Re: Value of "rough looking" but "solid working" Kubota L345 4wd with loader
I'm looking at a listing for a Kubota
L345 4wd with loader.
Owner is asking $5000 "firm".
It's kinda rough looking, tach and hour meter don't work and so owner claims to know nothing about how many hours.
Hood and grill are missing.
I'm told the hydraulics, PTO, and Engine are in good operating condition.
Would you pay $5k for that tractor in that condition?
That's an interesting price point. I doubt I'd go 5K, but that led me to consider just what would cause me to look at that tractor seriously. There are some real positives about these older tractors. In the first place, that's an older USA model from back when Kubota was getting going in this county.... Meaning that Kubota dealers can probably get normal maintenance parts, gaskets, and seals for it, and that aftermarket and used parts places are likely to have used sheetmetal pieces.
And there are some other things that old Kubota has in it's favor. Being an older type, it is very simple in construction. Tractors from that era were designed to be owner maintained - even owner-diagnosed & repaired if they needed it. That makes it particularly appealing to a guy who has some basic mechanical skills. Even more so for the kind of guy who actually enjoys a little mechanical work along with working in the dirt.
And the
L345 does have an impressive number of things that are really important. For example it was powerful for its size. It has an appropriately rugged loader, power steering, a reasonable number of gears, Dry clutch and wet brakes, an engine that is large enough to be under stressed, and is generally known to be a reliable machine. I can well believe that the hydraulics, engine, and PTO are in reasonable operating condition - and it is simple enough so that if they work well now they would likely work the same for years to come. Although I would want to test that for myself.
And if I could get the price down a bit I could probably pick up new hoses, oil, filters, a battery....and maybe even some sheetmetal which would quickly turn that tractor from something questionably worth 5K into something definitely worth that much or more.
All of this is dependent on your mechanical skills and your comfort in evaluating second hand machines. I wish I was local and we'd go looking at it together. That's kind of look may be all you need to pick up a good old machine - or it might be a junker. All depends on you and your experience with mechanical things as much as anything. There are good old machines out there, but not many. People like me tend to snap them up.
Not many machines in the 4 to 5,000 dollar range are going to be both powerful, be a desireable make and model, and also be in good cosmetic shape. All I'm saying is that for a certain type of tractor buyer, this is worth looking at.
rScotty
