Komatsu PC490LCi-11 from the Lake Park auction, 1,100 miles to Bismarck

nate's 320GC thread got me to write mine up. bigger machine, same broker, a couple of things went different.

i run a 4 machine outfit out of Bismarck, mostly mass excavation and pond work west of the river. needed a 50 ton class machine with grade control for a two year water project and did not want a new one at 400 plus. the lake park listing was a 2021 PC490LCi-11, 3,900 hours, the intelligent machine control model with the integrated GPS, sitting at a lender yard in Hazlehurst, Georgia. repo from a contractor who went under in 2025.

photos were good, video was good, the hour meter and the serial plate were in the photos. i sent a komatsu tech from the Macon dealer to look at it, 600 bucks for the trip. his report: undercarriage 55 percent, all cylinders dry, engine and hydraulic samples clean, cab in good shape, the GPS receivers and the monitor all there and powered up. one flag, the iMC system showed a license status he did not like the look of and said "ask the dealer about that." i did not, which is my fault, more below.

bid 218,000. blind, one shot. dealer used ones with grade control were 265 to 290 and the big auction sites had two in the last year that went 230 and 245 before the premium. won it, no buyer's premium, the invoice was 218,000 even.

delivery. Hazlehurst to Bismarck is about 1,100 miles by truck. the free delivery is inside a thousand miles of their place in Lake Park, this was about 1,540 from there, so i paid 70 cents a mile on the 540 over, which was 378 dollars. i had priced a 50 ton lowboy move from Georgia myself and it was 9 to 11 grand, so i was fine paying 378. 13 days from wire to my yard.

paperwork was the same as nate described. bank was the seller, lake park auto connection the broker, lien release on bank letterhead with the serial, and i called the bank myself.

now the part nobody warned me about. the intelligent machine control license was tied to the previous owner's dealer account. machine digs fine without it, but the grade control screen just says "contact your dealer." komatsu dealer in Bismarck had to re-register the machine to me and re-license the iMC, that was two weeks of phone calls and 1,900 dollars. not the broker's fault, they are not komatsu, but if you buy any machine with factory grade control out of a repo, budget for the re-license and call the dealer with the serial BEFORE you bid.

i called them first. the guy was straight about it, said the machine was listed as having iMC and it does, the hardware is all there and works, but they do not have anything to do with the software licensing and could not. he did send me the previous owner's dealer info off the file so the Bismarck dealer could get the transfer started faster, which helped. i asked if the 1,900 was something the warranty would cover and he said no since nothing was broken, and honestly i agree with that. it is the same answer i would have gotten from any auction, except most auctions would not have answered the phone.

4,300 hours now, 400 of mine. fuel is 12 to 14 gallons an hour in heavy digging which is what i expected. iMC has been worth it, we are running the pond bottoms off the model with no grade checker. only issue was a coolant level sensor that threw a code, 90 dollar part. 30 day guarantee window came and went with nothing to claim on.

and luis, the lake park people called me at about the 45 day mark to ask how the machine was doing. did not expect that from an auction.