What should a MEP-002a / MEP-003a be worth?

[derf]

A physical inspection is always best. There is not guarantee that the hour meters are original and in working condition.
To me there are only 3 conditions:

New - Never used

Rebuilt - Used and then returned to military standard like new working condition

Used - Taken out of service for one reason or another.

The GL process sometimes exposes items to weather for months. A new machine tool, for example, stored outside in the weather for six months may be useless. A Deuce stored outside for six months may start right up and drive away, though.

Everything is DRMO'd for a reason. Sometimes a unit may receive new quiet tactical generators and their old sets may go DRMO, maybe. Most times, in my experience, there is a minor issue with the item. Some times there are major issues with the items. The pictures are a good indicator. A physical inspection is good, too. I remember one guy who bought a shelter and was pleasantly surprised to find a Diesel gen set in it.

You can get an idea of pricing by following the auctions as the close and then checking here to see who got what for how much after. We can't post before or during auction but most times after you can get a line on the general price range from some of the bidders. Price will always depend on the item, condition, and who else wants it. I find that if I am patient then a few good deals roll my way periodically.

For example, I got a really nice 3kW Diesel set for under $250. I may buy 10 at that price if given the chance again. But, the last batch that went near me were going around $500 so I didn't even come close to getting any. But, OTOH, $500 is about 1/6th the price of a new commercial quality Diesel powered 3kW gen set. You probably won't find any of the same quality 3kW Diesels outside of surplus auctions for anywhere near $500.
It is all relative. You take a chance with the "as is" part But, if you research it, it is a pretty good chance and you could possibly get a Diesel gen that will run an average home for peanuts. Most times it is peanuts and a few extra peanuts to fix minor issues.

 

[Isaac-1]

To follow up on Derf with condition codes, it somewhat depends on the site, some seem better then others about using the correct condition codes, but in general I ignore them (although I will give a little weight to F7, and new). Here is my best personal example of a poorly reported condition code on a GL auction, it was the code GX for scrap some remaining parts value for a HP 9500HDN color laser printer (this is a large office copier sized printer, weighs about 350 pounds, etc.), I took a chance and bought it for $300 (new retail was 13,500), and sure computer stuff depreciates, but when I picked it up this printer turned out to be 18 months old, had 88,000 total pages printed (100,000 page per month max duty cycle) and the only thing it needed to run was a new black toner cartridge. Why the GX code? who knows, did it have any issues, the only one I ever found was the bulk paper tray was supposed to work like a gas gauge with E, 1/4/, 1/2, 3/4, and F and it only showed on E and F.

I have bought several other HX items that needed only the most minor repair to be fully functional (broken fuse holder on an electric forklift, etc.) and I have bought stuff listed as functional that clearly needed work.

Ike

p.s. from what I have read GL gets the condition codes from the unit that turns in the equipment they do not evaluate it themselves.

 

[robkiller]

thanks guys. I see a lot of F7 and H7 on GL auction but was not sure it means anything at this point. Thanks for the info! I am sure most of them will nedd repair to what it will need i dont think the cods are going to help much.

 

[sandcobra164]

With the power of the internet, reputation is everything. I try to bend over and do what I can to keep good word of mouth.
I even took back a 002A last week, because the guy ran into financial trouble. The worst part is just loading and unloading

That's hilarious!!! Especially the loading and unloading part. Care to enlighten the GenSet Community what you remitted in exchange for me picking up 4 Mep 003A's from Albany, transporting them to my house, unloading, storing for about a month, and then loading onto your truck? You may know your stuff on generators but you know nothing about costs of recovery. For the good of the group, I was paid less than my cost of fuel in the truck pulling the trailer. I used to bend over and do what I could to keep in good, I've now restricted picking stuff up out of Albany unless I know the person on a face to face we're friends basis after this deal.

 

[AceHigh]

I watched a bunch of 003As go yesterday and on a trailer they were over two grand! I guess the storm drove up demand. Glad I got mine when I did.

 

[diesel dave]

i've been buying and selling these gen sets to friends ect. as a hobby for several years. the prices a up for sure, but,unfortunatly,the quality is down. and the condition codes are,as others have stated,worthless. of the 7 i have purchsed in the past few months, only 2 ran "out of the box". the other 5 needed various repairs and replacements parts. the worst one was a 002 with less than 10 hours since rebuild in 2009. these were all f7 cond. codes. by the time i repaired them,i actually lost money on 2 and ended up breaking even. have a friend doing the cucv thing and he says the same is true with them also. maybe we are getting to the bottom of the barrel! don't know what's going on,but it's definately "buyer be ware" these days.

 

[Isaac-1]

That is not bad, I saw a lone non-trailer mounted MEP-003a go for $3,500 yesterday on GL

I watched a bunch of 003As go yesterday and on a trailer they were over two grand! I guess the storm drove up demand. Glad I got mine when I did.

 

[dwbf fdwb]

On 3/16/13 won 3 mep002a's out of redstone. 2 at 1,070 and one at 680. The 2 had very low hours and the one for 680 had 527 hrs. All three units where intact with no missing parts.No preview (COIN TOSS) all hand spun on arrival for pick-up. Will do what's necessary to get them up and running.Bought 2 for personal use the other for possible parts or resale and re-coup some cash.Can't touch a civie comparable for less than 8,000 just doin' the math!!??

 

[bimota]

Hey, I've got three 002s and one 003 - zip luck and zip response in trying to sell them in California. What's the secret? My 003 has been completely serviced and used for running my M944A1 systems - works great but can't get anyone to care out here!

