04/09/12, 02:57 PM
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Join Date: Nov 2008
Posts: 5,205
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My priorities, in terms of wear and tear, would be
1) Oil pressure. I would let the engine run long enough--preferably under load--to watch the guage to see how much of a drop it has. Another clue would be engine blow-by(smoke) coming from the oil filler cap.
2) Rings and valves. Smoke on a cold engine startup, and engine not shutting down very fast(runout) when ignition is turned off. Always see if the engine is warm when you look at it(if you have an appointment time) A warm engine will tell you the seller hurried out and warmed it up so you wouldn't see the smoke on startup..... Also look for smoke on a beginning load. Grey is oil, black is spark plugs and fuel mixture.
3) Clutch wear--a hard one to see, but a lot of tractors have to be split apart to work on the clutch. One way is to look at the drawbar hole. If it is ovalled out, you know the tractor has pulled a lot of rear weight and that wears on the clutch. Sometimes you can tell by the clutch travel, too.
4) Transmission. Test drive and run it through all the gears--any whines, popping out of gear, etc. A fluid check sometimes tells you, too.
5) Hydraulic system. Does the lift stay up with a heavy implement on it in the up position. On a double action, does the implement stay in the ground.....
6) Tires, brakes, generator/alternator, wiring, radiator. Tires are expensive and the price of the tractor should be adjusted to match tire wear. The others can be fixed, but they can be annoying and expensive, too
Be leary of any one who tells you, "It ran when I parked it two years ago", or "It runs, but it needs a new battery(or carburator cleaned) right now." Or one sitting outside--especially in the weeds.....
geo
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