good cheap used implement find

Soundguy · Dec 29, 2005

I've been making quite a few 3 hour drives to the inlaws lately due to their health problems. The drive gets kinda booring.. but I got lucky today. there are a few 'junk' dealers ont he way, and I spied a few tractors on the lot, and looked them over... junk.. as I was about to leave.. i saw a nice cone type spreader setting under a shed. Now.. i needed one as my old light duty spreader has just about had it.. I've welded and tinkerd on it for years.... new cone styles from TSC are int he 400-500$ range... more than I want to spend...
I look this spreader over.. gerbox feels smooth.. no rust.. pto shaft is stuck together with a bit of rust.. but looks like a few taps from a hammer and some oil will fix it up.

If the price was good enough i was gonna come back up for it tomorrow with my truck/trailer, as the wife and I were in the yukon today. When the guy said 150$, I crammed it int he back of my yukon and bunji-corded the rear doors almost sut, and got down the road with a foot of the thing sticking out the back of the truck before he could change his mind!

I can't wait to get a few hours to clean the dust off of it, lube it up and unstick the pto shaft.

Soundguy

Cliff_Johns · Dec 30, 2005

There is a certain pleasure in such a find that even a bright shinny new purchase does not match.

Cliff

Farmwithjunk · Dec 30, 2005

I had an old Herd spreader that finally gave up a few years back. Fertilizer took it's course and rusted it to an early demise.

I bought on simular to TSC's version for $395. (2-1/2 years ago before steel prices went nuts)

The very NEXT day, I was at a friends house, loading up his tractor (on my trailer) to take it to his dealer for service. I spied a spinner/spreader sitting in the corner of his shop. I mentioned buying a new one. He told me I could have his if I wanted it. Only problem? It was missing one part. ... The agitator.

I hefted it on to the trailer. On another day, when I was bored, I made one just like the one in my new spreader. Finished product had all of $5 worth of electric and welding rods used to get it up and running. Then I had TWO spreaders.

#2ended up getting traded to a neighbor for 7 rolls of barbed wire he had left over from fencing his place.

I LOVE bargains!

I trust we'll get a picture or two when the re-hab is done?

By the way, how's the knee?

Soundguy · Dec 30, 2005

Yep.. pictures when i get it done.

as for the knee, it ended up being a slightly torn miniscus. No surgery.. at least "yet" as the dr. said.

I can now walk on it 99% normally with no pain.. but fast walking will make it feel 'funny'.. and no jogging or running.. at all. I still favor it if kneeling, and rerely put it to the floor. I also still favor it when lifting, and usually shift the weight on lifting to my right leg ( probably blow it out 'early' from overworking it... ). After a full day of normal use.. it will sometimes ache.. sometimes not. I'd say it is getting better day by day... perhaps in a few months it may be closer to normal for lifting... not sure about running though... kneecap feels like it moves funny... might be my imagination??

Soundguy

Farmwithjunk · Dec 30, 2005

Might be your body telling your mind to take it easy on the knee too. I played ice hockey when I was a kid. I landed on my knees a few times. They remind me every now and then.

My right knee is better at forecasting snow than the most technilogically advances weather forecasting equipment known to man.

Sucks getting old..... sure beats the alternative though.

ray_reilly · Jan 1, 2006

hey soundguy
i'm here in lake county. Do you know of any auctions or places to buy used box blades or mowers ect...

Ray

Soundguy · Jan 2, 2006

Up in ocala, there is a big auction.. weeks... it's on sr 40 near the interstate. 352-351-4951

They do an auction once or twice a month.. but the site is open all week long.. and most of the sellers leave a 'buy it now' price and tel # with the front desk people. Drive around the auction, and write down the numbers on the tags.. go up to the front desk, and see if any of them are for straight sale...

I've gotten a great deal on a new mower there.. etc.

Soundguy