). We have all the permits to clear and burn already.
Now to the main topic:
In the midst of looking for a 160-220 size machine, someone local to me put an ad up for a Mitsubishi MS120 (I'm guessing 1984ish as it has the older long sticks for control) for $10k. Needless to say the budget gets tight after buying 160 acres in this area and trying to build a home on it (and keep the kids and animals fed) so if I could get away with doing the land clearing, digging the crawlspace, and a 2000ft ditch with this machine it would be great.
Of course the machine is $10k for a reason:
The good:
It has a brand new hydraulic pump
It is running and fully working
It is freshly painted and the cab is all redone, sheet metal is pretty great for the age
It has a good digging bucket and hydraulic thumb
They say the engine runs well without excess smoke
The bad:
The seller says that one of the final drives is weak, so one side goes slower than the other. He says the gears seem fine and it is still strong enough to climb hills.
Parts seem to be hard to find.
The unknown:
I'm going to take a closer look tomorrow, but right now the undercarriage is unknown - I wouldn't buy it if it wasn't in workable condition.
Hours are completely unknown.
Bucket and stick slop are unknown - again I'll take a close look at this when I see it next.
Any/all history of the unit is unknown - it seems like this guy bought it to restore as a hobby, did a bunch of work on it, used it for his projects, and then decided to sell it.
Images of the machine are attached.
Questions:
Am I correct in figuring the one side being slow could be final drive motor, swivel joint, or something simpler like a clogged line?
If it is the final drive motor - will I damage anything else running it and then replacing when I can't climb a hill anymore (the land is all hills)?
Can the final drive be replaced with out removing the tracks or anything major like that? If it is the drive motor and not the gears can I just replace that?
If it is the swivel joint - can I replace that on this machine while the machine is in place/without any major equipment? In other words do I need to take the excavator off of the undercarriage or anything like that?
If it is the swivel joint - will I damage anything else running it and then replacing when I can't climb a hill anymore (the land is all hills)?
Will I be able to find parts for this machine - specifically the swivel joint and/or final drive motors? Any idea what I might pay for them? Pay to have them installed? (I'd probably do it myself, but worth knowing)
Anything else I should be watching out for on this machine? Besides checking the fluids, slop, undercarriage wear.
Does anyone know where/if I can get a shop manual for this machine? Seller doesn't have one.
It seems like parts for this cross over to the CAT E120 - but what about the CAT E120B, as that seems to have better parts availability? Do any parts cross over to that?
And more generally:
How much slower will an 80s machine like this be then a mid 90s Deere/Hitachi/CAT (which is what I was looking at originally)?
Do you think I'll regret trying to do the listed projects with this 120 machine instead of a 200? Is 200 the best size for these jobs? (other machines I have on my short list: 1996 Hitachi EX200, 90s CAT 320, CASE 9020B)
When an older machine has the longer joysticks (not sure the correct term) does that mean it does not use pilot valves (again sorry if that is the wrong term)? Does that mean it will be slower?
Finally:
If it is in good shape other than the final drive on one side - is $10k a fair price for a machine of this age/unknown? I feel like that seems a bit high (but I don't really know) I was thinking of offering him $7k to cover myself if I need to replace the swivel/final drive - thoughts?
If it has been maintained/restored decently do you think this machine might possibly last through these projects without having to spend more time fixing it then using it?
Any other advice/thoughts would be most appreciated - I apologize for the long post - and thank you all for all of the invaluable information I've found here!
Thank you,
Erik Kettenburg
