Many heavy construction equipment owners try to save money when it comes to replacing parts by buying used components. The savings, at least up front, can be significant.
A used part generally costs about half of what a new part will fetch, and that's very appealing, especially when some machine parts, such as a final drive, can cost thousands of dollars.
Here at ConEquip Parts we get requests for used parts all the time, from final drives, cylinders, pumps, even undercarriage components like tracks.
We have had a lot of success selling used parts, as they are inspected before the sale and come with a 30-day warranty, however, there are plenty of drawbacks to buying used parts.
Of course the top problem is reliability. Used parts are just that, used. Everything has a life span, and a used part has been around the block. For many parts it's tough to tell how much more time it will perform as expected.
The risk of a used part failing is greater for components such as main pumps and swing drives. Getting a solid part like a bell crank or bucket is a much safer gamble.
When you get a used part, you're probably not going to have much of a warranty, if you get a warranty at all. Many salvage yards call the sale of used parts final. Obviously, getting a new part with a one year warranty is ideal.
Used parts can also adversely affect other components of your machine. Rebuilding a final drive with used gears for instance can lead to problems with other parts of the drive.
Buying used parts often means more money spent in the long term despite short term savings.
Buying used parts makes the most sense if the machine owner doesn't plan to keep the machine in his or her fleet for much longer, is planning to sell the machine immediately, needs a quick fix to finish a job, has a limited budget, or if the replacement part is discontinued.
New parts offer convenience, performance, and dependability used parts generally cannot provide and may be worth the extra cost.
Rebuilt or reconditioned parts are a third option many machine owners go with to replace components on their machines.
