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Well maintained with high hours will beat out a lower hours machine whose owner neglected the service recommendations. You can ask for service records, a responsible owner should have some sort of tracking. That's usually a good sign. Brand is a huge factor in my opinion. Go with the tried and...

Would be great to see price comparison data. I'd expect IronPlanet to be higher since you can sell at retail or set a floor price. But for generic units, maybe it doesn't differ that much. I think both are best in the biz if you need money for the machine by a certain time.

At the very least, require that an experienced hauler look over any load a newbie is takin' on the road. They should be able to spot a poor tie down or potential issues. It also helps to have one guy around who messed up once but has a nickname tied to that time he tipped a mini ex off the...

$$ difference is mentioned above. But if you're trading in to trade up, that might be the way to go. Really depends on the market and your regional. OEM dealers have targets they need to hit so might help you quite a bit on a new unit if they need to hit numbers. The trade in value vs private...

Glad I've gotten mostly out of the biz at this point... Probably a lot of change coming in the next decade that an old fella like myself will be too slow to adapt to. But who knows, I managed to make it long enough to be posting on forums about heavy equipment. The industry is slow to adapt...

Curious, does he do this as a favor or do you pay him? Mechanic time ain't cheap these days!

Back when I got started Bobcat was all Kubota diesel engines (90s). These Kubota engines had a reputation for being easy to maintain, making them a favorite among operators and mechanics. About 2014–2015 Bobcat began transitioning to their own diesels, (really Doosan, their parent company)...

Honestly, pretty dumb question in my opinion. You said you're looking to buy soon so seems the time of year is irrelevant. The time to buy is when you need it. If you're waiting "on a deal" you're likely losing money by not tackling a job or you're losing out on bids because you don't have the...

For me, it often depends on the machine and how quickly I need to move it. If it's newer, in high demand, and I'm not in a rush, I'll lean towards selling directly. You can usually squeeze out a better price that way. However, if it's older, has higher hours, or I need to free up space or cash...

If you want to get technical about it, you better bet it's fall protection. Pretty sure that's supposed to come into play at like 6ft. You got guys climbing on big excavators or other machines to access engine bays or hydraulics that're easily over that mark.

Ya'll covered the biggest ones already. A small one that goes overlooked in my opinion is visibility. People overlook broken or missing mirrors, morons. Such and easy fix and blind spots can be so dangerous. People these days think a camera is enough... get your mirrors fixed people.

It's 80ft high and only 20ft from your house? Sir, you are living in a death trap. Or you're exaggerating. No idea on pricing up there. But since DJ started talking about kicking people out the price I used to be able to find in Texas has gone way up. If what you say is true, I'd make sure...

What kinds work you doing? A big ol' boy like a Vermeer t755 will run ya $12k a week in TX. Want to buy it you'll need ~$350k... If you've already got a plumbed skid steer, excavator, or backhoe you could look at getting a trencher attachement. Not as efficient but if it doesn't get used much...

Gas vs. Battery – Gas. If the grid goes down you don't want your yard to go with it. Self-Propelled vs. Push – If you consider yard work exercise get a push mower and quit being lazy. If you're trying to keep the work/time to a minimum then self propelled all the way. Brand Recommendations –...

What kind of attachments primarily? If it's solid metal - like a bucket, I'd probably roll the dice for the cost. But depends on what you're doing... digging pools in the midwest, you're gonna be fine. Working in the Texas hill country rock, you probably want something with a legit breakout...

Glad I'm basically out of the industry now. I don't even recognize some of these terms ya'll are throwin around. I figured out how to type and use google - not bad for an old timer like myself. But feel like it's getting too late for this old dog to learn any new tricks.

I think the dirtier or softer the site the more high drives are good tohave. As JCL said, keeps those core components away from debris and contaminents. Buddy sent me this earlier this week. I ain't from California and wouldn't want to work there. But I'd personally want a higher drive if I'm...

First off, a little bit of maintenance now can save you a lot of headaches and money later. People always forget about what to do BEFORE storage. Clean it up, change fluids or drain (fuel tank too to prevent condensation), disconnect battery as mentioned above, inflate tires, grease it up, seal...

I aint' admitting to anything.

BigTex can call it a day.