skid steer questions.

[JRS Landscaping]

I might have a chance to get a bobcat brand skid pretty cheap, but it has some issues. Im pretty good with a wrench but I wonder if its worth my time. Thing is it was used for loading salt for a few years than sat for a bunch more outside. They basically parked and left it. The original owner is a large company that maintained its own grounds then subbed out the snow/ice. Its around a late 90's, mid size 4cyl diesel maybe 50hp? less than 2k hours. It has some bubbling surface rust blisters and flaking on the outside but the majority of the paint is decent. Engine bay is pretty clean, practically no rust but the operatorstation is a bit rusty and has cab but missing door. No structural rust just paint bubbling and flake. good tires Haven't heard it run yet but oil was used but clean and no water. Throttle moved fine. hydro cyl looked good. What else should I look at? Thanks!

[MatthewG]

What model, what exact year, open/closed cab, and price - I'll tell you if its worth your time.

I'm a certified genius in the field of buying used equipment cheap

[peteo1]

Well its a bobcat so make sure you have them drop the price just based on that. Make sure the loader arms are straight and true. Also check the lift cylinders, on the bigger models they have a tendency to bend causing premature failure. Have them start it, if it smokes after the initial warm up I'd be hesitant to buy.

[jomama45]

Just so you know, just about everything on the machine is powder coated, and there's no primer. When you start attempting to remove small areas that have "bubbled", you're going to end up removing sheets of paint. It's never clean steel below either, it needs some serious work to get it back to "paint-ready"....

Form you're description, it sounds like it could be an F-series 763 or 773, which were both very popular and reliable models. From your explanation of it's use though, it's probably seen better days.........