Looking at the terrain, I wonder if the front axle was constantly banging side to side against its stops. Pivoting as far as it could and slamming into the frame/stops with heavy loads constantly I could see something like that happening.
I hate not knowing more to the story, what happened, was dealer contacted, what they said, etc etc.
If I had a failure like that on a newer machine I just bought for $60k+, the last thing I would think to do would be list it on marketplace.
Wonder if this tractor was financed....and he wants what he can get and gonna walk away from the loan?