Worth buying a demo/old stock unit?

[MDM]

As far as the cracked hoses. My FIL has a TYM made Mahindra that is 3 years old. It is stored in an unheated barn and has maybe 400hrs on it and all of the hoses on the loader are cracked. Is this normal? How would you prevent this? Armor-All the hoses periodically?

Back on topic I believe the promotion TYM is having on this tractor is for tractors that sat on the lot for a while in the sun, it could have possibly came from another dealer that dropped the line. Probably nothing wrong with it other than the exposure it got. I would see if you could get another $1000 of and maybe meet somewhere in the middle.

 

[john_bud]

Hmmm, You're in an area with some pretty intense sun. The tractor could be 1 yr or 2, or more. With tractors, you buy the model # and the year is based on sold date and not so much on built date. A shock compared to our experience with cars, but normal for tractors.

I would think that the 1000 off is a decent deal. But everything is negotiable. He may need the cash flow and can't go much lower in price. But--- he may be able to do other things. Ask about a nice discount on service. Have him do the 50 hr service and 200 hr service for just the cost of parts. (assuming you wouldn't do it yourself) Or have him discount implements. A "package" bought when YOU have leverage can be a good deal. I did that when I got my kubota. Bought the woods BB600 cutter and a Gannon box at dealer cost and had a complete service manual tossed in to boot.

jb

 

[stumpfield]

what are the concerns of buying a demo/old stock tractor that has been sitting in the dealer's lot for over a year?

It has 11 hours on the tractor. The rubber hoses show sign of cracks. The plastic parts look a little faded from the sun's UV light. This is something has been demo/start/stop/test drive on the dealer's lot by various potential buyers for over a year. My main concern is the diesel engine. The engine only gets to run a few minutes and never got a chance to warm up to operating temperature. Will this cause any damage or affect the longivity of the engine and other moving parts?

Sorry, the title of this thread might have confuse a few people. My main concern on the demo unit was the **hundreds of start/stop**/short test drive moving around the dealer's lot by people who might not have the greatest care for the tractor. What kind of impact was this type of usage have on the diesel engine??? My understand of diesel engine was it's like to be warmed up and have a good work out. Frequent start/stop could have much more wear-n-tear than the 11 hours on the meter shown. Any thoughts?

 

[IslandTractor]

I understand that a demo unit would have been started a few times a week but it is very unlikely it was abused. Most people literally start the engine, move the tractor around the lot, make the FEL go up and down, maybe dig into a pile of dirt for two or three minutes and then shut it down. Yes, that is a fair amount of starting and stopping but there is very little stress being put on the engine with those sorts of maneuvers so I don't think it would hurt the engine at all. It may not be ideal breakin but I rather doubt it would have done any serious harm to the engine.

My first tractor was a one year old used/demo unit that had 28 hours on it. No hint of abuse nor did I have any issue at all in the next 150hrs before I traded up. Regarding pricing, I'd look for a bit more than the 6-7% discount. In my case I got almost 25% off list. It depends a bit on whether the "full price" your dealer is quoting is already 15% or more off list price.

 

[Soundguy]

As far as the cracked hoses. My FIL has a TYM made Mahindra that is 3 years old. It is stored in an unheated barn and has maybe 400hrs on it and all of the hoses on the loader are cracked. Is this normal? How would you prevent this? Armor-All the hoses periodically?
.

I think hose cracking will be more of a function of the sulight you get, where the tractor stays.. and how good a quality rubber covering the hose was in the first place.

Keep in mind.. the rubber covering is not what seals the oil in.. it merely protects the metal cords from rusting.. still.. cracked rubber will eventually lead to failure of the metal sheathing.. etc.

Quality is variable... I've got some old tractors that obviously have 'vintage' hyd hoses on them.. or at least ones from the 70's or so with nothing more than normal wear.. I've also seen hoses less than a year old start to crack on some major manufacturers machines.. etc.

soundguy

 

[neucam]

what are the concerns of buying a demo/old stock tractor that has been sitting in the dealer's lot for over a year?

It has 11 hours on the tractor. The rubber hoses show sign of cracks. The plastic parts look a little faded from the sun's UV light. This is something has been demo/start/stop/test drive on the dealer's lot by various potential buyers for over a year. My main concern is the diesel engine. The engine only gets to run a few minutes and never got a chance to warm up to operating temperature. Will this cause any damage or affect the longivity of the engine and other moving parts? Any other concerns? The dealer said he will do a full inspection and replace all the crack hoses. He's giving me $1000 off the price comparing to a brand new one. Worth it? What's your opinion? Thanks.

Sounds OK to me, 11 hours is nothing, no harm done, and if they replace all cracked parts and reset the warrentee, then OK. If you are in a hot area, many plastic parts do not stand up well, Armorall could fix it. If you bought new you would have the same discussion 1 year from now. Keep it garaged to keep it pretty.