John Deere 110 Excavator

[marksmu]

Looking at a JD 110 Excavator that a neighbor has for sale.

He says its gots 85% UC and it has about 1100 hours. Its a 2004 model, with front blade. It does look nice, but having not ever owned, or used one, I also dont know what I am looking at really.

I have studied this site, and Eddies posts, what to look for in a used dozer comment quite a bit. I have also seriously scoured ironplanet, and other auction sites to see what others are looking for. Ironplanet had some decent stuff as far as what to look for.

But the basic question is, am I looking for similar UC wear on an excavator and a dozer? What else am I looking for? The machine runs great, was serviced twice....when you let go of the controls it stops abruptly, and it tracks straight on ground. Its never been off his property, so its really only been on dirt, and the occasional gravel road. What else should I look for?

Also - my intended use it to build back up some boggy roads with it...I lost about 6 miles of dirt road/ditch that washed out in Hurricane Ike...I need to deepen the ditches back, and build the road up...will that blade be good enough to do it? I was planning on riding along one side and digging the ditch, setting the dirt in front, and packing it with the blade and the tracks as I go along....make it angled sharply on each side, and when done, come back with my Box blade and knock the top off the middle of the road.

Any suggestions? Dozers are somewhat impractical because of how wet it is....they get stuck quickly and make a mess of the rest...the excavator wtih the blade just seemed like an all round tool.

Also, guy is asking $25,000 - seems good to me - any opinions?

 

[PILOON]

While I don't own one, I have rented many times, usually different models.

Smaller ones are extreemly agile and great for ditching work.
Most can convert from excavator mode to backhoe mode. If the boom can be offset it is better for ditching and foundation digging.

The blades are great to backfill but they are not a dozer!
Being agile, blading back and forth all while compacting is great to level road beds etc in preparation for gravel topping.
Once you 'get the hang of it' you will find that swinging the bucket from side to side can dress a gravel drive practically as nicely as a back blade on a tractor.

As to trenching (rented unit that fitted in my 4 x 8 dual axel trailer) , well I trenched 250ft, 4 ft deep for a well intake in boggy black soil mixed with 2-3ft rocks occasionally imbedded and the tracks sunk up to the cab.
Was always able to pull or push myself out, buried the pipe, compacted and landscaped (ready for sod) and returned the rental within the 8hr timeframe.

I have moved large rocks that were 4-5 times the bucket by clamping them to the blade and carefully lifting both bucket and blade at same time and driving them to wherever I wanted to dispose of them! Often it might be a hole previously dug to hide that same monster!

And, with practice, can you build stone retaining walls!

Today few contractors use bulldozers, they all have excavators to do all and MUCH more than a bull can do.
One guy has 4 excavators, a grader but no bull yet.
Another has a bull and has not used it in 3 years.

Now the fun factor!
Think a tractor is 'great seat time?'
Keep it quiet, excavators beat tractors 10 to 1!

Big secret is, let the hydraulics do the work, don't smash bang the bucket around and greese EVERY joint daily!

Have fun, er work safely!

Price? can't advise you, but try to Google for a journal called Rock and Dirt as they are a trade referance standard.

 

[Botabill]

I agree with everything PILOON says about excavators except for one point. Don't swing the bucket from side to side do stuff. I own an excavator and I would have a coronary if anyone did that with my machine. The boom is not made for that kind of action and soon you will find you've damaged your machine. That's one of the the reasons rental companies typically get rid of units that have relatively low hours on them. outside of that PILOON hit every other nail squarely on the head especially the FUN part.

 

[mike69440]

If you think it is a nice machine and by the description it is, snap it up as $25,000 is the deal! If you don't I might.

I have more than that in my beat up Old Komatsu PC75UU

The 110 is just the right size for a lot of work.

Send pictures.

I like excavators.

 

[AKfish]

If you think it is a nice machine and by the description it is, snap it up as $25,000 is the deal! If you don't I might.

I have more than that in my beat up Old Komatsu PC75UU

The 110 is just the right size for a lot of work.

Send pictures.

I like excavators.

That's what I was thinkin'... $25K! Whoa - one owner machine - 1,100 hours!!!

I saw a killer deal on a JD 50C on eBay for a '05 with a bit over 2K hours for $24K. It had 5 buckets and thumb. Great tracks and immac sheet metal and inside.

I think I'd set up on the porch with a shotgun to keep everybody else away from that machine until I could get the trailer over there!

Best of luck.

AKfish

 

[tlbuser]

Also - my intended use it to build back up some boggy roads with it...I lost about 6 miles of dirt road/ditch that washed out in Hurricane Ike...I need to deepen the ditches back, and build the road up...will that blade be good enough to do it? I was planning on riding along one side and digging the ditch, setting the dirt in front, and packing it with the blade and the tracks as I go along....make it angled sharply on each side, and when done, come back with my Box blade and knock the top off the middle of the road.

Any suggestions?

Two things come to mind....
1) ask the neighbor to bring the machine over (on your dime) and see/feel how it works for you.
2) did you see this yet? Maybe just some mods. to existing equipment would work out. http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/owning-operating/116316-various-boxblade-uses.html

 

[marksmu]

Thanks for the input everyone...as to mods on existing equipment its not really feasible. We are very low lying...much of our property is at sealevel, or only a foot or two above. We actually have culverts with check valves when the tide goes out that allow water that has built up in the field ditch to drain out into the canal that goes straight to the bay.

The storm washed these ditches out, or deposited debris in them which has created the nastiest mud you can imagine or has blocked it up like a beaver dam. I stuck a 4 wheeler past the frame just driving in it...got the Gator stuck pulling on the 4 wheeler, got the small tractor stuck pulling on the Gator, and finally had to go get the big tractor and 100' of straps to get all three out. That was fun.

At any rate - only a very low ground pressure tracked vehicle has a chance at many of the spots until we get the water moving again. It could be done with a large articulating tractor, but I dont own one of those, and they are actually more expensive that an excavator, and I feel that the excavator has more secondary uses until the fields are repaired considering we have about 6 miles of ditch to repair.

Does anyone have specific advice on what to look for though in terms of wear, or what not? I know the usuals on a tractor, but its all new to me when it comes to an excavator.

 

[PILOON]

I agree with everything PILOON says about excavators except for one point. Don't swing the bucket from side to side do stuff. I own an excavator and I would have a coronary if anyone did that with my machine. The boom is not made for that kind of action and soon you will find you've damaged your machine. That's one of the the reasons rental companies typically get rid of units that have relatively low hours on them. outside of that PILOON hit every other nail squarely on the head especially the FUN part.

I'll rephrase my comment to read 'lightly drag the teeth side to side'.

Doing it this way is no different than swinging empty but the simple 'tooth drag' does a great job of rakeing a near perfect finish.
Guys around here do it all the time with 100's of hours trouble free.

Yes, any sudden side blows can tear the pivot drive motor free of it's mounts (and I have seen that happen).

 

[Racermike39]

That price is a steal. Send me the info and I will purchase if you do not. Thanks and good luck with the machine. PITBULLRACING39@YAHOO.COM