Excavator Buying Guide
If you don’t have much experience in buying heavy equipment, it can be pretty challenging to figure out what you need and what you don’t. The same goes for excavators. These machines are very helpful when you need to bring some speed, strength and efficiency to a project. Different models are built to tackle different kinds of heavy work, so you need to do your homework to get the right machine.
To help you narrow down your choices and make the right final selection, we at New South Tractor have provided some important information below. If you’re looking for excavators for sale in Newton, North Carolina, contact our sales department for further assistance. We’re proud to be the chosen excavator dealer for our friends from Asheville!
Type of Work
When shopping for excavators, try not to go for the cheapest or toughest-looking machine. You have to find the model that’s going to be able to handle all your tasks. Keep in mind all the materials you’ll be moving, what type of terrain your excavator will be on and how often you’ll need to put it to use. The more you know what you want, the better our salesperson can help you select the right piece of equipment. It simply becomes a matter of filling in the blanks.
Model Size & Weight
When it involves heavy work, the size of the machine plays a very important role in the amount of productivity you can expect. You’ll have to balance the amount of work space you have with the weight of the material you need to move. Work sites in cities often don’t have enough room to accommodate the biggest excavators, so you will have to use a smaller model even though that means it’ll take longer for you to clear debris. If space isn’t an issue and you have a big project you want to get through, get a big excavator.
You’ll also need to take into consideration the amount and weight of the materials you’ll be moving. For larger and heavier needs, you’ll want a strong base that’ll stop the machine from tipping over or getting otherwise damaged. For smaller jobs, there are many competent mini excavator models that you can rely on.
Excavators are measured by the ton and the different categories can range from a couple of tons to up to 40 tons. You can get machines bigger than that but they are, generally, giants used for very specific work. You shouldn’t buy a machine that’s more than what you need. If you’re not sure how to narrow things down, just bring a detailed description of your workspace and weight needs and we’ll help you better understand what you’re looking for.
Engine Power
The engine power of an excavator will usually be in sync with the size of the machine. That said, you still have a range of options to explore. It can be tempting to just select the most powerful model you come across, but it’s best to get an excavator that has the amount of power required for your project. Again, aiming higher than you need to generally just wastes money. While this won’t play as big a role in deciding what you get, it’ll probably affect what your excavator can do, so make sure you know the limits.
Bucket Capacity
Another big factor to take into account when looking at excavators for sale is the bucket capacity. Once again, this will probably be in tandem with the size of the excavator. The advantage here is that, even if your excavator comes with a particular bucket capacity, you can always invest in additional buckets that you can switch out with the one you have. Just make sure the rest of your machine can handle the bucket size you’ll need to accomplish your goals.
Hopefully, this will clear up any confusion you may have had about excavator types. If you need additional information or are ready to check out excavators for sale in Newton, get in touch with us at New South Tractor and we’ll show you the available models in our wide selection! We’re also here for all the tractor needs of our friends from Asheville, NC.