Checklist: Buying a used digger

[ToughButterCup]

This checklist is copied  from a post we made on ebuild. It is a summary of the authors' collective wisdom. Unfortunately the links are dead - but the author's name is always listed. And since most of the usernames have been preserved, they are still relevant. This (and every) checklist will benefit greatly from your comment and experience.

• Bring a tame fitter with you / or ask for a recommendation from him or her. (Triassic#10)
• A digger from a hire yard will be better looked after and will have always been serviced. (Declan #5)
• Stolen? Paper work, service history: check serial numbers (Declan#8)
• Cab? (Ed#9)
• If so then : window covers (GRP / metal)
• Hydraulics Pipes will burst; local hose supplier - easy to swap, you just need big spanners.
• Have a 25 litre drum of hydraulic fluid as a second hand digger will leak
• Check track depth : new tracks cost about £200: (proDave #3)
• Check teeth on the Drive Pinions (proDave #3)
• Track Motors: Hydraulics Leaks? (proDave #3)
• Engine service history ? None? Immediate service (proDave #3)
• Pins: play? If an old machine re-bush. (prodave#2)
• Joints: play?
• Slew: play? If it's going you will hear grinding, popping or clicking noises. Check the grease on the bearings. If it's got metal filings in it then it's been grinding. (Declan#8)
• Check for clean grease around nipples, all the pins should look like they have clean grease on them. Over-greasing is good!
• Check it will hold the arm extended/bucket raised for a length of time, if hydraulics are on the way out then the arm gradually lowers. (proDave #3)
• If you have a choice, get one with the main boom ram mounted on top of the arm - the older ones that have it below the arm are prone to damage and bending when something gets caught between the bucket and the ram. (PeterW#3)
• Fully extend Spool valves and Rams - you may need an assistant to push the levers as far out/back as possible and look for weeps on the joints and also on the ram end seals. (PeterW#3)
• Equipment: What does it come with? Quick hitch? Right buckets for your needs (Ed #9)
• Need to buy a bucket? Where from? Check before purchase (proDave #3)
• Check engine start FROM COLD; easy, hesitant, non-starter?
• Get the seller to show you how to drive it. (proDave #2)
• Can machine easily lift itself off the ground with the dozer blade lifting one end and the bucket lifting the other? (proDave #4)
• Water in fuel? Check fuel filter
• Water in the oil? Look for mayonnaise-type emulsion on oil filler cap
• Use red diesel - and don't be tempted to use it in your car.
• Leaks of oil and hydraulic fluid : get a drip tray
• Keep it (and spare buckets) secure

[Ferdinand]

Are you sure there is only enoug material for one checklist on this topic?

What about marriage risks, likelihood of allotment and manhole cover collection being neglected etc?

[ToughButterCup]

Hi Ferdinand..... yes, and a digger in the garden spoils the view and lowers house prices.... godda watch for that

[flanagaj]

Great post.  Not sure you can use red diesel anymore?

[Russell griffiths]

11 minutes ago, flanagaj said:

Great post.  Not sure you can use red diesel anymore?

Ha ha, your stil thinking about it 😂

[flanagaj]

3 minutes ago, Russell griffiths said:

Ha ha, your stil thinking about it 😂

I’m thinking of getting counselling.  The reach of a 1.9T Hitachi just isn’t quite enough for a 7 person Graf tank install.  A 2.7T is quite a bit more and and also too big for the other tasks.

[Russell griffiths]

Your over analysing this. 
I’ve got a 1-5tonne kubota, there’s only two jobs I haven’t been able to do with it in 6 years of being here. 
bulk excavation of house plot as it was just too much volume 300m + I could have done it but it was taking too long, 8 tonne machine for 3-4 days sorted that. 
then installing the septic, I could definitely have done it with my machine no question, but I had to hire in a box shoring system to hold the sides up, the 8 tonne machine struggled with this as well. 
 

so two weeks hire of a bigger machine in 6 years of owning our place. 
there’s not a single week I haven’t used the digger. 

