Advice needed on digger please

kincaid

Hi all,

Anyone know much about the Priestman excavators, looking at a 14ton, not bad order and its thankfully not got the long levers sort of joysticks.........
Was thinking of buying but needed some advice first

thanks

Stavros Murphy

kincaid wrote: »

Hi all,

Anyone know much about the Priestman excavators, looking at a 14ton, not bad order and its thankfully not got the long levers sort of joysticks.........
Was thinking of buying but needed some advice first

thanks

Old, big, tough, Sloow. Check spares availability and the undercarriage as most are nuckered at this stage and spares are spendy and hard to get. Also check the pumps, condition of the oil(i.e is the pump on the way out due to poor servicing - spendy, again) and check throughout for the pins and bushings - especially the slew - put the arm down enough to lift the body but not the undercarriage and check for play - if there's some, that's to be expected, if there's loads, the slew needs doing..spendy. While you have the arm down, rock the slew side to side and check how much general slop is present. Line-boring and re-bushing/pinning gets spendy, again. Also get it good and hot if you can - it might run well while cool, then cack-out once the oil gets up to temperature - usually the pump on its last legs.

localagri

Definitely would avoid, people always think sure I don't do much work with it but cheap diggers are a no no... you were better stick it out and try get few more quid together and stick to your more common brands for ease of parts, maintenance etc... a digger that's giving bother will make your life hell!!!

kincaid

i thought these machines would have the long levers but seems not,

anyway comes with 2 other buckets and guy is looking €3800.

seems cheap but maybe best to leave it where it is

thanks

localagri

Jes at that money its tempting alright, if you are good with mechanics and not afraid to get the hands dirty I suppose it would be worth a try, but been honest I couldn't see many days of happy troublefree digging, its the little things like a pipe bursting, spend 2 hours fixing it then go 10 mins and track comes off,, track back on then its airlock time!!! Maybe im just pessimistic but id defo try and stick with something a little fresher.. ive got an old hitachi ex150-1 myself and its a dream to be honest.. Basic but modern enough to be a comfort... would defo consider an ex120-1 for yourself.. can be hard enough to find these days but worth it!!

vinnie13

localagri wrote: »

Definitely would avoid, people always think sure I don't do much work with it but cheap diggers are a no no... you were better stick it out and try get few more quid together and stick to your more common brands for ease of parts, maintenance etc... a digger that's giving bother will make your life hell!!!

how can you say that without any information on the condition??
seems to be terrible advice.
just because somethings older dosent mean its a heap.

localagri

vinnie13 wrote: »

how can you say that without any information on the condition??
seems to be terrible advice.
just because somethings older dosent mean its a heap.

The reason I said this is because I spent around 10 years myself buying older hymacs and poclain... all in reasonable condition and when testing them seem fine but when actually put to work their age really does show, perished pipes/seals... its only an opinion based on lots planned days work spent shaking my head in a field with nothing done at end of it..!!! As I said in my second post if you don't mind bit hassle and some downtime by all means take a chance on it...but personally I never had any comfort till I moved up the years a bit..

Stavros Murphy

Personally, I would not buy it, spares will be a pain, like I said, and it's big enough to be dear - big metal needs deep pockets. I always run a 3 ton and a 6 ton, they're fixtures and get worked and ignored, bills are manageable. For bigger jobs, I have in the past bought in a 12 ton (I don't hire, I have no time whatsoever for hiring machinery, but that's another thread). A 12 ton gets spendy, fast. Big diesel bills, big repair bills, big haulage bills, and the bigger you go, the deeper pockets you need to keep it humming. And that's running ex 120s, a reliable machine (I'd not buy any other tbh, except maybe a japanese built case). A 14 ton Priestman sounds like something I'd be cutting up for Hammond lane, not something I'd be going working, tbh. But that's just my 2c.

vinnie13

dont listen op check it out make sure its good and tight and buy it if suits,
spares can be got off the net easy and cheap,wouldnt buy parts in ireland anyway all looking to retire after one sale

localagri

vinnie13 wrote: »

dont listen op check it out make sure its good and tight and buy it if suits,
spares can be got off the net easy and cheap,wouldnt buy parts in ireland anyway all looking to retire after one sale

By all means give it a go just speaking from past experiences.. Parts availability is a huge thing to consider.. Not nice when your in the middle of something and have to wait week or two for parts to come in for a repair rather than going down to ur local plant spares when most common makes every part will be on shelf..
Where would you recommend for getting priestman parts asap Vinnie13?

Stavros Murphy

vinnie13 wrote: »

dont listen op check it out make sure its good and tight and buy it if suits,
spares can be got off the net easy and cheap,wouldnt buy parts in ireland anyway all looking to retire after one sale

So you run one yourself? Companies no longer hold old stock like they used to, there's tighter cut-offs. Not nice when somthing breaks and you're under pressure and the answer is to go bid for somthing on E-bay. That can get old very fast.