Buying MEP-803A - Good Deal?

[Freedom Land Clearing]

Hey All,

I have my eyes on an MEP-803A with 290 hours. It’s clean, runs, has no leaks, makes power (at least 120V) and has new Oprima red top batteries and appears to have been maintained regularly as there are notes associated with the maintenance items. Ot starts easily and doesn’t smoke. I am buying it from the federal government and I can get it for $1100. I am buying it through my business.

i’m relatively new to these things and am wondering if there’s anything I should specifically look for and whether or not it appears to be as good of the deal as I think it is? I am getting it at a discount due to my business type.

I plan to use the e 120/240V single phase output.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Light in the Dark]

Its a very good deal.

 

[Jeepadict]

Very good deal, many have paid much more for higher hours and a list of problems.

Sent from my SM-G970U using Tapatalk

 

[Ray70]

Even if it didn't run it would still be worth way more than the asking price!

 

[cbisson]

Hey All,

I have my eyes on an MEP-803A with 290 hours. It’s clean, runs, has no leaks, makes power (at least 120V) and has new Oprima red top batteries and appears to have been maintained regularly as there are notes associated with the maintenance items. Ot starts easily and doesn’t smoke. I am buying it from the federal government and I can get it for $1100. I am buying it through my business.

i’m relatively new to these things and am wondering if there’s anything I should specifically look for and whether or not it appears to be as good of the deal as I think it is? I am getting it at a discount due to my business type.

I plan to use the e 120/240V single phase output.

Thanks in advance.

Buy it now and ask them if they've got more.

 

[98G]

$4k is the lower end of reasonable value on it.

 

[CallMeColt]

That's about the going fee via the various state level programs for federal surplus that goes to eligible parties. You probably will need to spend a little time with it like them all, but none the less if you need a good unit, you'll be happy.

 

[Freedom Land Clearing]

That's about the going fee via the various state level programs for federal surplus that goes to eligible parties. You probably will need to spend a little time with it like them all, but none the less if you need a good unit, you'll be happy.

Thanks, Colt.

 

[Freedom Land Clearing]

Hey All,

I have my eyes on an MEP-803A with 290 hours. It’s clean, runs, has no leaks, makes power (at least 120V) and has new Oprima red top batteries and appears to have been maintained regularly as there are notes associated with the maintenance items. Ot starts easily and doesn’t smoke. I am buying it from the federal government and I can get it for $1100. I am buying it through my business.

i’m relatively new to these things and am wondering if there’s anything I should specifically look for and whether or not it appears to be as good of the deal as I think it is? I am getting it at a discount due to my business type.

I plan to use the e 120/240V single phase output.

Thanks in advance.

Thanks, all for your inputs. I’m gonna get it then. Seems like a steal for sure. It seems to be operational without any apparent problems…I let it run for 40 minutes while I looked around. They also have a smaller one, 5KW and it has 169 hours on the ticker. I may look into that one also.

John

 

[CallMeColt]

Thanks, all for your inputs. I’m gonna get it then. Seems like a steal for sure. It seems to be operational without any apparent problems…I let it run for 40 minutes while I looked around. They also have a smaller one, 5KW and it has 169 hours on the ticker. I may look into that one also.

John

Running doesn't mean working. But, it's half the battle. If you are new to these, a good rule of thumb to go buy is if it will pass a 6 hour 100% load test without a single fault or issue, then it is good. At least that is how I base "rebuilding" them. Any gremlin that a machine will have generally comes out in that 6 hours. And if something does pop up in that 6 hours. Fix it & that 6 hour test starts over. This may sound dumb, but it will give you hundreds of hours of reliable, start & use without needing to repair anything. Reach out directly if you need anything for it.

 

[Guyfang]

Was SOP in my shop!

 

[CallMeColt]

Was SOP in my shop!

Years back when I first joined the forum, I think you said this. It stuck & I have found it to be a good SOP. It can be annoying when you are on your 4th or 5th time of going through the 6hr load test. But, after getting my first unit through it & considering it done, I went 4 years with no issue more than 1 wire breaking at the oil sender. 2 min fix. Hate to admit it, but it was so reliable, I even had forgotten to change the oil & it went like 15 months!!! Unit still is fine, but it needs some love as it has like 10,000 miles bouncing on a trailer. It is so nice when you get things to the point that they always work when you need them. It's worth the frustration & tossed tools to get there.

 

[Guyfang]

I look at this way different than most of everyone else here in the forum. I grew up supporting ADA, Air Defense Artillery. An unreliable gen set, meant you were occupying landscape that now holds expensive paper weights. If your system is no good, people can kill you. Its that simple. So we always tried to make sure to test 110%. This all came back to me, in the first desert war. Policy was that in Patriot, to run only one gen set for the system. I had always argued that when you are in Battle Stations, both the gen sets should be running and in parallel. If one drops, the seconds carries the load. These sets were simply POS gen sets. Engine life span was approx. 1000 hours. So to "Save" engine life spans, only one would be on line. A unit went to battle stations, running on one set that had been "repaired", but not load tested. In the middle of the firing run, the set quit. No way to get the other set started and the radar back up in radiate. Several soldiers paid for this mistake with their life and limb. I am of the mind that if you do not run a set for at least 6 hours continuously, at 100% load, your not proud enough of your work.