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Price guides

Wheel Loader Price Guides

4 machines covered. 3 models currently carries a clearly labelled estimate derived from a sourced new price. Verified market ranges replace estimates only after clearing our sample-size gate.

Wheel loaders — front-end loaders, in the older Australian idiom — run from compact tool-carriers to the twenty-tonne machines that load out quarries. The used market is driven by civil contractors, farmers and waste operations, and the machine’s history matters as much as its hours: a loader that has spent its life in a transfer station wears very differently from a farm machine. Bucket and coupler spec, tyres and centre-pin condition decide value. Verified market ranges below show their evidence; indicative estimates are labelled separately.

Live Guides

Cat 950GC ≈ $179,000 modelled 8-year modelled reference · not sold data Hyundai HL940 No estimate yet used pricing being rebuilt Komatsu WA320-8 ≈ $117,000 modelled 8-year modelled reference · not sold data Volvo L90H ≈ $157,000 modelled 8-year modelled reference · not sold data

Wheel Loader buyer’s guide

What size wheel loader do you need?

Compact loaders under a couple of tonnes of lift handle yards, nurseries and small farms; mid-size machines cover most civil and agricultural loading; large loaders are quarry and bulk-handling tools sized to the trucks they load. Size the loader to the truck or hopper it feeds — a loader that needs three passes too many per truck costs money every cycle, and one too big for the yard costs it in tyres and fuel.

Wheel loader, telehandler or skid steer?

A loader moves the most material per pass and is the strongest pure loading tool. A telehandler trades bucket capacity for reach and height. A skid steer trades capacity for compactness and attachment breadth. If the job is trucks, hoppers and stockpiles, the loader wins; if it is placing loads at height or working inside tight sites, look sideways first.

What to check on a used loader

Application history first — ask what it loaded. Then the articulation centre pin (lift it and look for movement), tyres (a four-figure item per corner), driveline and transmission behaviour under load, and the bucket edge and coupler. A repaint around the centre joint deserves suspicion, not admiration.

Wheel Loader FAQ

What is a wheel loader used for?
Loading trucks and hoppers, moving and stockpiling bulk material, and — with a coupler and forks — general site materials handling. It is the standard loading tool of quarries, civil sites, farms and waste operations, which is why used examples arrive from very different working lives.
What size wheel loader do I need?
Size it to what it feeds: the truck, hopper or bin. Compact machines suit yards and farms, mid-size machines cover most civil loading, and large machines are production tools for quarries. Oversizing costs fuel and tyres every single shift.
Do I need a licence to operate a wheel loader?
There is no High Risk Work Licence class for operating a wheel loader. A workplace almost always requires verification of competency and a construction white card, and driving one on a public road needs the appropriate driver’s licence and registration. Check your state WHS regulator and the site rules before you operate.
Can you drive a wheel loader on the road?
Short movements between nearby sites are common under conditional registration, which carries conditions on routes and use — and duty treatment varies by state, with several exempting conditionally registered plant or charging a nominal amount. Larger loaders move by float. Check your state transport authority for what your registration allows.
How much does it cost to hire a wheel loader?
Dry-hire rates rise steeply with machine size and vary by city. HeavyBook publishes hire rates where the class and city clear our three-source data gate — see the hire pages for what is currently published, always with the source count shown.
Can I finance a used wheel loader?
Yes — used equipment finance is widely available through brokers and lenders. HeavyBook’s equipment finance calculator gives an indicative monthly repayment across 1–7 years; it is indicative only and not financial advice. HeavyBook may receive a fee if you proceed with a broker we refer you to, and we never recommend a specific credit product.

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