Buying Advice Kubota L35 2400 hours

[spiceman]

Went to look at an L35 today.

It has 2400 hrs on it, and supposedly $4k of recent work (waiting to see documentation).

Inlcuded are turf tires, a set of forks, a dual grapple mounted on a large bucket with third function installed, and a regular bucket. :thumbsup:

They are offering a set of filled ag tires for $800. :thumbsup:

The good news, the glow plugs work, and it started up and idled with no issues. :thumbsup:

I wasn't able to operate it yet.. but should be able to soon.

The machine is far from pretty, the somewhat uninformed woman that I met with said that she/they are the original owners. I have my doubts given the amount of bent up stuff on it. It had stickers removed from the canopy, that looked like they could have been unit numbers, so likely a rental as some point. Also I have a bit of a hard time believing the current owner put 2400 hrs on it, and bent stuff up working on their maybe half acre lot.

The floor was covered with oil soaked leaves, some unidentified wires hanging here and there, and the bucket level indicator rod was missing. The left front tire had obviously just been slimed and reinflated. It appears to have a an oil leak at the lt front tire swivel point. And there was no fluid in the radiator overflow container- didn't check the radiator, but will on second inspection.

The tractor has been on Craig's List for almost two months, but there didn't seem to be any urgency for them to unload it.

Comments and/ or suggestions? They want $18.5k for it.

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If I purchase it, it will be used to improve and maintain the 27 acres of rock, brush and trees that I have in Western Maryland.


Thanks in advance for your thoughts and comments.

Barry

 

[4570Man]

The L35 is an old unit. I’ve seen them in better shape for 15k. And 4K of work done doesn’t seem like a selling point to me.

 

[Slowpoke Slim]

Just speaking in generalities only here.

Once I get the "whiff" that a potential seller is lying to me?

I'm gone.

Smell you later alligator.

Sounds like it's been beat on, which doesn't make it a deal killer per se, but a lying seller, and a much too high asking price on a hammered unit would have them staring at my receding tail lights and wondering what happened.

 

[zoedog2012]

Run as fast as you can!

 

[Jstpssng]

^^^
He beat me to it.
Follow your instincts. That's way too much money, even if you do like working on things more than you run them. Aside from the previous comments, when I see a list of all of the work done it tells me that there are many more things about to fail. Also, I believe that tractor probably has a tachometer cable; it's very easy for that to get broken or disabled, so you really don't know how many hours are on it.

 

[Roadworthy]

They say they had $4000 of work done recently. Have they any proof of this work? What was done? Why? Do they actually own the tractor? Can they prove this? At the very least this appears a shaky deal. Do a bit more shopping.

 

[jeff9366]

Tractor may be stolen goods. Do not consider purchase unless seller can provide a bill-of-sale.

 

[spiceman]

Thanks for all the feedback.

I'll definitely probe for clarifications of my doubts, and ask for an original bill of sale.

The extra attachments do make it more attractive though...Maybe someone more knowledgibe will be more flexible too.

Problem is I've been looking and, as I'm sure you all know, used CUTs, in any condition, are pretty thin on the ground... I've been following B26 auctions on ebay that are going for the same money...although they are much lower hours, and much cleaner.

I'll go look again, and see how it goes. Maybe $15 or $16k in cash will result in more flexibility.

Thanks again,

Barry

 

[nards444]

Yeah the recent 4k in work or maintained with an open check book adds does nothing for me. General condition and price is what gets me interested. Just seems in the 15-20k range there better options even new options for that kind of money vs an old machine with lots of hours

 

[Jstpssng]

It's your money. For comparison two years ago I paid a Kubota dealer $17500 for my 2015 L3301 with 179 hours on it, including tire chains and canopy, all set up for a grapple.
Granted mine's a lighter tractor but it also is considerably newer and in better condition. A backhoe can be found for around $3000, or less if you are patient and a good negotiator.