Just bought first tractor and got ripped off

[Threepoint]

Before you took them down, I read the text messages, but wasn't able to open the facebook messenger conversations. It sucks, but based on what I could see up to that point, have to agree with Midniteoyl . :sorry:

 

[Poorboy04]

Yea I'm just going to move on. I have let this consume my life enough. I'm going to get the tractor re-welded and hope for the best.

 

[LD1]

I'm going to get the tractor re-welded and hope for the best.

Not necessarily the best plan of action IMO. First and foremost is to asses the situation. And right now you dont know if the leak is coming from a crack (that would indeed need rewelded to do it right), or simply a pin hole or gas hole in the weld, that some simple epoxy or a pipe plug would fix just as well, but 10x's cheaper and easier

 

[PILOON]

On more than one occasion I have suggested that a potential buyer hire a local mechanic, preferably one that knows the brand, to bring along when making this kind of purchase.
At most I should cost about 1.5-2 hrs of normal wages, a very small investment that can save tons of future dollars.

I used to do such inspections for folks buying small aircraft (I'm an A&P and pilot).
I practiced what I preached when I purchased a tracked dozer and it saved me $1400. on a $4000 dozer!

 

[sixdogs]

Even if you paid with a bank check you can still stop payment on it for fraud. I had to do it once and all worked out OK. Short of that, buy used arts, fix it and it's not that bad of a loss. At least you know what not to do next time.

 

[MossRoad]

Yea I'm just going to move on. I have let this consume my life enough. I'm going to get the tractor re-welded and hope for the best.

Perhaps you should take it to a tractor mechanic/dealer for an estimate of how bad the leak really is, what it'll take to repair it, etc...?

In the end, it might not be too bad.

Good luck and let us know how it goes. :thumbsup:

 

[prichard]

I'm sorry about your misfortune.

This is why I bought new. I knew I was not qualified to assess a used tractor in that price range. Around here $8k is a very used tractor. I put the 8k down on new and did the 0% on the other 8k.

 

[MossRoad]

Thinking back on it, the New Holland TC21D (the OPs is a TC24D) was on my short list of tractors back in 2001. If the OPs TC24D is in otherwise good shape, its probably worth a repair and move along with life.

 

[SPYDERLK]

Yea I'm just going to move on. I have let this consume my life enough. I'm going to get the tractor re-welded and hope for the best.

,,,...Again:

Do you see a crack in the weld? ... I dont in the pics. The leak may be just from some porosity within an otherwise strong fix. If so, you may just have a leak to stop. Forget JB weld either way. Nothing will give you enough strength, but if its just a leak look for oil tolerant sealers for tight porosity. -- Then do a clean up and fix in place. Do not use Brake Kleen because it leaves a difficult to remove residue in the metal that will degrade the adhesive as the casting warms up in use. Acetone or alcohol followed by thorough drying with a hair dryer will be much better.

 

[moriboy]

If it were me, I'd just have it fixed by a good welder and use for a while. Going back to the seller would be the last thing on my mind. I've purchased a few things in my life that seemed fine, only to have issues down the road that I didn't discover at the time of purchase. That's just how it goes sometimes.

I had a scare last year...

I was looking for a nice dozer for my ranch. Looked at nearly a dozen before I found "the one". Checked it out as best I could, test drove for 15 minutes, and wrote the man a check. I got it home, started to push some dirt and noticed it had almost no oil pressure. I'm sure seller had to have known the oil pressure showed low, yet he didn't reveal that to me. Long story short, it had a bad gauge. I never really blamed the seller, I blamed myself for not doing enough inspection. Fortunately I ended up with nice machine for a great price and I think that was partially due to the seller thinking the engine was going to grenade....