Used Wheel Loaders Buying Guide
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Used Wheel Loaders Buying Guide

The situation is simple: you need a used wheel loader. Whether you’re expanding your fleet or buying a new machine to expand your business, you may want to know exactly what to search for, what to check and how to make sure the wheel loader you find is indeed the wheel loader you need. To help, we’ve put together this short guide to buying a used wheel loader.

Read on for our short tips and hopefully you’ll be one step closer to finding your perfect machine.

What size wheel loader should I buy?

With such a wide range of sizes available, finding the right wheel loader can seem a bit like being Goldilocks in the Three Bears’ house – this wheel loader is too big and this one is too small. But finding the right wheel loader for you and your job comes down to taking a close look at the job you’ll typically be doing and finding the right wheel loader for that job.

To determine the size you need, it helps to start with the absolute largest size job you need it to do and make sure the wheel loaders you’re looking at can all handle that job. Remember that using a wheel loader that is too big for the job may be inefficient, but it is unlikely that an underpowered loader will do more work than it can. But you should also be smart about your assessment. If you’re buying a wheel loader for a big once-in-a-lifetime job, it may make more sense to plan around that job.

When considering the size of your wheel loader, consider the following factors:

► Bucket size

The bucket may not be the one you will end up using on the machine you are looking at, but you need to know that the bucket size the loader can handle is right for you.

►Lift height and load capacity

Often, your loader works alongside other equipment and you may already have these machines up and running. A wheel loader that is too small in size may slow down your operation as it has to work harder to fill the truck or push material and force the equipment to wait.

► Travel distance, working layout and terrain

Compared to some other construction equipment, a wheel loader can be a fairly agile member of your machine team. When you’re thinking about size, it helps to imagine how it will move around your workplace. Do you need something lively and agile to jump from job to job, or does the loader stay mainly in one place? Are the gaps tight or will the loader work in large open areas?