Well guys, I went to look at a tractor today and I am going to pick it up on Saturday! I'm really excited.
Its a Yanmar 1401D, 4WD with a bush hog, tiller, carryall with a sprayer pump & tank mounted on it, and a scoop (not sure what it is officially called, you pull it from behind the tractor.)
The guy seemed pretty knowledgeable about the stuff, he said he would throw in the manuals that he got (English version) for the tractor, the tiller, and the bush hog. He also had the boxes for the NAPA filters that he uses so can know what to buy ones with when it comes time to replace them.
I was driving it around the yard and doing a little bush hogging to test it out and the coolant temp light came on. I was thinking on great, I came all the way out here to see this broken tractor.
But I shut it off and and found that that one of the hoses that went to the drain for the radiator had sprung a small leak. It was cracked and worn. There was no evidence of the leak being there previously. It will definitely need to be replaced. Judging by the reaction of the guy when I told him that the light was on I just have to believe that it was just awful timing that I had come to look at the tractor and the hose springing a leak. At least I know that the warning light works.
Anyway, I was going to replace it and make sure that fixes the problem before I buy it, and if that fixes the problem (which I'm sure it will) then it'll be coming home with me on Saturday.
Other things it will need is possibly just a voltage regulator, or maybe the alternator needs to get rebuilt. The starter seems to have a "dead spot" so that may just be the contacts or I may need to get a new/rebuild the current one too. He said he would take off $50 since the battery would need to be replaced too.
Mechanically however everything worked great. The motor didn't have any blue smoke, just a tiny little black puff when I revved it up quickly which from my experience with diesel trucks is totally normal.
Here are some pictures that the owner sent me before I went and looked at it:
Anyway, I'm pretty excited, and it looks like a pretty good deal for $2,700. I don't think he wants to go much lower than that, but I haven't seen if I can talk him down at all yet so who knows, but its well within my price range so even if I can't go lower I think its still OK.
