Are You A Gambler?

[stevem5215]

$8000 gamble. No tires included so add another $3k or so.

 

[hummertom]

Be careful with Iron Planet, they are only in it for the money, a few years ago I was in an auction with them, they had a bunch of Kubota's for sale, when the first one sold they decided that was the 'floor' price for the rest. I should also note that they are the agency selling off the material stockpiled for the border wall. They are part of Gov.Planet based in Pleasanton, CA but have auctions all over.

 

[Too many Kubotas]

Be careful with Iron Planet, they are only in it for the money...

That's really not an all bad business strategy.

 

[Paystar]

I don't know about tractors but I do know we have an F550 Ford diesel at work that went off the road and ended up in a pond with water up to the dash.
That thing is at the Ford dealer literally once a month with electrical gremlins.
And that's after it was "fixed" under insurance.

Also, never touch any of the auction tractors you see with 50 to 100 hours that were snow contractors. Every one I have seen, and the ones my friends bought were rotten from the salt in that low hour time with all kinds of stuff seized up under them.

 

[boatmoter]

Iron Planet auction has about 20 brand new Kubotas being auctioned off. All listed as "sustained flood damage March 10". They are all still in their crates. No ideas of high the water got on them or what.
Would you take a chance?

if water got into the computer or the harness connectors you will be in for big bucks. you would also need a scanner, the scanners to scan a farm tractor are bout $$ grand. and they charge an arm and a leg to scan it for you.on cars,insurance company's total out cars if they been submerged deep enough to get the wiring harness under. it creates voltages drops Galore and will have many problems down the road with high resistance on the computer harnesses or the buss circuits.

 

[sunandsand]

I'd say (and this is only my opinion, YMMV) that these tractors should be parted out. That way, each part can be inspected for water damage and either cleaned, reconditioned or scrapped.

Water does awful things to complex machinery. Next door neighbor bought a Chrysler (something) which turned out to be a flood car and wasn't on the Carfax. Constant random problems, and the inside of it stank. Dealer went out of business so there was nobody to sue.

There was a Piper Cherokee tied down somewhere in the Florida keys, storm surge got it. Seller claimed "it was only halfway up the tires" so he was selling it for "just a little under market value". He also said it had new carpeting (hmm, wonder why?) Photo showed up on some website showing THAT airplane (by N number) in standing water halfway up the doors, and of course it was salt water.

Someone at the FSDO (Flight Service District Office) saw the photo and promptly revoked the airworthiness certificate AND demanded the data plate. Someone now has an airplane shaped flower planter, hopefully it wasn't parted out and all those salt water damaged aluminum and steel parts wound up at a recycler instead of as parts on other people's airplanes.

In 1970, I bought a 1969 BMW R69S (motorcycle) from a salvage company for $50. It was found at the bottom of a canal in Miami about a month after it was stolen. About the only things salvageable were a handful of small rubber parts. I chalked the $50 up as "entertainment".

I would pass on these tractors because a tractor is a long-term item, I wouldn't care to risk putting up with strange and unpredictable problems for the next twenty years.

Best Regards,

Mike/Florida

 

[paulsharvey]

It is a gamble, but you need to hedge your risks. If you have the money to risk, and get a $40k machine, for $8k, that's a pretty healthy margin to fix what need to be fixed, and resell for $25k. I just don't know enough about the modern emissions stuff to say on that front, and if these specific models are easily deleted. Mechanically, gears can absolutely take some water and rust, and be freed up, and run many years, just fine. The unassembled ones, I worry that they may not have had fluids, and then held water for 9 months, without getting drained. Wiring, computer, and emissions are all at risk; even if mechanically its fine.

I would hazard to guess, if you bought 10 of them; 2 or 3 would be 100% fine; 1 or 2 would be broken down for parts; and the rest would be in the middle. You would probably make money on the whole; but buying a single one, you dont want that 10-20% chance of a near total loss.

I also would guess a fair number of machines have been half under water, and you would never know.

Also, depends on the purchasers abilities and time to fix, vs paying someone $120+/hour to make repairs.

 

[Rustyiron]

I don't imagine that you'd loose all of the (currently) $8k if you were to take this bet. They're in perfect shipping condition but will probably get snatched up within driving distance. Someone is probably going to make a decent profit on these but don't look for any factory warranty.
If I could drive there and get home in a days time, I'd be bidding.

 

[paulsharvey]

Regardless, they still have a Lot of good parts, and I don't blame the insurance company for not just selling them for $0.08/pound at a scrap yard.

 

[Elviscaretaker]

Water looked to be up over the motor on the 2 I looked at, hard pass. Especially since it doesn't look like you are buying a complete tractor.