What class of tractor for maintaining two miles of road at higher elevation?

[paulsharvey]

Saw this sell this morning for $30k at auction, think it had 2900 hours.

 

[jyoutz]

Home Depot rents F250s with a trailer hitch, and no worry about abusing it a bit

And so do many other truck rentals like Penske and U-Haul.

 

[In.the.Piñons]

Saw this sell this morning for $30k at auction, think it had 2900 hours.View attachment 1122543

That's a whole lotta tractor for $30K. 2,900 hours is a lot though. Love the tint

 

[paulsharvey]

That's a whole lotta tractor for $30K. 2,900 hours is a lot though. Love the tint

This auction is in Ocala FL, but they sell used equipment for many counties/cities/businesses from around the SE. It is a major race horse area, which I have always thought is just an untraceable way to launder money. Many of the farms are owned by very very wealthy people, and I think of these medium-large machines have just reached the end of their IRS depreciation, and they sell them at the auction.

I would say, 2900 hours is probably about 25-50% of the useful life of that machine, and for a small farm, that might mean it has another 30 years left in it.

A lot of the stuff from this auction goes south, into central/south America, where the labor rates to rebuild a machine are Way less than up here;

 

[In.the.Piñons]

So we've negotiated a final price of $61,500 and they will fix a missing blinker, change the engine oil and clean or replace the air filter (as needed). Shipping is going to be $2,300.

It does have a couple of cosmetic issues. One of the rear fenders has been repaired. There's a small bend on one side of the hood. A few scratches on the paint and some chipping paint in a few places.

No maintenance records (or dates on the filters), so I don't know if they changed the oil after break in. But it's only got 180 hours on it (2021) and everything works as it should. No play in anything, and everything is straight. It comes with two sets of wheel weights, there's no fluid in the tires. No radio.

A new one of these is about $82K after the cash discounts, so this seems like a pretty nice deal, right? I don't care that much about cosmetic issues, as long as the mechanical side is in excellent shape.

Now it's time to start researching land planes. It would be nice to get the road in better shape before winter, as I imagine that will make plowing snow a lot easier.

Thanks for all the help and putting up with my convoluted reasoning. A wiser man would have just spent less on a smaller tractor that would probably do just as well 99% of the time. But sometimes it's nice to get a bit what you want vs only what you need.

 

[In.the.Piñons]

This auction is in Ocala FL, but they sell used equipment for many counties/cities/businesses from around the SE. It is a major race horse area, which I have always thought is just an untraceable way to launder money. Many of the farms are owned by very very wealthy people, and I think of these medium-large machines have just reached the end of their IRS depreciation, and they sell them at the auction.

I would say, 2900 hours is probably about 25-50% of the useful life of that machine, and for a small farm, that might mean it has another 30 years left in it.

A lot of the stuff from this auction goes south, into central/south America, where the labor rates to rebuild a machine are Way less than up here;

I just don't know enough about tractors to buy at auction, but for those that do, I'm sure you can get great deals. I'd imagine it could get addictive!

 

[Too many Kubotas]

Those $2,300 is for how many miles?

You might luck out and find a transporter that happens to have enough empty space on the trailer to get the price down quite a bit, especially since the weight shouldn't be an issue.

And refresh my memory, please, is this a cabbed tractor? If so I'd prefer to have it loaded backwards as the rear glass is much less expensive than the windshield, should it get hit. And it would also eliminate covering the exhaust pipe.

 

[In.the.Piñons]

Those $2,300 is for how many miles?

You might luck out and find a transporter that happens to have enough empty space on the trailer to get the price down quite a bit, especially since the weight shouldn't be an issue.

And refresh my memory, please, is this a cabbed tractor? If so I'd prefer to have it loaded backwards as the rear glass is much less expensive than the windshield, should it get hit. And it would also eliminate covering the exhaust pipe.

That's for approx 1,100 miles. And yes, it's a cabbed tractor with a loader. Thanks for the loading tips, I will make the request that it be loaded backwards.

 

[Too many Kubotas]

That's not an all bad price if you don't feel like shopping around...and waiting a bit.

Wish I had more time available and that we could've worked something out. Then again, with the heat in Texas...