Flood damage ?

[Tony S]

Thinking about looking at a tractor that was flood damaged. Owner said that they changed all the fluids and have not had any problems for the last 1.5 yrs. Runs really good nothing has gone wrong, just nice working machine. Price seems good and the owner did not try to hide the fact that it was flooded. I don't know a lot about what happened such as how far submurged or for how long. When I talk to them next, is there anything I should inquire about. And if I get to the point of looking at it what should I look for that might be problem in the future?

[Soundguy]

as you said.. depends on the particulars of the flood.

if it was driven into a lake and the engine did not hydro lock, and they pulled it out, drained oils and refileld and went.. it might be completely fine.

I bought a ford tractor post katrina, from lousiana. unit had been UNDER the high water mark

when i got it home, I took everything off I could, and flushed sumps. it was a bit of a rare ford or I would not have went for a drowned one. it was an offset. and the price was right for one that went swimming.

i pulled the final drives, pto shaft, trans cover, hyds, engine covers.. etc.

repacked wheel bearings.. etc.

I found fine silt in the final drive pans and almost all sump bases. not like piles of sand.. just a silty fine. the hyds though actually had some plant matter and more than silt, in it. the lil connecting tube onthe hyds the offset used was actually plugged with dirt/debris.

wheel bearings were loaded. engine looked good. side covers and valve cover were about what I normally expected. looks like turbid water and silts stayed lower than the engine top.

all the gauges were flooded.. I was surprised the genny and starter cleaned up, but they did.

pto shaft beairng shad actual sand in it.

it all cleaned up after about 3 weeks of work... tractor ran and started fine after that.

-if- the owner of yours took the time to mitigate the issue.. it's likely fine.