The Forestry Forum

General Forestry => Sawmills and Milling => Topic started by: paul case on October 06, 2011, 04:33:53 PM

Title: lt 40 what is it worth?
Post by: paul case on October 06, 2011, 04:33:53 PM
a little of the story.
5 miles from me 3 brothers grew up with their dad in the sawing business, making ties, lumber and custom sawing for other folks. used an old circle mill. quite some time ago the dad passed away, they bought a wm lt40 and not necessarily in that order. one brother is now in bad health, the younger one works for the county and wants nothing to do with the sawmill and the middle brother has had health issues and no longer saws anything.
i get mixed stories from them about whether the equipment is for sale or not, but i would like to know what it may be worth. these guys have thrown all their custom business my way for 2 years now, so if i was to make an offer i would want to be real fair. it would be handy to know  what year you think it is. all their equipment is inside and the mill was probably only pulled home and put in the building it is in now.
it is an LT40 hd 24 g. i couldnt find the vin# or serial # plate. i probably didnt know where to look. onan motor. it does have the elec powered foreward/ reverse and head up /down and guide in/out. it has hydraulic clamp, log turner,loading arms, backstops and toeboards. the toeboards are the blade type instead of rollers. the hydraulic levers stick out of the side of the control box. it has maybe 12'' or 13'' tires and wheels and the bracing that goes to the ends is smaller than some i have seen. it does have the seat and the control box with key switch and hour meter that reads 45xx hours.
their operation also has a resaw and cutoff saw mfg by little champ  maybe? the cutoff saw looks like it might cut off a tie and the resaw has a rough belt and return feed. wm 2 saw edger with 5 hp electric and wm sharpener and single tooth setter.
sorry no pics.
pc
Title: Re: lt 40 what is it worth?
Post by: Chuck White on October 06, 2011, 05:09:49 PM
Sounds like quite a set-up Paul.

Nice equipment, but without pics and year/condition it's hard to put a price on it.

I have the same mill as you describe and I also have a debarker.  My mill is a 1995.

Wood-Mizer "Orange Book" gives me an estimated value of around $16,000.00

Hope this helps you out a little.
Title: Re: lt 40 what is it worth?
Post by: paul case on October 06, 2011, 06:57:30 PM
chuck,
i looked at your mill pics in your gallery. it looks just like yours best i can tell. boy those electric motors look small to me. what does the belt behind the drive belt on the saw shaft run?
as far as condition. it looks real good. well what you can see of it. the mill has been sitting quite a while and has some bark and sawdust built up around it. i dont see any wear on the rails, or anywhere else for that matter. it is in the dry.
oh yeah their set up has a 110 volt dust collector for the sawmill and one for the resaw.  pc
Title: Re: lt 40 what is it worth?
Post by: Chuck White on October 06, 2011, 07:13:44 PM
Quote from: paul case on October 06, 2011, 06:57:30 PM
chuck,
i looked at your mill pics in your gallery. it looks just like yours best i can tell. boy those electric motors look small to me.
what does the belt behind the drive belt on the saw shaft run?
  pc

Paul
The other belt runs on the 3rd pulley groove on the engine output shaft and that belt runs the alternator.
Title: Re: lt 40 what is it worth?
Post by: JFarmer on October 06, 2011, 07:50:47 PM
Sounds like a 93 model to me. My dad has a 93 for sale that sounds just like the one you described. His has a setter and sharpener with it with 2500hrs on the mill and he is asking 12,000.00.
Title: Re: lt 40 what is it worth?
Post by: paul case on October 06, 2011, 10:26:58 PM
hey chuck,

i was talking about the belt that is on the back end of the shaft the motor drives. that shaft has the belted bandwheel,  sheave for the drive belt and then another sheave and belt that goes down. not on the motor. this one would only turn when the blade is enguaged. just wondering.  pc
Title: Re: lt 40 what is it worth?
Post by: Brucer on October 07, 2011, 01:36:05 AM
I ran a 1996 LT40HDG24 with about 5000 hours on the Onan engine back in 2004. About one year later the engine blew up with about 5300 hours on it. The owner didn't take great care of the mill, but he changed the oil and oil filter every 100 hour religiously. So ...

