buying a jcb 3cx - advice needed please

kincaid

ok looking to a jcb to do some tidying up around the farm,
a guy has a jcb 3cx 2wd ,the year about 1988-89, 4 in 1 bucket , has extended dig or powerslide, needs tyres and few pounds spent on it he says ie kingpins etc... otherwise good order..

what a digger like this worth... and are they good machine in general.

dunsandin

Probably 4-5.5k. Kingpins if mashed can prove hard and uncheap to replace. Test out the shuttle function-it should shift from forward to reverse positively with little hesitation. Try sticking it in a highish gear and see if it will pull away cleanly, if the torque converter is bunched it can get dear. Try out the brakes-should stop without too much groaning or pulling to one side, otherwise a bit dear to fix-also try braking in reverse. Have a gander at the motor, usually pretty tough, but look for some signs of service and lack of oilyness on the outside. Should have a Perkins, these are tough, but could have a BMC, equally tough but just not as wonderful. Have a gander at the oil and water rads at the front, see just how battered they are. Excessive battered means replacement. Take a GOOD look at the tyres, especially the rears- deep cuts or lack of grips means replacement, not cheap at all. Take a gander at the level of oil in the hyd. tank, and look at the condition of the hyd. filters. Lack of oil here, or dirty oil, or oooollld filters means pump has suffered- if she whines in a pumpy fashion when you operate the hydraulics, it means low oil, dirty filters and big bills can come. Jack her up, have a waggle of the dipper and see just how much play she has available - a lot is not good, but fixable. Have a look at the grease points(everywhere)and see has anybody bothered greasing her. Lots of fresh grease but no old crud, bent and unworkable grease nipples, or a complete lack of grease are all bad signs. (Also worth looking to see how much smoke she blows when working hard, and when idling) - actually, you are better off getting a lad who knows jcbs to go and look at it, Im boring even myself here...:)

other biggies are excessive leaks(common), excessive rust, common, excessive wear, knackered starter, knackered alternator, knackered power steering, rust on the ram chrome, leaking ram seals, pipes on the verge of giving birth, steel pipes crushed, buggered slew rams, clapped out slides and boom on the extendadig. Lots of welds on the front and rear arms usually means it had a very hard life, as does missing or oval bushings on the arm and actor. A knackered machine will still do work, but can become a very efficent oil spreader, and oil is dear to be spreading these days.

GERMAN ROCKS

2wds are hopeless. wont fill a decent bucket and could easily get stuck backing back. only plus is that it has a back actor and you should be able to pull yourself out with that

poor farmer

GERMAN ROCKS wrote: »

2wds are hopeless. wont fill a decent bucket and could easily get stuck backing back. only plus is that it has a back actor and you should be able to pull yourself out with that

agreed certainly 2wds are very poor on land

maidhc

Excellent advice there from Dunsandin.

2wd are not the worst I think. Even a 4wd is going to be a bit helpless given the relative weight and size of the wheels. A 2wd will still have excellent traction once the ground is solid though.

kincaid

dunsandin - alot to remember there but sound advice..

its got the perkins engine, needs the kingpins(not sure on price of these)
but he's looking to get rid as used for house built, so he says anyway...
i think €3500 would buy it
like already said could still do plenty of work with it

BENDYBINN

dunsandin wrote: »

Probably 4-5.5k. Kingpins if mashed can prove hard and uncheap to replace. Test out the shuttle function-it should shift from forward to reverse positively with little hesitation. Try sticking it in a highish gear and see if it will pull away cleanly, if the torque converter is bunched it can get dear. Try out the brakes-should stop without too much groaning or pulling to one side, otherwise a bit dear to fix-also try braking in reverse. Have a gander at the motor, usually pretty tough, but look for some signs of service and lack of oilyness on the outside. Should have a Perkins, these are tough, but could have a BMC, equally tough but just not as wonderful. Have a gander at the oil and water rads at the front, see just how battered they are. Excessive battered means replacement. Take a GOOD look at the tyres, especially the rears- deep cuts or lack of grips means replacement, not cheap at all. Take a gander at the level of oil in the hyd. tank, and look at the condition of the hyd. filters. Lack of oil here, or dirty oil, or oooollld filters means pump has suffered- if she whines in a pumpy fashion when you operate the hydraulics, it means low oil, dirty filters and big bills can come. Jack her up, have a waggle of the dipper and see just how much play she has available - a lot is not good, but fixable. Have a look at the grease points(everywhere)and see has anybody bothered greasing her. Lots of fresh grease but no old crud, bent and unworkable grease nipples, or a complete lack of grease are all bad signs. (Also worth looking to see how much smoke she blows when working hard, and when idling) - actually, you are better off getting a lad who knows jcbs to go and look at it, Im boring even myself here...:)

