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| A M-F 85 |
The problem with buying used equipment is that you are often buying another man's problem.
What does a rancher sell when drought hits his range?
He sells the brood-stock that lose their calves or lambs. He sells any animal that ever thought about jumping the fence. He sells the ones with bad feet, can't keep weight on, wormy or simply have a bad disposition.
Downsizing can be a good thing. Put rubber beneath your problems and send them down the road. Sell the ones that take money out of your pocket and keep the ones that put twenty-dollar bills into your wallet.
All too often (at least for those of us shopping for used equipment) the same is true for tractors and such.
I bought a tractor today. It is twice as much tractor as I really need. It weighs 5300 pounds and is rated for 60hp on the PTO. It also shares a birthday with me. It will be brush-hogging, pulling boats out of the lake, dragging dead ash logs out of the swamp and dead deer out of the woods.
The man selling the tractor was very clear and up-front about his problem.
He had done some excavation work for the tractor's previous owner. When presented with the bill, the previous owner was about $2500 shy of being able to pay the bill.
I put the equivalent of 120, $20 bills into that excavator's pocket today.
Looks like a good deal to me as long as the cylinder pressures are close to equal and the clutch hasn't been adjusted to the last point of use. A tractor a little too big is much better than a tractor a little too small. That one is about right for a good all-around machine in my experience. And you can work on it yourself.---ken
ReplyDeleteI'm proud to say that all my tractors and major machines are younger than I am. The closest are 1951 model SC Case and a 1950 AC 60 combine. Currently working on a 1948 8N Ford, so they keep creeping closer. As I tell my wife, there is no fun in buying something that already runs.
ReplyDeleteWould you be interested in a 1959 Massi Harris combine, always shedded ?---ken
DeleteWhere is it? Pull type?
DeleteSelf propelled. It's in my tractor barn where I parked it 29 years ago near Lake Linden Mi. in Houghton County just north of Houghton/Hancock,
DeleteCorrection: Massi Ferguson No, 35 SP If you , or anyone else is interested enmail me at coyoteken48@gmail,com
DeleteThat seems like a lot of HP for a tractor.
ReplyDeleteToo much power is like unicorn pie.
ReplyDeleteThe problem is ALWAYS a lack of traction.
As Coyote said, too big is better than too small. Doesn't look like a bad deal.
ReplyDelete