2020 SANY SY215C Crawler Excavator

The vehicle currently being inspected is a Sany Heavy Industry SY215C, equipped with an Isuzu engine. Honestly the bay was cleaned up better than I thought and not a drop of oil under the engine or fresh oil on the frame rails or dripping off the oil pump housing — let me look at my notes, indeed, just some construction dirt on the oil pump housing — normal for an engine that’s in service. Started it up she didn’t hesitate, wasn’t issuing any white smoke from the stack, hydraulics got to pressure without any strange noises or the grinding sound a pump makes when it’s on the verge of failure. Did a few cycles of the boom and stick, pin set up is tight with no slop in the bucket’s cylinder rod and the dipper stick moves smooth and not jerky (indicating seals in the cylinder still working).

Idlers and sprockets appeared to be OK from what I could see, no chunks missing and rollers don’t bind as they spin freely. Tracks are rubber, which helps to keep costs down if a replacement is made sometime down the road, and also signifies that damage to tracks is accelerated when they come into contact with hard ground.  Boom and stick paint is still in fairly good shape (some scratches and dings but nothing significant enough to be concerned with), cylinders have clean rods – no pitting that I could see.Inside: It is not showroom, but it is not junked either, fabric seat with a little dust, one has to have some red/ugly floor coverings because it’s dirty, but the floor coverings worked just fine, gauges all tested out fine when I turned the key. No cracks and breaks in the glass! The following were in place within the hydraulic system: Hydraulic oil reservoir had fluid within the correct working level; coolant bottle was full and there was no mixing of fluids which would be a red flag. It was sunny during the inspection so I was able to see everything – no shadows blocked any issues. Machine digs well. If you need a medium-sized excavator with a low initial cost, then this excavator looks good.