I've looked a little into refurbished tractors, and there appears to be a wide variation in quality.
On the low end, tractors refurbished in Vietnam have a bad reputation. Reports of incorrect parts placed on a tractor to get it out the door, hour meters turned back to zero so you don't know how worn it is, etc, scare me.
On the other end, there appear to be some refurbishers that do an excellent job. Fredericks in Alabama (Georgia?) seems to have a good reputation and seems to start with low hour tractors and then give them a thorough going over, replacing all the periferals.
With any refurbished tractor, you need to know if it is gray market, meaning it was originally not made to be sold in the US. If so, the manufacturer may not support the tractor at all, and parts can be hard to find. There are several gray market parts dealers on the internet.
1- Find out where it was refurbished and determine the quality of the work.
2- Find out how many hours are on the unit.
3- Research parts availability for the specific model
4- Is it gray market?
I wouldn't touch any refurbish if there is any question about anything. I'd rather use the cash as down payment on a new or harvest return, and finance the rest, than get a low price on a piece of trouble. IMHO
Jeff G.