 

[Isaac-1]

I suspect a lot of the problem is California where diesel seems to be considered EVIL

 

[SteveH]

Hey, I've got three 002s and one 003 - zip luck and zip response in trying to sell them in California. What's the secret? My 003 has been completely serviced and used for running my M944A1 systems - works great but can't get anyone to care out here!

I'm on the opposite coast looking for a good 003a and have the opposite problem... I can't get to GL and the other options are limited. Even considered a 2k mile round trip this week to pick one up...

 

[sandcobra164]

That's hilarious!!! Especially the loading and unloading part. Care to enlighten the GenSet Community what you remitted in exchange for me picking up 4 Mep 003A's from Albany, transporting them to my house, unloading, storing for about a month, and then loading onto your truck? You may know your stuff on generators but you know nothing about costs of recovery. For the good of the group, I was paid less than my cost of fuel in the truck pulling the trailer. I used to bend over and do what I could to keep in good, I've now restricted picking stuff up out of Albany unless I know the person on a face to face we're friends basis after this deal.

Just in case anyone does any dealing with the guy I called out, "Munchies", I would like to point at that he gave me $20 for the recovery and loadout. I lost money on the deal and I'm standing firm that I ain't picking up squat for someone else out of Albany. What was even more of a slap in the face is that while I was loading his truck, he was explaining to my wife how these generators are his side job and how much money he was thinking he'd make on them.

 

[sandcobra164]

And to top it off, I just checked his profile and he last checked this site last night. He posted that he knows the power of the internet and bends over backwards to maintain his reputation but hasn't posted a dang thing since late October of last year shorty before he screwed me over. I'm good knowing he's no longer using the site to solicit deals or help and if he's a stand up kind of guy like most all of us on here, he'll make that botched deal between him and I right. If not, he can stay in hiding and that will be fine as well.

 

[SteveH]

....the bad news is these beasts are heavy, loud, smoke a lot under heavy load and can't be automated (auto start or auto frequency). So an owner or buyer must realize that these are designed to be....monitored, started and adjusted by someone around.

I'm looking to buy an 003a, and add my own auto-start (and the plan is that after starting it would be able to run unattended). Having seen others have done a push-button start with a PLC I was thinking that this was going to be relatively simple (I've got PLC/programming/controls background), but this concerns me. My plan had been to mimic the normal manual start sequence (preheat, plugs, crank, wait for oil pressure/volts, stop cranking), and then monitor for any 'disasters' that required a shutdown (oil pressure, overtemp, loss of volts etc)

I realize that the PLC won't be able to do anything about frequency, but my understanding was these units were pretty stable, especially if not too heavily loaded. I'd assumed the PLC could get it running, and the mechanical governor would look after the frequency and voltage regulator the voltage (though if necessary I could control that too). I also assumed that once the unit was started, it would be pretty stable (voltage/frequency) and not require manual adjustment....am I wrong?

I had also considered the 803a, but the scarcity, of units and parts (and the additional cost) had put me off, though it definitely seems a more civilized unit based on the specs and advice I'd received.

So....once started, is an 003a stable enough to leave running unattended for (say) 3 or 4 days?

 

[ctfjr]

I'm on the opposite coast looking for a good 003a and have the opposite problem... I can't get to GL and the other options are limited. Even considered a 2k mile round trip this week to pick one up...

Hi SteveH,

No need to think about a 2K roundtrip Fort Meade is less than 5 hours away and they have plenty of these pretty much continuously in their auctions.

My son & I picked up 'pristine', less than 5 hrs on the clocks, units a couple of years ago. They were trailer mounted & both look to be completely rebuilt. He lives in Maryland, close to Meade, and was able to inspect several that were being auctioned. He selected about 6 similar units that we bid on & we both got one. As the trailer was 'like new' it was an easy pull for his Chevy pick up, just added temporary lights for the ride to Connecticut.

Of course, since I installed mine we have NEVER lost power

For units even closer, I've seen some listed in the Fort Dix auctions.

 

[SteveH]

Of course, since I installed mine we have NEVER lost power

Living in CT, that's a miracle - I've put over 400 hours on my 4.5kw ETQ diesel in the last 18 months during 3 major storms and a couple of minor outages. The generator housing now has 3 huge cracks through it - though it's still running and generating power. I thought it was time to move up a little!

Definitely helps your son could view the lots first; I'd be a lot more confident if I could see what I was getting first.

-Steve

 

[skinnyR1]

Living in CT, that's a miracle - I've put over 400 hours on my 4.5kw ETQ diesel in the last 18 months during 3 major storms and a couple of minor outages. The generator housing now has 3 huge cracks through it - though it's still running and generating power. I thought it was time to move up a little!

Definitely helps your son could view the lots first; I'd be a lot more confident if I could see what I was getting first.

-Steve

I got my MEP-701a from a guy in Vermont, who liquidates military items. At the time I bought mine, I believe he also had the 002/003's. For reference, I paid $1000 for my geny.

I can probably find the guys name/number/info if you are interested.

 

[Nonotagain]

Time for me to liquidate some of my stuff as I approach retirement and a move south.

I've got a MEP-003 unit with 7 hours of run time. This unit has the oil pressure gauge mounted on the front not the side because it was off of a laundry unit.

Asking $2,500. This is not a rebuilt unit but brand new from storage.

 

[derf]

My 003A project is currently worth $1000, or at least that's what I'm selling it for. I'm near Ponchatoula if any of you rally guys need a gen project.

 

[Isaac-1]

...
So....once started, is an 003a stable enough to leave running unattended for (say) 3 or 4 days?

Yes, it is as stable as any other similar mechanically governed generator, why the military specified a manual adjustment on this I have no idea, their civilian cousins have the same type of governor that are set and forget. Personally I feel the manual speed control knob sticking out there is one of the worst features of these smaller MEP generators, it just tempts people mess with it.