Value of Valve Grinding Equipment

Hey guys! So I have this Kwik-Way and Sioux Valve Grinding equipment that I am trying to sell. Had it on Craigslist for a few weeks now...is my price too high or is it just a small market? I havent gotten any interest. I have never used it, but everything does work good. Thanks for any input!
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In my area those seem to set forever or sell for 200$ range. I wish I had a shop because I would own one. The other problem is that machine requires a brain to use....... There are very few who want or learn how to use sad to say.
 
I always wanted 1, but it is too easy to find rebuilt heads now. From the few I have seen sell you might want to look up the selling prices. Hope you get her sold.
 
I knew shops that quit using old equipment like that because they were not as accurate as the newer equipment that came into the market. The old machines could not grind valve accurate enough to use on Diesel engines, so that pretty much killed them.
 
Pretty limited market nowadays, I own a lot of equipment and only once have had a valve job done, even automotive a remanufactured head is often cheaper. That machine is outdated for modern machine shops so it's a limited market
 
Yes, you are high and the guys have well covered the reasons. My seat grinder has sat in the corner for years since I purchase Neway cutters.
 
I was at an auction that had a complete Sioux valve and seat grinder with cabinet, was probably from the 50's. I bid to $75, it sold for $100.
 
well your add was DILATED so i can not say as to your price. But now days with the onset of the set and guide machines with the air tables ya lonly face the valve and cut the seats . Just us old farts still hand lap . Time wise it is faster now to let the machine shop do them that has all the neat toys to play with . Just to keep up with buying stones will run you broke if you do a lot of grinding and having stones cut for all the different angles and sizes and seat hardness.
 
Old technology . I have Kwikway valve grinder and souix seat set up , tons of stones, reamers, guide knurlers etc Used to use them everyday . Now they sit . Cant bring myself to sell them yet. they were the first piece of shop equipment I bought . Boring bar got sold ,it sat for couple years . Unless you have a nitch market there is just no demand for rebuilding . I did pick up a nice Ammco brake and rotor lathe while back . All kinds of tooling with it . Two hundred bucks from Firestone store. They wanted it gone as it was taking up space . It gets used 6-8 times a yr . But most shops just hang new rotors anymore
 
I have a Sioux with guides and stones, make sure and check with me if you do not have something.
 
OOOoooh!! Not so!!! I just did TWO valve jobs over the summer. First one was on a Neon that burned the exhaust valve on #2. Did a full valve job, new valve seals, resurfaced the head, new water pump and timing belt. Second one was less fortunate. Timing belt broke and bent EVERY valve.


One friend on mine has a small automotive machine shop. He lives primarily on valve jobs. They still burn them, just not as often. Timing belts break and bend valves. Seals get old and start causing oil consumption. Valve seats get packed into the heads from high mileage.
 
I have no idea of a value as I have had ours for years and don't even remember what we paid. Now I would sure hate to not have mine even though I have not used it in years. Never know when I might have to tear into an old tractor. Many of the shops around now just do car engines and don't have stones large enough to do old engines. I had a fellow bring me a head from a JD A he just got back from a auto shop. Somehow he suspected something was not right. He had me take it apart and turned out the intake seats were not touched ! I suspect they did not have a large enough stone. And to those who say modern engines don't ever need them well one of the worst burnt valves I ever saw came from my sisters 1999 Honda CRV. Turns out most cover up the fact that you really should adjust the clearance pretty often on these. Honda even says to adjust only if noisy. Well that is completely WRONG ! when they are not noisy the clearance is gone and then they can burn. So a little noise is good. These have solid lifters not hyd.
 
(quoted from post at 06:33:33 01/12/16) I have no idea of a value as I have had ours for years and don't even remember what we paid. Now I would sure hate to not have mine even though I have not used it in years. Never know when I might have to tear into an old tractor. Many of the shops around now just do car engines and don't have stones large enough to do old engines. I had a fellow bring me a head from a JD A he just got back from a auto shop. Somehow he suspected something was not right. He had me take it apart and turned out the intake seats were not touched ! I suspect they did not have a large enough stone. And to those who say modern engines don't ever need them well one of the worst burnt valves I ever saw came from my sisters 1999 Honda CRV. Turns out most cover up the fact that you really should adjust the clearance pretty often on these. Honda even says to adjust only if noisy. Well that is completely WRONG ! when they are not noisy the clearance is gone and then they can burn. So a little noise is good. These have solid lifters not hyd.

I bought my valve grinding setup many years ago. Thought it would be just the ticket for making my old Farmalls run like new. Then I tore into the first one, and found that not only were the valves worn beyond resurfacing, but the seats were also too far gone and could not be resurfaced. To top it off, the valve guides also needed replaced, so off to the machine shop with the head. The final bill at the machine shop was about equal to what I had invested in the valve grinding machinery, so that investment was wasted. Every other head I have tackled since then was in the same condition as the first. The valve grinding machinery is just setting on the bench, taking up space.
 
To your credit what you quickly learned about valve, seat and guide work some people have to be beat over the head with and some just never learn,,,
 
(quoted from post at 05:23:23 01/13/16) To your credit what you quickly learned about valve, seat and guide work some people have to be beat over the head with and some just never learn,,,

I worked as an auto mechanic for several years, back when a mechanic was still a mechanic. Pulled the heads off of many cars to replace a badly burned valve, and then did a quick touch-up on the rest of them. I guess I am slightly ahead of the game compared to most others, but yes, There are those folks who just won't believe that it takes more than a quick valve touchup on most of these old tractors.
 
Solid lifters and an aluminum head . That's some kind of revenge for nuking them . They had to know that wasn't gonna work.
 

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