other biggies are excessive leaks(common), excessive rust, common, excessive wear, knackered starter, knackered alternator, knackered power steering, rust on the ram chrome, leaking ram seals, pipes on the verge of giving birth, steel pipes crushed, buggered slew rams, clapped out slides and boom on the extendadig. Lots of welds on the front and rear arms usually means it had a very hard life, as does missing or oval bushings on the arm and actor. A knackered machine will still do work, but can become a very efficent oil spreader, and oil is dear to be spreading these days.

ffs,the man is buyin a digger to do bits and pieces round his farm What are you expectin for 3500 euro? For that money if you see it movin and diggin buy it!!!1

mossfort

kincaid wrote: »

dunsandin - alot to remember there but sound advice..

its got the perkins engine, needs the kingpins(not sure on price of these)
but he's looking to get rid as used for house built, so he says anyway...
i think €3500 would buy it
like already said could still do plenty of work with it

if its need the main king pin in the back actor redone its a fairly big job as you have to remove the back actor and the parts cost a bit.
if its 88 or 89 it will have the grey cab and if its 86 or older it will have the black cab .at 3500 its cheap so it leaves room to spend some money on to make it fairly respectable.

kincaid

yes its got the grey cab, very tidy cab as well for year...
what roughly would it cost to do the kingpins,

anyway would it be ok to use the digger if the kingpins were on their way out...ie wouldnt cause further damage ... just really need one to do a bit of tidying about the farm maybe using it 1-2 days a week .

dunsandin

Excellent. I love being told whats what when it to comes to diggers. Sure what do I know anyway. A sight of lads in Ireland who drive a digger did their CSCS test(TICKET)with me watching. I have owned and driven every damn thing with wheels or chains and I can change a torque in a 3cx in 45 mins. I own a battered, rusty 84 cx, but its mechanically perfect, 2wd but I can get it to float on water, I also own an almost new Cat 4wd. When it comes to diggers, I know whats what, when it comes to anything else I know jack all. As it happens, I spent 7 years of my life touring the country testing lads on machinery during the boom, and I was one of the few CSCS instructors who passed all the tests brought in by Fas when they handed the CSCS scheme to the ultra strict UK inspectors. Driving is my gig, and im good at it, and I have the T shirt to prove it. I also know 3cxs down to their last nut and bolt, and I love em. Buy a 3cx, or if you have the dosh, buy a 428.

milkprofit

I am looking at a 7 tn track jcb with 6000 hours for drainage on farm is it adequate
what do i need to check on it

mossfort

kincaid wrote: »

yes its got the grey cab, very tidy cab as well for year...
what roughly would it cost to do the kingpins,

anyway would it be ok to use the digger if the kingpins were on their way out...ie wouldnt cause further damage ... just really need one to do a bit of tidying about the farm maybe using it 1-2 days a week .

