Ozark Hollow
Member
After getting some pretty stunning quotes on new finish mowers I decided I would shark eBay for a while and see if anything turned up.
Well a couple of weeks ago a Kioti KRM03-60 came up for sale only about 25 miles from me. The mower is made by Sicma out of Italy and from my research it seemed to be a decent make.
So I went down to take a look. The listing said it only had 8 hours on it and it looked like it. I've seen more used looking mowers new in dealer lots. I did notice that the 3 pt attachment arms weren't straight, but I assumed the were made that way. I bid on it and was overjoyed when I got it for $610. I priced them new at $1795. I got a friend to help me pick it up and that's when the fun started.
Ho ho ho. As we were unloading it off the trailer, I noticed that the one of the rear wheels seemed bent. When I had looked at it before, it was up on a pallet and all the wheels had looked straight. At first I thought maybe it had happened when it was loaded on the trailer, but then I saw that the pin that holds the fork in had been replaced with a bent piece of threaded rod. So then I went over the mower again, like I should have done the first time. Here is what I found. In addition to bent wheel fork, the front arms were bent outward. How he bent them I don't know, that metal is thick. I couldn't flatten them again with a sledge and the paint was still on, so they weren't heated or anything. The guy had swapped retaining pins all over the place, and used some that were too small/thin. He managed to bust off one of the extended grease fittings, and I spent quite some time fishing the broken remains out of the threaded fitting hole. He also had the covers on wrong, which I'm guessing is how he broke off the grease fitting. To top it all off, he apparently thought it was ok to remove the chains that secure the PTO shields. Personally I'd like to keep my body parts.
Replacement parts totaled around $150. It could have been much worse if I had needed to replace the spindle with the busted grease fitting though.
Here's what amazes me. How could this guy do so much damage to this mower (which has very sturdy construction) with so little use? The mower blades are SHARP and the rest of the mower really looks like the 8hr use figure is right. The gear box oil is full and clean, everything spins freely with no noises, and the belts have zero wear. How could you lose so many pins, and why on earth would you replace them with pins and junk that didn't fit? Pins certainly aren't expensive, and it's not like he had to drive 20 miles for parts. The place I picked up the mower is about a block from the Kioti dealer. -.-
The bottom line is that I should have looked a lot harder at the mower when I went to look at it. But then again, if I had, I might have passed on a great deal. Some people do amaze me though.
Well a couple of weeks ago a Kioti KRM03-60 came up for sale only about 25 miles from me. The mower is made by Sicma out of Italy and from my research it seemed to be a decent make.
So I went down to take a look. The listing said it only had 8 hours on it and it looked like it. I've seen more used looking mowers new in dealer lots. I did notice that the 3 pt attachment arms weren't straight, but I assumed the were made that way. I bid on it and was overjoyed when I got it for $610. I priced them new at $1795. I got a friend to help me pick it up and that's when the fun started.
Ho ho ho. As we were unloading it off the trailer, I noticed that the one of the rear wheels seemed bent. When I had looked at it before, it was up on a pallet and all the wheels had looked straight. At first I thought maybe it had happened when it was loaded on the trailer, but then I saw that the pin that holds the fork in had been replaced with a bent piece of threaded rod. So then I went over the mower again, like I should have done the first time. Here is what I found. In addition to bent wheel fork, the front arms were bent outward. How he bent them I don't know, that metal is thick. I couldn't flatten them again with a sledge and the paint was still on, so they weren't heated or anything. The guy had swapped retaining pins all over the place, and used some that were too small/thin. He managed to bust off one of the extended grease fittings, and I spent quite some time fishing the broken remains out of the threaded fitting hole. He also had the covers on wrong, which I'm guessing is how he broke off the grease fitting. To top it all off, he apparently thought it was ok to remove the chains that secure the PTO shields. Personally I'd like to keep my body parts.
Replacement parts totaled around $150. It could have been much worse if I had needed to replace the spindle with the busted grease fitting though.
Here's what amazes me. How could this guy do so much damage to this mower (which has very sturdy construction) with so little use? The mower blades are SHARP and the rest of the mower really looks like the 8hr use figure is right. The gear box oil is full and clean, everything spins freely with no noises, and the belts have zero wear. How could you lose so many pins, and why on earth would you replace them with pins and junk that didn't fit? Pins certainly aren't expensive, and it's not like he had to drive 20 miles for parts. The place I picked up the mower is about a block from the Kioti dealer. -.-
The bottom line is that I should have looked a lot harder at the mower when I went to look at it. But then again, if I had, I might have passed on a great deal. Some people do amaze me though.
remember the old saying buyer beware, if it sounds too good to be true it usually is. But at least it sounds like you still got a great deal.
