I meet the seller and he had it all hooked up to his tractor (older Kubota M). Looked really good. No dings in the plating anywhere. Only physical item I noticed that the rear flap had a kink in it from the tiller being backed up and hitting an object, but that should be easy enough to fix I would think. Really mostly a cosmetic thing.
So I had him raise it off the ground and start it up at idle. No noise at all except if I put my ear right next to the chain cover. Same thing at full 540 rpm speed. The tine shaft (and tines) were all straight as an arrow. After he shut is all down, I checked the set screw for adjusting the chain. It had never been adjusted since new. Still had paint over the whole length of the shaft. Got the nut loose after quite of work, the shaft after even more work, and then started to adjust in. It only took 3 turns before it was tight, so I backed it out one turn and then had him run it again. Couldn't really tell any difference from a sound standpoint (still very quited). After he shut it down again, I checked for play, and there was none to speak of. The PTO shaft would start to turn after moving a tine tip like 1/32" or less.
Offered him $1300 despite finding absolutely nothing wrong and he was firmly decline and said that he probably had it listed low to begin with. I agreed and we settled on the asking price of $1500.
Got it sitting on the back of my truck at a lodge in Gatlinburg, TN. Decided to make it a family trip and we'll be making the rest of the trip back home tomorrow.
Looking forward to putting it to use after I change out what I'm sure is the original oil. I believ the tines are all original too and show no where near the wear that I thought they would. I think this was a real good buy!
