Buying used in Alberta: what oilfield and winter work does to a machine

Alberta used equipment has usually worked hard in two ways that a meter reading will not show: lease road and site work, and winter.

Lease road and pad work means long hours of loading and travelling on gravel. Look at the undercarriage first. Track pads, rollers, sprockets and idlers wear fast in gravel and they are expensive. On wheeled machines, look at tire wear patterns and ask when the tires were replaced.

Cold starts take a toll on engines and hydraulics. Ask whether the machine had a block heater and a hydraulic tank heater, and whether they were used. Look for oil leaks at the hydraulic fittings, which go brittle in the cold, and ask for an oil sample history if the dealer has one.

Attachments tell a story. A machine that ran a breaker or a mulcher has had more hydraulic cycles and more vibration than one that ran a bucket. Ask what attachments came off it.

Ask for the service history before you drive out. Alberta dealers that service their own fleets keep records. If there is no record, price the machine as if the big services are due.

Freight matters here. A good price in Grande Prairie is not a good price in Lethbridge once the lowboy is paid for. Give the dealer your city and ask for the number landed at your yard.

When you are ready, send one work order through this site. It goes to the Alberta branches that stock what you described, and they call you with a price on a real unit.