Appreciate all the responses so far. I am going to look it over more closely Saturday, but I'm pretty certain I'm going to get it, for several reasons. One, as rScotty said, "it is right there." It's 20 more HP than my gasser Ford 861, which doesn't have a loader or remotes. It's 40 more HP than my Kubota
BX23S, which has a loader and backhoe. Both are great tractors and I have no complaints about them, but a), gonna be a pain to trailer them back and forth for the next 5 yrs until we build, and b), they seem too small and limited for this property. I could leave the 861 there since the place has a nice big shop, but with no loader, not much I can do other than mow, use the rear blade, and skid some timber out if needed. Not to mention he gets a little cantankerous when he doesn't get started every couple of weeks (another project I need to do this winter, tracking down the problem). The Kubota, while an extremely capable and underrated machine, is just gonna be too small for mowing, with only a 4' hog.
Another reason is the older gentleman I'm buying the place from has a shop/apt right across the road, and even though this is just a "get away spot" for him (he lives a couple of hrs away in the suburbs) he is there quite a bit, as he is retired. He offered the tractor and equipment to me because isn't going to need it and doesn't want to deal with having to sell it. He's got two other tractors in there but one is too small (8N) and one I just don't want (90 HP JD with grapple). The JD is a nice tractor and I will definitely want a grapple later but just don't want to spend the money right now (plus I'm just a little anti-JD, sorry !!). So, guess you could say it's just too dang convenient for me to buy this one, rather than look for something else, especially considering that he told me he used this one the most over the JD, with a few exceptions due to the JD being 4WD. The Ford is much more nimble and better suited for working in the woods and maintaining the trail, and as said previously, I know how to use a loader and what the limitations of 2WD are. I rarely put my Kubota in 4WD. I realize I may decide on something even bigger once I move there full time but I still see this one as being handy for mowing. Sadly, I may even see that I don't have enough work for the 861 to justify keeping it, and I really like that 861!!
The final two reasons I'm leaning towards this are really the only two reasons that count: one, I LOVE Ford tractors. Just think they are hard to beat for reliability, toughness, and dang it, they just look so dang good!!! Finally, I have the two tractors mentioned above, and will have two more (51 Ferguson TO20 and an AC D17 when my dad decides he's too old to continue taking care of his cattle), however, YOU REALLY CAN NEVER HAVE TOO MANY TRACTORS!!!!
Looking around this shop, it seems he takes good care of his equipment and he seems like one of those guys who can do a little bit of everything, so I'm just assuming the tractor is mechanically sound. I'll check it out better this weekend and post back with any issue I hope I don't find!
Thanks everyone.
