Miller Bobcat 225G

[SoGeorgia]

First, let me say I don't know any details yet on this. It's on Craigslist and it's about a mile from my house. I've been looking for a welder and I've been looking for a generator so this looks like I'd be killing 2 birds with 1 stone. It's mounted on a truck so it's been in the weather and it's rusty.. the muffler looks like it's about to fall off.. I don't know how many hours are on it yet as I haven't gone to look at it or called about it.

LOTS FOR SALE

What say the experts?

 

[Shield Arc]

From the one picture it doesn't look in all that bad of shape. I've run a few Bobcats, I never was impressed with the quality of arc, but they do weld fine. It's not worth $850.00 to me, but if it were a Lincoln 305G I'd be all over it.

 

[SoGeorgia]

Thanks man, I appreciate it.

 

[Stimw]

About 20 years ago I bought 8 Miller Welders, none of which ran for $300.00 !!!!
None of them had problems with the welder head, all had engine problems from lack of maintenance, from run out of oil to water down the exhaust pipes.
I went through them one by one repairing them and selling them. I was selling them for $1200.00 each and someone bought them within 1-2 days after I posted the ad!!

I would take a Miller over a Lincoln any day of the week! Onan's are bullet proof IF you maintain them.
I can't tell about the unit you are looking at but it should have 4-5000 watt output generator.
These machines run at 1800 rpm for the generator because they are 4 pole which makes them more fuel efficient than a 3600 rpm machine.

The ad says OBO, you might try a better offer. ?? I would not sleep on it because it probably won't last!
I would listen to it run (no knocking), look at oil (good pressure if a gauge, not milky), watch for too much smoke and if you have a portable heater plug it in to check the generator under load
It does say "leads" which could be big money.

 

[Mark @ Everlast]

For our neck of the woods in S. GA (and especially Hahira), you shouldn't pay more than about 500.00 for that old unit. There's plenty to be had at the farm auctions in better shape.

 

[Arc weld]

A 305G, all the used ones I've seen the seller wants about $500 less than new price. In general the Lincoln engine drives handle abuse and rough handling better than the Millers. You'd have to try that machine out. If it ran nice and everything worked, it could be worth around $750/$800, especially if it comes with welding cables.

 

[SoGeorgia]

For our neck of the woods in S. GA (and especially Hahira), you shouldn't pay more than about 500.00 for that old unit. There's plenty to be had at the farm auctions in better shape.

Thanks Mark.. I still want an Everlast pretty badly, I'm just in the need of a generator as well and this popped up right down the road from me.

 

[SoGeorgia]

A 305G, all the used ones I've seen the seller wants about $500 less than new price. In general the Lincoln engine drives handle abuse and rough handling better than the Millers. You'd have to try that machine out. If it ran nice and everything worked, it could be worth around $750/$800, especially if it comes with welding cables.

Thank you!

 

[Mark @ Everlast]

How many watts do you need?

 

[SoGeorgia]

How many watts do you need?

Enough to run a welder as well.. Most of the welding I NEED to do is on our property that has no electrical service. Then as auxiliary power when the lights are out at home and also enough to run my air compressor when out on our property.. pretty sure if it will run a welder it will run my compressor.

 

[Mark @ Everlast]

Tift area Academy has a BIG farm Auction in Chula every year in February about mid Feb. It's one of the best ones around as it's been going on for over 30 years. I've never seen it without a welder or a generator that goes pretty cheaply. I've seen running ones sell as cheap as 150.00 and has high as 1500.00 for nicer, later models. Every once in a while, you'll find some military surplus. Last year I bought a food service sandwich and beverage cart that slides in the back of a golf cart. It's all day long and they start the day with 2 trucks auctioning off stuff at the same time. It's run by Weeks, and the profits go to the academy.

 

[SoGeorgia]

Tift area Academy has a BIG farm Auction in Chula every year in February about mid Feb. It's one of the best ones around as it's been going on for over 30 years. I've never seen it without a welder or a generator that goes pretty cheaply. I've seen running ones sell as cheap as 150.00 and has high as 1500.00 for nicer, later models. Every once in a while, you'll find some military surplus. Last year I bought a food service sandwich and beverage cart that slides in the back of a golf cart. It's all day long and they start the day with 2 trucks auctioning off stuff at the same time. It's run by Weeks, and the profits go to the academy.

Thanks Mark!! I haven't heard of that one.. I've wanted to go to Weeks in Moultrie for a while, but it's always on Wednesday and I'm always at work.

 

[Mark @ Everlast]

This is always on a Saturday. It starts earlier, and has gone till it was dark in times past. Last year it was on the 16th. They have a usually smaller fall auction usually as well. It's always been at the peanut buying station...not the school itself. They'll take about anything. I bought an assorted box of powertools that included a nice but older 1/2" drill that needed a new cord, and a nearly new Dewalt hand held orbital sander for a low, 5.00 bid. A lot of items go absolute.

 

[Lucas5523]

I own a miller 225G just about the same year as the one your looking at. $850 seams a bit too high for the condition it's in. One issue might be the fuel pump since it's been sitting out.
Fuel pump will cost about $80 and muffler not too much.
But like I said $850 is too much for the condition and year this model it.
$500 or less would be the ball park for it.
I get excellent work out of my miller.
It does everything I need from welding, to powering the shop and house if we need to in the winter months.
It'll be worth the money if it's for a reasonable price.
Best of luck with the welder!

 

[sandman2234]

I bought a Miller 225 back in early 90's. The going price was $2799 new, and shortly after went up to $2999. I was informed about a new one sold on credit that the guy failed to get the contract he bought it to use on. The store repo'd the welder and was supposed to hold it for 30 days but agreed to sell it to me after 10 days. They were afraid I would find something else and I was afraid I would loose it if it sat on the shelf very long. They said $1500 would buy it, and I walked in with exactly that much. They couldn't sell it without sales tax, so they cut the price again to come up to $1492 and they loaded it up and I used it for about 14 years. It worked great, except for the high idle circuit that was supposed to power it back down when not under load. Worked about a year and then only ran as if under a load. I bought a 4 year old truck from a friend, who wanted that welder to use as a backup generator or if he needed a welder. His health went down and he really never used it. He agreed to give me $2000 credit for the welder in trade for a p/u that was already priced to my advantage. The welder went with him and I never missed it, as we haven't had much in power outages since. I do remember that the seven gallon fuel tank did not last nearly as long as I hoped to when running it during a power outage to generate power. Better have a pretty good supply of fuel if you use it round the clock.
David from jax