JD 170 skid steer quality and pricing?

[reberly]

Hi everyone,
I need some advice. While looking for a bobcat a friend recommended a friend of his and I was offered an immaculate JD 170 skid steer for $4500 and I wondered if it was a good offer. The rims and tires look new, the paint is original and barely chipped, and it is essentially from the 1st owner with manual, forks, weights, bucket, bill of sales, etc. It is a 1972 with a 37 hp Wisconsin 4 and it was garaged it's entire life. The seat needs replacing and I found oil on the UC but the owner explained that a kid was hired to change the oil and didn't get the drain bolt back on. I drove it and it started first try, drove smooth and felt fine. It has 1600 hours on it. Any advice would be greatly appreciated as it may be my first skid steer purchase.
Rich  
:-/

[Mark M]

I'm not sure about the price, that's a pretty old unit. I've seen some 90's Bobcats for around $9000 so you might want to do some searching and see what the going prices are for similar models.

[stumpy]

I suggest you look on Ebay as an indicator of what they sell for. I find that EBAY seems to get the highest price. The unit you're looking at is fairly small and old, but I have seen "JUNK" going for $4,000, so you probably would be at risk buying it cause you could more than likely get your money back if not happy.
Take some time to research EBAY. That should give you enough to compare to.

[beenthere]

reberly
Isn't that the one that has the clutches in it, rather than hydraulic motors, to turn?  Seems it is, as I had an Owatonna once, and it had the clutches (two on each side, if I remember correctly) that seemed to be the same (exchangeble) as the Deere.

In the early 90's, parts for my Owatonna were getting 'hard' to find, so it might be something to check out with your Deere dealer if you proceed.

[reberly]

Mark M,
I had the same thoughts as to the age of the machine so I checked 4 distributors.  They had some 1990's machines as low as $8750 with 3 times the hours as this one and 10 times the wear and weathering.  The cheaper ones were really beat up.  Even the bucket on the JD 170 still had paint.  Thanks for the support of my actions.

Stumpy,
I was thinking the same thing since bobcats and skid steers never go for less than $6000 around here.  I checked ebay and ran 5 large searches on the internet.  I could barely find anything on the jd 170.  I found one for $2000 and one for $2500 but they were looked really rough compared to this machine and they had 3 times the hours as well.  Thanks for the idea.
Rich

Beenthere,
Great idea.  I will call the local JD dealer to see if they carry parts for the machine.  They were able to find a perfect match for my Ford 2000 but I was unaware of the clutches issue.  I may even want to try an collect a few parts along the way.
Rich

[Furby]

Don't know anything about that machine, but if it's in good working order...........that's a great price for this part of the country.
Parts may be an issue though, so consider that.
I'd offer a "bit" less just because........well, because I could!  

[Plowboy]

Parts for these machines are getting very hard to find.  The Owatonna company built these machines and sold a model of their own.  I looked into this a while ago a talked to my local dealer and they said it was very hard to get new parts and used parrts were difficult to get also.  Just my two cents worth.

[Brad_S.]

Reberly,

I just bought a used Bobcat.  For what it's worth, by way of comparison, the dealer said 1 machine hour in a skid steer equals about 25 miles on a car if that helps any.

[reberly]

Furby,
It is in great working order from what I can tell.  I have looked at anything that anybody has mentioned to me and it looks great.  I checked the hydraulics for leaks, the engine fliuds, the undercarriage, the tires, the axles on the inside, the chain drive tension when driving, the wires, and the hoses.  There were no cracks or checks on any of the hoses and the wires still have good color.  I think there was some replacement of parts toward the end of the ownership.  The ignition is new along with the battery and the back tires.  It seem reasonable around here is well.  I found that a new machine with the same power and lift capabilities, and probably alot more electronics for problems, would run between $16,000 and $20,000.

Plowboy,
I thought parts might be a problem so I called JD.  They were pesimistic, but then I talked to the maintanence dealer, an aquintance of mine that I trust, and he owns and swears by the Owatanna 1700 Mustang!  It is the same machine with a ford instead of a Wisconsin engine.  He said he knows all the cross-reference numbers and that I can get the parts through him.  He thought it was a truly rare find.

Brad-S,
That point is helpful since I don't know how to gauge hours or wear.  

All,
I went to buy th skid steer today.  I payed for the machine and the machine wouldn't start to load it on the trailer!  It wouldn't turn over so we put a charger on the battery and it started.  I pulled the positive cable from the battery while it was running and hooked up a multimeter to find that the alternator was putting out 14 volts.  I think this is fine.  Apparently the new Napa battery is bad.  The terminals and the cables were even shiny.  I made sure on the receipt that it stated that the sale would be final upon pickup at my convenience and that the machine would have to be running properly at time of sale.  We will pick it up Monday weather permitting.  He had the original bill of sales, owners manual, tech manual, original warranty and signed papers on hours used.  It seems to be in order.
Rich  

[reberly]

Just an update.  It has been 5 years and I am still happy with the JD170.  I put alittle extra maintanence into it for the first time this year and it still runs great.  I had a friend add the back weights and rebuilt the fuel pump.  I use it to load all my mill logs, my kiln with boards, and dig ponds with it a few days of the year. 
Rich

[Ohio_Bill]

Nice to here that it was the right choice .   On old equipment , some times you get the elevator  and some times you get the shaft . Sounds like you got the elevator .

[tjdub]

Nice to here that it was the right choice .   On old equipment , some times you get the elevator  and some times you get the shaft . Sounds like you got the elevator .

At consignment sales, auctioneers take all the PTO shafts off of equipment in the yard and store them where you pay.  That way, everyone already knows where to go to if they want to get the shaft.