Hello everyone, I’m currently looking at a 5.5 GPM belt driven MI-T-M machine with a vanguard engine. it looks to be in pretty good condition but the hour meter shows it just under 1600 hours of use, is that considered a high amount of hours on it or would you feel comfortable investing in this machine? it comes with a trailer, buffer tank, chem tank, hose reels and is hot water all for $8k (will try to negotiate down to $7k). plan on using the machine for mostly residential and some smallish commercial jobs. thank you in advance for any opinions!
I typically got 2k hours from Vanguards and 3k on Hondas. Oil change every 50 hours. oil and filter every 100. If you are doing residential you don’t need hot water. Hard to say without looking at it. Are the hose reels crap cox reels or good Hannay reels. General pump that has to be rebuilt often or an Udor? lot’s of variables
That’s crazy. You could buy all new for close to that. 5.5 gal hw skid for $5k, new trailer depending on size $1200 - $2000, Buffer and chem tank $200 total or less, Titan aluminum reels about 250 each. Add another few hundred for plumbing, etc and you’re good to go. So for $8 you could have all new setup. Depending on trailer, and what kind of shape everything is in, the used unit with everything prob worth no more than 2500-3000
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you’re absolutely right! did some searching around and I now have a list of everything I’ll need to get started for just under $8k!
Charles, Great. Feel free to PM me with your list before you buy and I’ll be glad to look over for you. I only buy used if it’s a really good deal. Otherwise a lot of times you’re just buying someone else’s headache, especially high hour equipment. Sometimes you can pick up decent deals because some large companies have a regular rotation schedule on their equipment and also do an excellent job of maintainance. Sometimes new guys will buy new equipment and then decide to get out of the business and those can be good deals.
I’m semi-mechanical but I decided when I got in business to take it slow and try to buy really good equipment as I went along. I don’t want to spend half my time working on equipment, so I’ve tended to buy new Plus the longer you’re in business and out there using it every day you’ll learn more about what works for you. Ask everyone here how many times they’ve redone their trailer layouts, lol.
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