Ford Excavator

[Josh M.]

I have the opportunity to pick up a ford excavator for free, supposedly ran but cant get it to start again, only on ether. Its a 401 motor and Im pretty familiar with them so that shouldnt be much of an issue. My main question is about parts. The left track tensioner is either broken or has a bad seal, how easy are parts to come by? Were they built by ford or built for ford?

 

[charlie n]

Built by Warner & Swasey. They went out of business in the early 80s. Not a good machine. The only people that made money from them worked on them. The couple that were around here went to scrap. Good Luck.

 

[Fordfarmer]

Made by a French company that Ford bought. Parts are pretty much non-existent, aside from the engine, or finding another one to cannibalize.

 

[Fordfarmer]

Company was Richier.

 

[sweetskillsrk]

Didn't even know Ford had an excavator line. Learn something new everyday on this forum.

Working at a CAT dealer, I've dealt with my fair share of discontinued and hard to find parts. Oddly enough, most of the time on old excavators and some old dozers. I personally believe CAT is easily one of the best manufacturers at offering parts for old iron, but even they can't offer everything. The engine is the easy part, the hydraulics are what's gonna fail and keep you down at some point; valves, spools, swivel, etc. I'm a sucker for a project I can tinker on and free is always good. I'd say go for it, assuming it's not a machine you really need.

 

[showcrop]

Final drives can be a significant problem.