2013 KATO HD1430R Crawler Excavator

My first inspection on this unit I walked today, kato HD1430R, was the mitsubishi engine bay as that’s where all the old japanese mechanisms live their ills. Opened the hood, see a six-cylinder diesel, dry, but dusty, no oil seep coming from the valve cover area and no new oil visible in the oil block. The turbocharger doesn’t show signs of any damage, pre-cleaner bowl is present. I was able to reach the large cool line hoses and saw no cracking in the big one (right side). Packed dirt has been traced in the engine area floor, but there is no wetness nor staining below the floor. Not smoking either – at idle at least, cant speak for ‘under load’ obviously.

The tandem dual-pump set-up and housing/fittings were dry on initial inspection, but I went and inspected the swing motor more closely — there’s a film of oil on the bottom of the casting, but it wasn’t a fresh drip but more like something that pooled on it a while ago, no obvious active weeping from the seals as far as I can tell. Hoses were inspected, and they were Bridgestone high pressure lines, DIN EN856 4SH type and looked to be in good condition, with no ballooning or cracking of the skin on the lines that were visible. Likely normal surface rust on fittings due to the age of this machine and its outside storage. There might be little evidence of scoring or seals weep from the walkaround on boom and arm cylinders and yet you’d still want to load the machine and cycle it around to be sure that all was well.Any time I would put my attention in purchasing, I would pay attention to the undercarriage. Steel triple grouser shoes are worn down, say around 50 – 60% off the grouser, but not cooked as yet, again it’s dependent on the surface you are going to put this on. Links are not broken, no missing shoes. The entire frame is completely full of dried dirt and debris – I mean, you can see it, inches thick in spots, and that’s just a testament to this machine having been well-used. All the zones require paint; no track frame paint is remaining in any zone, exposing bare metal for all of the underside. Cabin feels rough, there is a good deal of mud smeared across the floor, some pieces of paper littered around near the bottom of the seat and the front glass seems to be OK at least. All of the following are still available: joysticks, pedals and suspension seat with armrests. Functional.