Woods Mower - Can the paint be this bad?

[jk96]

Worked out a deal with an implement company over 200 miles away for a 2003 woods rm990. Mower was listed as a 9 out of 10 with all major components in excellent condition including blades, spindle, etc. Company was very nice, great to deal with. I told them I'd take it based on their word and the picture of the mower online which looked to be in very good shape for a 2003.

Here's the picture I based my decision on.

Got a phone call today stating that they brought it inside and re-checked everything before I made the trip to pick it up, however the paint had gone south since they took the picture last fall.

Here's how it looks now after 6 months outside

Could this really be the same mower? I have a hard time believing this thing could look that bad based on the first picture. If so, it's not that big a deal if the mechanics are fine, but just seems hard for me to believe that this is the same mower. **note - the woods name on the cover is on the opposite side of the mower in the second pic but may have just gotten switched when servicing.

jk

 

[Farmwithjunk]

Yours has actually held up BETTER than some Woods products I've had experience with. 5 years ago, I bought an MD172 (6' medium duty) mower that had been sitting in a dealers inventory for a year. The next summer, I bought a brand new BB840 (7' medium duty) mower. The BB840 was so new, I had to wait until the dealer recieved it from Woods in order to pick it up. With-in 6 months of the time I purchased the BB840, BOTH mowers were shedding paint in sheets. It would literally blow off as I was driving down the highway with mower/tractor on a trailer. Just an estimate, but with the BB840, I'd venture a guess it had lost 50% of the paint. Nearly all of that was from the top of the deck itself, but any "yellow" was subject to peeling. From all appearances, it looke dlike they had painted over oily metal with no primer or no prep work. I first took the mower back to the dealer, who was useless in any warranty claim. I contacted Woods, who said "take it to your dealer". After a year of battling, they BOTH told me it was out of warranty, but if I'd like, they'd sell me ANOTHER mower with new paint.

I now own 5 BUSH HOG mowers for my mowing business and would just as soon quit the business as to buy another product from Woods. Both Woods mowers were painted (correctly) by me, then sold.

 

[mred]

I pulled both into paint and magnified I am sure there are better utilities. I see differences but it would be your call to determine if they are different enough. Obvious difference is the white on the black support bar it moved. Might want to look at the tires too

 

[kbotaman]

IMHO I find it hard to believe these are the same mower, paint fading is one thing, but there are areas where paint is off in the second picture that was not off in the first picture.

 

[MrJimi]

Just my opinion but that looks like two different mowers to me, look at the rust spots and the wheel adjusting holes, they ain't in the same place unless you changed them for your use
I hate when stuff like that happens

 

[Tig]

If that can happen in 6 months just sitting, I would expect it to turn to dust in under 5 years of use. j/k
That's not the same mower. Second one is set up a bit different and seem much older/more used than the first. IMO
At any rate it's not a 9 out of 10 mower like bargained for and that's all that matters.

 

[QRTRHRS]

While I have some issues with Woods, paint is not really one of them. I had a batwing for around six years that while faded, still looked fairly good.

I had a six foot Land Pride that had a bunch of one or two inch in diameter rust spots coming through the paint when I bought it. The deck on that was solid rust when I sold it. Looked pretty nasty but it cut just fine.

I just bought a ten foot galvanized deck mower made by Modern Ag. Have to wait a few years to see what happens to this one.

Depending on my work load, I may not be able to power wash off my mower or keep it under roof when there are too many things to do. I figure that is one of the costs of doing business.

 

[jk96]

Obvious difference is the white on the black support bar it moved. Might want to look at the tires too

Mred - thanks. I was looking for areas that matched or didn't match using photoshop but missed this one. I think that's all I need to know. Back to searching classifieds again Just glad I didn't find this out after driving 200+ miles.

 

[IslandTractor]

No way those are the same mower. Look at the strut that goes from the toplink to the rear of the mower. The hole is in different places. The entire Woods decal is missing too. And, as Mr. Jimi pointed out the wheel adjusting holes are set differently.

This is either a very shoddy business practice or just an intentional scam.

 

[jk96]

Island, I won't post names because I don't know if this was intentional, wrong picture posted originally or what. I will tell you that they are a dealer for one of the big three tractor companies. I told them I would take it last Friday and fedexed a check for $2500. Seemed reasonable based on the condition and the fact that these are $4600-$5000 mowers and hard to find used. I noticed early this morning that they had another 2003 online for sale with the same serial number but with the second picture. I e-mailed them this morning and told them to make sure that "mine" did not get sold by accident due to the new listing having the same serial number online. I then recieved a phone call telling me the paint had went south but was the same mower.

jk