MF 35 deal?

[seaweaver]

I could not swing the extra 2k for the 135 but I found a MF 35 for 3k...it would have been 2500 but there was a seal leak from the??upper drive shaft.
The owner had several variants around the yard and seemed to know quite well the machine. The engine has been completely rebuilt by the local shop. The Hydrolics by another... There is zero blow by...no bad rust. All this, a MF trip bucket loader and box...for 3k.
Am I missing something? I'm a green horn to tractors...but I have fooled w/ industrial stuff and I saw nothing outstanding except one rear tire cracking around the tread and the lights do not work.(big whoop right?)
He said he would fix the leak, rebuild the carb and adjust the gap on the points at they did look like 40. I noticed no real delay in fire from start but...it did not pop fast enough for him. He put it on the market w/o a hard look at it for 4 months.
It ran/drove well.
Sounds like a deal right?
Anything I should inspect closer?
Thanks
cw

 

[flusher]

I could not swing the extra 2k for the 135 but I found a MF 35 for 3k...it would have been 2500 but there was a seal leak from the??upper drive shaft.
The owner had several variants around the yard and seemed to know quite well the machine. The engine has been completely rebuilt by the local shop. The Hydrolics by another... There is zero blow by...no bad rust. All this, a MF trip bucket loader and box...for 3k.
Am I missing something? I'm a green horn to tractors...but I have fooled w/ industrial stuff and I saw nothing outstanding except one rear tire cracking around the tread and the lights do not work.(big whoop right?)
He said he would fix the leak, rebuild the carb and adjust the gap on the points at they did look like 40. I noticed no real delay in fire from start but...it did not pop fast enough for him. He put it on the market w/o a hard look at it for 4 months.
It ran/drove well.
Sounds like a deal right?
Anything I should inspect closer?
Thanks
cw

Upper drive shaft--do you mean the pto shaft? The rear seal may be leaking--easy to replace.

Check the clutch operation--make sure the pto clutch is engaging/disengaging properly.

Also check the operation of the 3 point hitch--check that it stays up and doesn't quickly leak down.

$3K sounds reasonable for a tractor with a recent engine rebuild.

 

[seaweaver]

Yes two critical things I did not look at but was was offered to be shown...but my bride whom I brought as a weapon/foil/distraction/bad cop...was ready to go.I will check those prior to delivery.

Something he said came back to me this AM. The fuel in the petcock look a bit nasty due to the gas being a bit old and ethanol...he said he ran the fuel w/ a bit of oil in it as a temp retardant for the valve seats due to the lack of lead.
I saw the discussion(!) on the ford 8N "hardened" seats that supposedly could w/stand unleaded gas. I asked about the head and he said the local shop surfaced it and did a valve job. The exhaust was as clean as I could expect. I'll have to ask about what ratios he was using.
Any thoughts on this?

Thanks
cw