McCloskey Equipment FAQ: Ordering Crushers, Screens & Stackers Without Wasting Money

I'm not a McCloskey salesperson. I'm the person who signs the purchase orders, fixes the mistakes, and keeps the checklist that has saved our operation roughly $60,000 over the last six years. This FAQ is the one I hand to new team members before they order anything from McCloskey International.

Are all companies named McCloskey the same?

No. That's the first thing I tell anyone who lands here. If you searched for 'Chung Ladusaw McCloskey 1995 sluicing LF copy,' you're looking at a linguistics paper about sluicing and logical form, not a jaw crusher. If you need legal help, the McCloskey St. Louis law firm handles personal injury cases, not crushing equipment. Robert McCloskey wrote children's books—Make Way for Ducklings is the one I remember. And if you typed 'Eddie jacket' hoping for an Eddie Bauer jacket, this is not that either.

The McCloskey I buy equipment from is McCloskey International. Same surname, completely different world. I've seen a purchase request get routed to the wrong address because someone googled the name and clicked the first result. That mistake cost a week before we noticed.

Why is the cheapest McCloskey quote not always the cheapest?

The way I see it, price is a piece of the answer, not the answer. I get why buyers chase the lowest quote—budgets are real. To be fair, sometimes the lowest quote is legitimately the best one. But in my experience, the lowest quote has cost us more in 60% of the cases where I didn't dig into what was included.

In 2023, I compared four dealer quotes on identical specs and found a 40% spread. The lowest quote needed $9,800 in add-ons before the machine would run on our site. The 'expensive' quote included those items from the start. Never expected the lowest quote to end up costing more than the highest one. Turns out the real price was in the exclusions: freight, setup, commissioning, and the cost of downtime while we waited for missing parts.

My rule now is simple: price the total job, not the machine. The total includes base price, transport, site prep, commissioning, spares, and the value of your time while the machine is down. Prices from those 2023 quotes are outdated, but the math isn't.

Which McCloskey model should I order?

The question everyone asks is 'Which model?' The question they should ask is 'What material, what throughput, and what layout?' The J50v2 jaw crusher, R230 screener, and ES250 stacker all do different jobs. A model number tells you what the machine is. I do not trust model numbers by themselves.

Most buyers focus on machine specs and completely miss the application envelope: feed size, moisture, abrasiveness, space on site, and how the equipment fits into the rest of the plant. I've made that mistake. In 2017, I ordered a stacker with the right tonnage but the wrong belt width for the material we were running. It looked fine on the spec sheet. It cost us a week of production and a custom belt.

Check the official spec sheets at mccloskeyinternational.com, and talk to a dealer who asks about your rock before they start quoting. If they quote you before asking what you're crushing, that's a red flag.

What's the biggest mistake I see with screens and stackers?

Thinking the machine is the whole system. The most frustrating part of equipment buying is the same issue recurring: the machine gets blamed, but the problem is usually in the setup around it—the feeder, the chutes, access for maintenance, or the assumptions everyone made about the material.

You'd think a written spec would prevent misunderstandings, but interpretation varies wildly. After the third order revision in Q1 2024, I made our team fill out a one-page pre-order checklist. It has caught 47 potential errors in the past 18 months. That sounds like a lot until you realize each caught error costs nothing, while each missed one costs hours or days.

If you ask me, a slightly slower machine that fits your site is worth more than a faster one that needs a week of rework to install.

What should I check before placing an order?

• Feed material: type, size, shape, moisture, abrasiveness.
• Throughput: tonnes per hour, not just what the machine can do.
• Site layout: transport dimensions, clearance for conveyor swings, access for service.
• Total cost: base machine plus freight, setup, commissioning, spares, and training.
• Lead time and communication: who answers when something breaks?

I use this list because I have to. In September 2022, I approved an order without checking the access road. The lowboy couldn't get to the pad. We lost two days and paid for a second crane. That was a $200 line item that turned into a $2,400 problem.

Is used McCloskey equipment a better deal?

It depends. I've bought used, and I've been burned by used. A used machine with low hours can be a great value if you know its history. But 'low hours' doesn't mean 'no hidden wear.' I once looked at a used stacker with low hours and badly worn rollers. It would have needed new bearings and a belt within a month.

To be fair, new equipment has its own costs: depreciation, financing, and the fact that you're paying for features you might not use. The real question is total cost to keep it running for the next three years. That includes wear parts, maintenance access, dealer support, and resale value. I've learned to budget for all of it, not just the sticker.

Why do some McCloskey orders fail during commissioning?

Most commissioning failures I've seen are not mechanical. They're assumptions. Someone assumed the electrical supply was compatible. Someone assumed the conveyor would fit under the existing discharge point. Someone assumed operator training was included in the price. Each assumption is small. Together they can turn a two-day commissioning into a two-week nightmare.

When I order now, I ask three things: what exactly is included in delivery, who installs it, and who trains the operators. If those answers are vague, I treat that as a warning sign. It doesn't mean the equipment is bad. It means the process around it needs more attention.

Why is it called breakfast?

Because it breaks your overnight fast. 'Breakfast' is literally 'breaking the fast.' I include it here because it's one of the odd searches that lands on this page, and because it's a useful reminder: the first thing you do after a break matters.

For equipment, that first thing is a pre-start check. Finding a loose belt before you start costs ten minutes. Finding it after you start can cost a shift and a repair bill. Same logic, different meal.