Looking for reccommendations

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Hi guys!I'm new to the forum and very new to welding. Took a quick readthrough of your "newbies guide" up top and learned quite a lot of valuable info about the different types of welding, but am looking for some recommendations for welding machines.I work on a decent sized agricultural operation in the southern US. We have decided that we have need to set up a mobile service trailer that we can cart around to different fields/packing house etc. to fix tractors/harvesters/wagons and all manner of other things. The centerpiece of this trailer figures to be a welder/generator. I am trying to gather some information to determine what kind of machine we would need to do that type of work we would require of it- mostly welding steel on farm equipment, but potentially some other applications. The generator would be used to power an air compressor and work lights- nothing fancy (and presumably not while welding!). Anybody have any suggestions of the size/type of welder we should be looking for? Our preference would be to run it off diesel, but gas is fine too. Top end of price range is probably not much over 3 grand, but cheaper is better (although I have gathered that you get what you pay for in terms of welding machines, we don't really need to pay for excess capacity). Thanks a bunch!
Reply:Unfortunately diesel units will cost you way more than $3K even used. Older used units often don't have much aux power for running heavy draw equipment. Most at best will run small 110v tools off a 15 amp outlet, maybe 3kw max. With the newer diesel regs. the value of older diesels just jumped because of the massive increase in the cost of new emissions compliant diesel units. You need to look at what sorts of jobs you need/want to do. If all you need to do is stick welding, then you can get a very basic welder generator that will do this. If you need to do tig or wire as well as stick, or need more aux power to run say 230v pumps etc, then that changes the game and you need to look at bigger units. There are any number of small units like this out there.Hobarts Champion is an inexpensive gas machine that does stick and basic scratch start tig with a decent aux generator power. If you want both wire and stick, Millers Bobcat is a good economy unit. They also make a 3 phase aux power model for farm applications. Millers Trailblazer would allow you to do pretty much anything including tig with a remote and wire feed with a remote, but it's way more than $3k even used most times..No government ever voluntarily reduces itself in size. Government programs, once launched, never disappear. Actually, a government bureau is the nearest thing to eternal life we'll ever see on this earth! Ronald Reagan