it depends on how badly worn it is and the repair costs depend on what it needs . it may need a new kingpost and bushes so the parts alone could cost over 500 euros . if the engine and gearbox are good and the machine is reasonably tidy its very cheap at 3500 euros so you could afford to spend the money on the kingpost.http://stores.shop.ebay.ie/Digger-Parts-Ltd__W0QQ_armrsZ1QQ_fsubZ16816096

dunsandin

3500 at auction will buy you a tidyish mini digger, and is not to be sniffed at. If you can afford to throw 3500 into a ball of sh1te that needs another 2k spent before it does work reliably, fair balls to yous. To me, at the mo, 3500 is a chunk of change, and that machine needs to be working the next day. Call me old fashioned. I see a lot of guys with big ticket machinery that they cry about buying every time they look at em. I try hard to buy value and not paint. The yokes can send you brokes. Maybe I am a big chicken, but anything over 4k makes me sweat. As my dads old(very successful)boss used to say "let another mug take the shine off it first", then he would buy, and get the real value out of a machine. At the height of the boom I was out west, testing guys for a HUGE groundworks contractor. All of his machines were old balls of dung, but he worked them like the hell, and I bet he is one of the few that took away a big fold of change. His company vehicle at the time(for everyone) was a volkswagen Jetta diesel- c.a 10 years old. Need a van, heres a Jetta. Need a car for sales, heres a jetta. Ive never forgotten him, and i rekon with hindsight he was one of the smartest guys I ever met.

mossfort

dunsandin wrote: »

3500 at auction will buy you a tidyish mini digger, and is not to be sniffed at. If you can afford to throw 3500 into a ball of sh1te that needs another 2k spent before it does work reliably, fair balls to yous. To me, at the mo, 3500 is a chunk of change, and that machine needs to be working the next day. Call me old fashioned. I see a lot of guys with big ticket machinery that they cry about buying every time they look at em. I try hard to buy value and not paint. The yokes can send you brokes. Maybe I am a big chicken, but anything over 4k makes me sweat. As my dads old(very successful)boss used to say "let another mug take the shine off it first", then he would buy, and get the real value out of a machine. At the height of the boom I was out west, testing guys for a HUGE groundworks contractor. All of his machines were old balls of dung, but he worked them like the hell, and I bet he is one of the few that took away a big fold of change. His company vehicle at the time(for everyone) was a volkswagen Jetta diesel- c.a 10 years old. Need a van, heres a Jetta. Need a car for sales, heres a jetta. Ive never forgotten him, and i rekon with hindsight he was one of the smartest guys I ever met.

a 3500 euro mini digger would be old and would need work done on it and might not be very practical for tidying up around a yard. for a decent 88 or 89 3cx you could spend about 6000 euros upwards so it depends on your budget and how cheaply you can get the repairs done.

bogman_bass

if you are just tidying up around the farm would it be not be cheeper to hire a machine?

kincaid

engine and gearbox are good, as said its a fairly tidy machine overall...

would love a hitachi ex60 either dash 1 or 2 but these seem to have went up in value and really thought due to the slowdown in construction etc there would be loads around at keen prices but didnt happen...( one guy looking €10500ono for a dash 1 with 7000 hrs on it)

wouldnt be interested in hiring out a digger as there always will be bits and pieces to do around the farm and its nice when you do get some
spare time to just hop into your own machine and do the work

thanks

Phil MaCrackin

dunsandin wrote: »

Excellent. I love being told whats what when it to comes to diggers. Sure what do I know anyway. A sight of lads in Ireland who drive a digger did their CSCS test(TICKET)with me watching. I have owned and driven every damn thing with wheels or chains and I can change a torque in a 3cx in 45 mins. I own a battered, rusty 84 cx, but its mechanically perfect, 2wd but I can get it to float on water, I also own an almost new Cat 4wd. When it comes to diggers, I know whats what, when it comes to anything else I know jack all. As it happens, I spent 7 years of my life touring the country testing lads on machinery during the boom, and I was one of the few CSCS instructors who passed all the tests brought in by Fas when they handed the CSCS scheme to the ultra strict UK inspectors. Driving is my gig, and im good at it, and I have the T shirt to prove it. I also know 3cxs down to their last nut and bolt, and I love em. Buy a 3cx, or if you have the dosh, buy a 428.

I wonder could you do us up a quick guide on changing out that torque in a 3cx? I think I need to do it in my 3cx, like, the wheels wouldn't skid if the bucket was stuck in a heap of gravel, and takes a good bit of 'stick' to drive it across a heavy field. I'd really appreciate a quick means of changing it out, if you could. Thanks!