Don't get too discouraged. I consider these tractors pretty well made and relatively easy to maintain. For something 30+ years old it's not going to be problem-free, especially if previous owners neglected it which tends to be the case after that many years. Heck, even the new stuff I buy seems to break just as often (or even more often) than the old stuff. Usually the older stuff is simpler to fix though. If you choose to correct the problems yourself, you can have some fun in doing so and you'll learn a lot and gain a better appreciation and understanding of things. It depends on if the tractor is more of a hobby or a tool to get necessary work done. If you need high reliability out of your machine, it will take some work to help get it there, or you'll have to break down and buy something newer and let the dealers fix the problems as they arise - hopefully under warranty.
I've said this before and I'll state it again here. Either I'm really unlucky with used tractors or they are all that way because I've acquired five of these type of tractors for varying prices, mainly Isekis and none of them came w/o issues. The worst were the broken gears, cracked rims, engines poorly rebuilt, over-loaded/broken loaders, and many other odd things. Leaking seals and gaskets are almost a given on every one along with missing parts. Electrical issues are prominent mainly due to age and disrepair. A lot of the problems I can attribute to neglect/lack of knowledge by owners. I think, in general, most owners expected more from these small machines than what they were orginally designed to do and it tends to show in what remains out there.
All is not lost though. Most of the problems can be fixed, maybe not always as cheap as one would hope, but there can still be a lot of servicability left in these machines. I find these tractors are a good value for what a person gets compared to other things like four-wheelers or snowmobiles, for example. Nothing against those things and I've had both and liked them, it's just that for me a tractor is more justifiable to help get things done around the property vs. something that is geared towards sports/entertainment. It all goes back to a person's interests and I respect what others' do and hope they would say the same for me.