 

[saveasteading]

2 hours ago, Russell griffiths said:

not a single week I haven’t used the digger. 

 

Any repair or maintenance issues?

[Russell griffiths]

Just now, saveasteading said:

Any repair or maintenance issues?

Cost me £600 this year when the imobilizer packed up. 
apart from oil changes it’s the first time I’ve spent a penny on it. 

[Roger440]

13 hours ago, flanagaj said:

Great post.  Not sure you can use red diesel anymore?

 

You can if its your own digger on your own job.

 

If its to earn money, then no, you must use white. Same with hired equipment.

[flanagaj]

14 hours ago, Roger440 said:

 

You can if its your own digger on your own job.

 

If its to earn money, then no, you must use white. Same with hired equipment.

Thanks.  That explains why I was told by the hire company that I could not use red diesel. Another reason to buy my own machine!

[Russell griffiths]

31 minutes ago, flanagaj said:

Thanks.  That explains why I was told by the hire company that I could not use red diesel. Another reason to buy my own machine!

You will struggle to buy red now, unless you have a friendly farmer near by. 

[dpmiller]

still available at the pump, locally.

[ToughButterCup]

On 22/04/2025 at 16:38, dpmiller said:

still available at the pump, locally.

Ditto.

 

[Roger440]

On 22/04/2025 at 14:26, Russell griffiths said:

You will struggle to buy red now, unless you have a friendly farmer near by. 

 

Available at the local petrol station, and i also have a tank at home. No issues getting it filled.

[Russell griffiths]

10 hours ago, Roger440 said:

 

Available at the local petrol station, and i also have a tank at home. No issues getting it filled.

How come nobody is checking you have the dispensation paperwork to allow its use. 
is it another government idea that nobody is policing. 
im still buying it, but I know I shouldn’t be using it, according to the new regs. 

[saveasteading]

30 minutes ago, Russell griffiths said:

nobody is checking 

The sort of thing that gets found when a car is stopped for other reasons.

A highish proportion of speeding cars have no insurance or mot....perhaps they'd find red in there and other issues.

Or crime of other sorts gets the van checked out.

[ToughButterCup]

22 hours ago, Russell griffiths said:

 .... but I know I shouldn’t be using it, according to the new regs. 

 

I knew it ! Gottcha!

 

You're one of those Bad Boys. 

[dpmiller]

The Excise boys are pretty active this side of the Irish Sea- North and South- and it's not unusual to see main roads stopped for fuel checkpoints. Where I get red at the pump for the digger, and for testing heaters and things, there is a constant stream of pretty new snazzy cars filling up at the pump. Often tradies that are working daily on a site some distance from home. Seems the losing the car and being find isn't enough of a dis-incentive?

 

A couple of litres for a digger or dumper aint even on the radar...

[Roger440]

On 26/04/2025 at 07:54, Russell griffiths said:

How come nobody is checking you have the dispensation paperwork to allow its use. 
is it another government idea that nobody is policing. 
im still buying it, but I know I shouldn’t be using it, according to the new regs. 

 

What dispensation? From whom? I dont need any. Theres no requirement for that.

 

The rules, whilst a nonsense, are clear. If used on your own property for your own equipment within the definitions as per link below, then its legal to use red. 

 

I see no need for any dispensation here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/using-rebated-fuels-in-vehicles-and-machines-excise-notice-75

 

[Russell griffiths]

9 hours ago, Roger440 said:

 

What dispensation? From whom? I dont need any. Theres no requirement for that.

 

The rules, whilst a nonsense, are clear. If used on your own property for your own equipment within the definitions as per link below, then its legal to use red. 

 

I see no need for any dispensation here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/using-rebated-fuels-in-vehicles-and-machines-excise-notice-75

 

Well I’ll be buggered, I was told a couple of years ago that I needed paperwork of some sort to show before it could be purchased.