So the time has come where your old construction equipment can no longer be used. Just when you receive a project that relies on your machine, it has failed you. When you decide to buy new construction equipment, it costs so much that it’s over the budget of your company. When you think of renting one, it is not worth it for your long term project after all the calculations that you have done. So what should you do next? We would recommend you buy used construction equipment.
Getting a used construction equipment probably sounds bad as you might imagine it falling apart half way through your project. But that is not always the case, all you need to do is check and make sure you buy well-maintained used equipment and here we are going to tell you what you need to look for when buying a used construction equipment.
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The fluids
Before buying used construction equipment, you should always check on the fluids needed such as engine oil, transmission fluid, coolant and hydraulic fluid. The current condition of the machine and how well it’s been maintained over time can all be told just by looking at the machine’s fluids. Low or dirty fluids is always a warning to show you that the previous owner is not keeping up with a regular maintenance schedule while fluids like water in the engine oil is always a sign of a much bigger problem.
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Operating hours
When evaluating a car’s condition, you take a look at the mileage, but when it comes to machines, operating hours is definitely the one thing you need to pay attention to. A normal diesel-engine machine can last you tens of thousands and more operating hours. If you think you will be pushing the upper limits of hours then you should probably do a quick benefit calculation to see if this machine is going to be worth it.
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Maintenance record
How else to know if the machine is well maintained? All you got to do is just look at the maintenance record. How often does the owner change the fluids? Do they do the small repairs when it is needed? Has this machine gone through some serious breakdown in its operating life? All of these are clues of how well the machine has been taken care of.
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Engine
Want to evaluate the machine’s engine? Test it. There is no better way to know an engine than to turn it on and run it. You can find out a lot about this machine when it is running while the engine is cold. Another way to evaluate it is the colour of the exhaust smoke produced by the engine. Basically the smoke can reveal issues that you did not know existed. For example, if the machine is producing black smoke is means the air or fuel mixture is too rich in fuel. White smoke could mean that the fuel is not correctly burnt while blue smoke means the engine is burning oil.