Thinking about upgrading my mill

[Collima]

Have a wm lt50 with only 500 hrs on it.  Had it for a year now.  I love it, but I can't keep up with demand.  I have a full time logging company and only saw on nights and weekends.  Full time over the winter.  My neighbor has a 1979 commercial stationary morbark circle mill.  3000 hrs on it.  Its in great shape and runs well.  Thinking about buying it for $20k.  Comes with log deck conveyers etc...  I'm worried because it's so old.  But I like the old stuff because it is straight forward easy to fix hydraulics.  No complicated electronics!
I would definitely keep my wood mizer.
So the question is....  Would it be stupid to buy such an old mill?  Hard to get parts for it?  Higher running and maintenance costs?  Would it be more of a headache than what it's worth?

[zopi]

Take that 20k and invest it in handling equipment, getcha a live deck and some out feed handlers and put that wm to work...the wm will pay you back just in the downtime...the fifty is alot of mill...and you will be able to get parts for it...like the next day...if that older mill goes down, you are done foe how many days? And that old mill will eat up alot of ypur saw tome doing maintenance....that is liable to put a pinch on you in the winter when you are trying to saw full time....even if you do not have to be sawing full time, and the demand is there...you aren't making money if the sawdust is not flying....look at Bibby's...I mean Mary's evil empire...they have a sweet stationary set up that can move alot of wood with just a couple of people working...and pretty basic gear...the big chunks are a baker live deck and a wm mill.....and a really sweet cant hook....

[bandmiller2]

Colli,with mills it depends on condition.You should have at least one helper on the circular mill to keep production up,of course that applies to the bandmill too.Your production will take a big jump,if you have a market for what you cut it may not be a bad move. Frank C.

[Collima]

The mill is in good condition. It has had 2 owners. The county I live in bought it new in 79-80.  Always stored in a shed. My neighbor bought it from them 10 years ago.  Stored under a roof since then.  My brother is my business partner so we always have at least 2 guys on the mill. I usually have 1-2 guys out during the week too.
I can literally guarantee sell every board I make.  I just can't saw fast enough.  I would keep my woodmizer.  Use that as a backup if the morbark breaksdown. 
In a couple weeks I'm bringing a load of logs to my neighbors to test out his mill. 

[bandmiller2]

Sounds like you need that Morbark,you will see a great jump in production. Frank C.