Skid Steer Purchase???

Thinking about a skid steer. There is a New Holland LX865 with 2200 hours for sale locally. The add lists it at $8K. Being ignorant about skid steers, what should I look for, check out? Is this a good Price? Is this a good machine? ANY advice is appreciated...
Thanks,
Matthew

As far as New Holland skid steers go, they are pretty darn good in my opinion. We have a 170 that"s getting close to 2000 hours and haven"t had any major problems. Suspension broke on the seat is the biggest thing that comes to mind. I"d find out where it came from, and run it to see how loose the loader is. Start easy? Hydraulics on driving feel positive? I like New Holland because of the vertical lift and how much it picks up for it"s own weight. We have the extra weight kit on ours and another weight under the back and move 2500# skids of ice melt all winter. The one your looking at may be one size bigger than ours. My 2 cents.

Be alittle careful. The New Holland skid steers are all in all pretty darned good, but the price worries me a bit. It"s about 5-6 grand lower than what they bring around here anyway.

I"ve always had Gehl, now have a mustang which is a different colored gehl, so I can"t tell you the specifics of what to look for.

Check the loader arms over for cracks or welds, check the pins, to see if you can notice any wear and that they"ve been greased. Start it up and raise the loader and bucket alittle, see if anything drops or settles. Other than that and if the steering is tight, it would be the basic stuff. Cracked hoses, leaks, engine oil, coolant, hyd fluid, tires, etc. If it seems in good shape, the price should be more than right..

Price sounds good. Mabey too good..........

Check the boom over carefully for cracks and twisting. Pins on the adapter plate as they could well need replacing at this point. Get if off the ground and check the wheels for slop both in the bearings and chains.
Operate it if you can and get it hot. Make sure the hydro isn't lazy.... I think that one is also a 2 speed so check that out. Tires will cost you about a grand for good ones. Less for the chinese ones.
Also check that all the electrics work.... If the seat sensors or belt buckle are bad it won't start or won't run the hydraulics because of the lockouts.... and lastly, consider that the instrument panel COULD have been changed some time ago due to a failure. They do sometimes fail... and thus you may have far, far more hours than it shows.
Also check over the hydraulic lines. Mainly the loader lines. I found that when they started going, they all blew in short order. That's not a serious thing but it adds up to some money pretty quick.
This machine seems cheap to me actually... so it may be discounted because of something or it may simply be a poor market for them now in your area... or it may be a poor machine in a poor market that isn't sufficiently discounted for what it is. Look it over carefully.

I have an LS170 myself which is 1 size smaller than this one. It's a very able machine for it's size. I don't think you can go wrong with a superboom if everything works on it. They're good loaders.

Rod

axel seals are a major thing to check out.

Thanks for the tips. I will try & take a look & see what he's got.

I'm with Rod on this, price sounds just a tad too good. I'd look for some hidden signs it might have been a tad hot. I've listed rebuilt burnouts for not much less than that.