Advice on Sale of Welder

I have three engine driven welders, but I only need two. The Miller Trailblazer I just purchased will stay, obviously, but I have a Lincoln Ranger 250 with about 250 hours on it and a Lincoln Weldanpower 225 from the mid - 1980s with an undetermined amount of hours.

I am leaning towards selling the Ranger due to value and the fact that I don't always need two welders at work all the time. The second welder would be used to build fence, but it's duty is light overall. With that, and sentimental reasons, I am leaning towards keeping the Weldanpower. What I need to know from you is this: the weldanpower has had an easy life, but somewhat neglected, and now runs great, welds good. That said, when it is used, it will run about 6hours in a day, but actually weld pipe fence braces about two hours out of the six it would run. Lots of idling, and some grinding cutting.

Knowing what you know about the Weldanpower (with the Briggs motor) how much faith should I put in it since it is a 30 year old machine? Are electronic parts readily available? Basically, I know the Ranger is newer and parts easily gotten, but it has more resale value. (Looks to be about $3500 around here as a starting point.)

If you were in my shoes, would you keep the Weldanpower or the Ranger, and why?

Tim The Tool Man Taylor had it right, MORE POWER! Unless you need the extra money keep newer more powerful. If you don't need it you don't have to use it, but if you need it and don't have it.......

I guess it comes down to how much you value reliability. The Ranger units I have been around are pretty bullet proof. That is why they sell well when used. The Weldanpower is older and the B&S engine would be the main reason it would be sold. They re just not a good engine when used in a commercial setting.

That's the grey area for me. The Weldanpower Briggs is old, yes, but it has not had a hard life, and the work we do with it is in the summer time while building fences--like I described in original posting. Then it sits in a garage gets run about once a month to heat it up, burn some old gas, and recharge the battery. It lays a solid bead; the brushes were replaced about three years ago. But the Ranger has done okay too.

I guess you can see my quandary.

Flip a coin. :wink:

A few ways to look at it.

Running a machine 6 hours a day can chew through a lot of fuel.
Which one is cheaper to run?

Sentimental wise I still have the arc welder my father purchased used when he was in his teens, it is well over 60 years old and still works great.
Brings back good memories of dad every time I use it.
I will pass it on to my sons but I would never sell it.

If you don't need the money, keep them all. You will never be without a good spare. Sounds like you use welders quite a bit.

Garry

I still regularly use a Wards 230 amp arc welder I bought 50 years ago for $108.