look into all maint records if they have of them and if they have had oil samples done on them.you can go to cat and have samples run for you to test all fluids runs about $20-$40 per sample last i heard. but they will tell you alot about the care of the equipment. can take up to 2 weeks some times
best thing to look at is all greaseable pionts lift, turn and rear axle tilt area. double check all u joints should be 5-6 of them. check all hyd. cyl. seals for cracks or leaks
take some one with you and drop the bucket to floor level and lift front end into the air about 1-2" ( lift and set on the ground to check every point) that will let you check out all of your front lift/ tilt pins. also check center piviot pins at the same time there should be no play in any pins/ piviots. if there is problames are soon to be there.
when you have done that lift the bucket and shake the steering wheel about 1/4 turn each way to make the loader shake side to side. this will let you check for center piviot wear and out of shim bucket and lift arms. You should have a 1/16-1/8 play that is fine
on some of the g loader the bottem bucket pins are oil filled make sure that if they are to double check inner and outer seals(not a cheap fix)
look for any out of place rust and any i mean any cracks on the entire loader.
do a all over check like you would do on any car.
sorry to ramble if i lost you at all sent me a eamail and i will try ro make sure you understand what you will need to look at/for
ben