- You're getting a mill with the old style clamp. It works OK but isn't as versatile as the new style.
- The two end bed rails (the ones that pivot) are only supported at the pivot point so you need to be careful with heavy logs.
- You can't roll timbers off the mill with the older toeboards. If you don't saw big timbers or if you have auxiliary equipment that isn't such a big deal.
- You will probably need to replace the engine sooner rather than later. Check now to see if there's an upgrade kit from Wood-Mizer for a newer engine.

For the record, when the engine on that '96 mill blew, the owner decided to replace it with a 25 HP Honda engine (it was cheaper). First he discovered that the drive shaft was a different size so he had to buy a new taper-lock pulley. Then he discovered that the shaft height was less, so he had to have some spacers machined. Then he discovered that the "governor" didn't work the same was as on the WM mills, so he had to pay someone to patch that up. Not so cheap after all.

I'd check the side supports for any play or looseness side-to-side. Those are critical for sawing square timbers. I grease mine according to the maintenance schedule and I've just had to replace one at just under 2000 hours.

Check the action of the clamp. It has two positions and if there is two much wear the clamp won't be truly vertical in the raised position. This can make it difficult to clamp a cant securely.

How long has it been sitting idle?
Title: Re: lt 40 what is it worth?
Post by: Chuck White on October 07, 2011, 05:35:59 AM
One thing I really like about the Wood-Mizers is that they are so easy to adjust and align.

Paul; it sounds like you're describing the band wheel belts.  :-\
Title: Re: lt 40 what is it worth?
Post by: paul case on October 07, 2011, 07:30:55 AM
Quote from: Brucer on October 07, 2011, 01:36:05 AM

How long has it been sitting idle?


i am not sure. i know thry havent sawed any kind of production with it for 5 years. one of their customers went down there and loaded his logs back up and brought them to me to saw 3 years ago and they were at least 2 years old. all the sapwood was rotten anyway and on red oak that takes a little time. they have however sawed some for their hired hand a couple of years ago.

just thinking and wondering. '
by far i think the best upgrade for me would be to upgrade my mill to be a little automated. hyd log turner and clamp would be a great improvement. i may try to buy their resaw. it looks like it hasnt been turned on in 5 years or more. they are less likely to ever use it since it is pretty much the kind set up to cut pallet boards. that would probably speed my production some.  pc
Title: Re: lt 40 what is it worth?
Post by: Magicman on October 07, 2011, 08:57:07 AM
Paul, It my understanding that many changes and upgrades were made during '97 & '98 that can be verified by the S/N and Version#.  Since this sawmill may be for sale and the only reason that you are looking at it is that it has sat idle for several years, doesn't necessarily make it a bargain.   It may/may not necessarily be a bargain at any price.  You may need to stop and take a deep breath.
Title: Re: lt 40 what is it worth?
Post by: CalebL on October 07, 2011, 01:45:17 PM
Paul, I recently bought a 2005 LT40HDD34 with 400 hours, a debarker, and simple setworks for well under $20k.  The mill was only about an hour away from you.  I guess what I'm trying to say is it's a buyers market right now and book values are out the window right now. 
Title: Re: lt 40 what is it worth?
Post by: barbender on October 09, 2011, 10:08:45 AM
Watch for the good deals, Paul. This may or may not be one. If you get the exact model, year and options you can call WM and they will give you a book value. The book value is just that, you may well pay a lot less. I figure if I never pay more than book at least I'm not getting ripped off.
Title: Re: lt 40 what is it worth?
Post by: cypresskayaksllc on October 09, 2011, 12:27:33 PM
When I got mine it was broken. It cost 17 as is. I think I put another 1500 into it. It was a bit of a gamble since I didnt know what to look for but it turned out great. I got to learn a lot about the sawmill and save some money.
And my sawmill is worth a lot more to me than 18500.  ;D
Title: Re: lt 40 what is it worth?
Post by: woodmills1 on October 10, 2011, 07:16:11 PM
I sold my 93 hd40 back when things tanked for 12,000

good single operator machine