Today's Adventure

This past weekend I was out of state visiting my wife's family and on Craigslist a tractor that my farming buddy and I were looking for suddenly appeared. I talked to the guy a couple of times and he seemed very nice, told me lots of good information, seemed honest. Tractor had 2200 plus hours on it, tin was all nice and straight, rubber at 80%, paint was good, but the engine had a knock. Happened when they were blowing corn silage. My buddy told me to make an offer on it if it was everything the guy said it was. My buddy is a mechanic fien, loves challenges and loves fixing. So he was excited. On our small farming operation/hobby we buy all the machinery together, and buy tractors with our own money. Just something we decided, and it works very well. Anyway today, I was going to take the guy the money for the tractor. When we get there, I went and looked it over. The draw bar looked like it was used up, which made me go check the tach and hour meter right a way. There was one after market hour meter at 2241 and the original had 3971 on it. Fenders were all bent and one had a tear at the base of it. There were so many wires running all over it, and all the lights worked, except for the broken ones. The paint wasn't terrible, just not a lot of effort put into it. They torched out a pin on the 3 point, and left a mess. When it was all said and done, the price was still not bad, but I just couldn't hand him the money. I guess my expectations were to high, as my buddy said. I felt bad for saying I was going to take it, but I felt that 3900 more hours on something than what was said amongst many other things made it more justifiable. He said no big deal, other guys were interested if I didn't take it. Just frustrating. No money lost, checked out a tractor, learned something. That's a good day.

I have bought many pieces of equipment that I wish I had walked away from them later. LOL

The hunt for a tractor is part of the fun and education. You learned a valuable lesson today. NEVER BE afraid to walk away from a "DEAL". Also never get into where you HAVE to make a deal to go on.

Meaning do not buy or sell in an emergency. Plan ahead and not put yourself into a corner.

It sounds like you did that today. Walking away more than likely kept you out of future trouble.

I looked at a corn picker that way one time. Told the guy to hang on to it,I wanted it. Got there and the frame had been broken,it was all scabbed back together. The shafts didn't even line up because they hadn't straightened it before they welded it. I felt bad after telling him to hold on to it for me,but I had no use for something in that kind of shape.

I always say I will take it, if it is as you describe. If it is not I can walk away justified.

I bought a pickup with tons of hidden problems when I thought I'd ensured it was ok by having it pass safety/emissions inspection as a condition of buying it. Found out brake/turn signals lights didn't work, Back brakes were completely unfunctional. Front disc brake pads were installed upside down--I wasn't even aware that was possible. They'd removed the catalytic converter--the serial number was w/in about 100 of where they started putting them on. I had it inspected a year after buying it and saw for myself the inspector must have gone to that book and back to the truck a dozen times peeking into the filler neck trying to figure out if the leaded fuel restrictor plate had been punched out. He passed it. Careful investigation by me later revealed it should have a cat they just did a good job of covering that up.

It's hard to know if he was trying to cover up known defects or if he truly didn't give things a second thought and didn't know much about how things should be. He wasn't the original owner so I don't know that he was the person who removed the cat for instance. Maybe he always used his slap a sticker on friend for inspections and wasn't taking it there because he needed a sticker w/o looking closely at it. What did irk me was after I paid for it and went to drive off he said, don't forget the gas guage always reads full--it doesn't have much in it". Remember? He never mentioned that--I'd remember if he did. However maybe he'd told so many people about it that he honestly thought he had told me too--but I doubt that.

I learned a lesson the hard way that sometimes people "honestly?" think junk is in great condition. At least all you wasted was time and gas.

Agreed.


You get the best deal when you aren't afraid to walk away from it.

An old guy over west of me said he NEVER bought anything the first time he looked at it. Said he always went home and slept on it. He said he probably missed out on a few good deals,but more often than not it kept him from making a mistake. He told me that when I sold him a tractor. And yes,he went home and came back the next day on that one too.

We sat there for 20 minutes in below zero weather pondering every angle. It was the exactly what we were looking for, just with some unflattering traits, kind of like a pretty girl that smokes. It was an enjoyable trip, got some spring planning done, and made an upgrade list for machinery, and talked about a bunch of other things. I will agree, the fun is in the hunt.