Hey all,
I purchased a used grey market tractor from a dealer in Nevada, and unfortunately got entirely hosed. The dealer sold me a Yanmar FX24D with only 329 hours on it for $12,500. It worked great for about 10 hours then stalled mid-operation and would not start again. At first I thought I had ran it out of diesel because the last time I had looked at the gauge it was low. So I added fuel, then couldn't start it even after weeks of attempting to prime it/bleed air from the injectors. I finally took it to a diesel mechanic. In the tiny northern California town I live, there are only two diesel mechanics, so it took months for it to be fully diagnosed. The problem ended up being a cracked cylinder head. There's no way the minimal use I put it through would've cracked a cylinder head, so it's clear the dealer sold me a tractor with a faulty head. I contacted the dealer asking him what he could do to make it right, as he convinced me of their great customer service when I bought it. Turns out he is a very cold business man and basically told me it was my fault- user error, sold me the tractor months ago, etc. Nothing he could/would do. In retrospect, I should've never done business with him; he only accepted cash, and gave no receipt or other indication of legitimacy, and his website has no open customer review area. I even had a relative who is an attorney write him a letter regarding implied warranty of merchantability, etc. Now the man will not answer my calls or emails, stating that I threatened to sue him.
At any rate, the reason I'm so fired up about being ripped off is because we cannot find any replacement cylinder head anywhere in the country among any contacts my mechanic has. So I'm making one last ditch effort to see if anyone on this forum might have any leads on a cylinder head for my poor Yanmar FX 24D.
It would be amazing if I could get some life back into the investment I made. A loss of $12,500 is hard to swallow. I have a small start-up farm on 5 acres, with a new family, so it kind of hits us hard.
I'd also like to give the name of this business and discourage any potential customers from using the vendor: The name of the company is Southwest Tractors. They are located in Reno, NV. The owner's name is James TenBroeck.
Anyway, I'm more focused on regaining a functional tractor than I am am on pursuing justice out of the person who did me wrong, but I also thought it might be a good opportunity to call out southwestractors.com for their dirty dealing in case anyone is considering them and would like a true customer review. I would hate for others to be given the bad impression of grey market tractors that I unfortunately have been given.
I purchased a used grey market tractor from a dealer in Nevada, and unfortunately got entirely hosed. The dealer sold me a Yanmar FX24D with only 329 hours on it for $12,500. It worked great for about 10 hours then stalled mid-operation and would not start again. At first I thought I had ran it out of diesel because the last time I had looked at the gauge it was low. So I added fuel, then couldn't start it even after weeks of attempting to prime it/bleed air from the injectors. I finally took it to a diesel mechanic. In the tiny northern California town I live, there are only two diesel mechanics, so it took months for it to be fully diagnosed. The problem ended up being a cracked cylinder head. There's no way the minimal use I put it through would've cracked a cylinder head, so it's clear the dealer sold me a tractor with a faulty head. I contacted the dealer asking him what he could do to make it right, as he convinced me of their great customer service when I bought it. Turns out he is a very cold business man and basically told me it was my fault- user error, sold me the tractor months ago, etc. Nothing he could/would do. In retrospect, I should've never done business with him; he only accepted cash, and gave no receipt or other indication of legitimacy, and his website has no open customer review area. I even had a relative who is an attorney write him a letter regarding implied warranty of merchantability, etc. Now the man will not answer my calls or emails, stating that I threatened to sue him.
At any rate, the reason I'm so fired up about being ripped off is because we cannot find any replacement cylinder head anywhere in the country among any contacts my mechanic has. So I'm making one last ditch effort to see if anyone on this forum might have any leads on a cylinder head for my poor Yanmar FX 24D.
It would be amazing if I could get some life back into the investment I made. A loss of $12,500 is hard to swallow. I have a small start-up farm on 5 acres, with a new family, so it kind of hits us hard.
I'd also like to give the name of this business and discourage any potential customers from using the vendor: The name of the company is Southwest Tractors. They are located in Reno, NV. The owner's name is James TenBroeck.
Anyway, I'm more focused on regaining a functional tractor than I am am on pursuing justice out of the person who did me wrong, but I also thought it might be a good opportunity to call out southwestractors.com for their dirty dealing in case anyone is considering them and would like a true customer review. I would hate for others to be given the bad impression of grey market tractors that I unfortunately have been given.
