wife says im crazy

[utupuller]

Just had to see some opinions out there. I am wanting to buy/sell some tractors. Not jumping in as a full time employment, as a hobby. I believe there are still deals out there to be had. If I can come across a good deal and sell as a good deal with out any or much work - why not. I am planning to pay more attention to sale prices through auctions to see if I want to do this as 1 or 2 a year or maybe more. However I feel prices are very overpriced now and may not find many deals to do more than a couple a year. Also debating about stuck tractors, if there is any money to just getting them loose then selling or do I have to go all the way and rebuild -- I would hate to buy a stuck tractor and put 1500 into it an overhaul and still have a 1200 dollar tractor -- that math does not sit to well with me. Any thoughts?

 

[Anonymous-0]

most people are looking at auctions for the same reason. you would probably be better of running across them at farmers houses or older people that had enough fun playing over the years. run a small ad in your paper looking for them. you will be amazed what you will here. LH
FOUND THIS AT A OHIO TRACTOR SHOW.PD 3000

 

[Anonymous-0]

As a 'Hobby' you don't intend to make money as a business- you probably won't make much money but you'll have some fun and and as long as you don't do much more than clean up you'll maybe break even. Price of scrap is high enough that salvage dealers are paying fairly good for clean iron delivered.

 

[Bob]

BTDT, it's a TOUGH business to be in, if you're honest!

To be successful, you will HAVE to make a LOT of money on quite a few deals to keep your head above water when a deal goes BAD, in one way or another.

Buying "old iron" is like buying the proverbial "pig in a poke"... there's NO way of knowing all the things that can be wrong with a machine, 'til a disgruntled customer finds problems.

And they WILL, despite you being as honest, straightforward, and diligent as you can be.

 

[dirtfarmer]

I have benn buying and selling alot in the past 10 years, it is very tough with the internet because people see a john deere a bring 6000 in expo quality so they think that their a is worth that and it doesn't even run. I go through probably 50 tractors a year, the only advise I have for you is buy smart if you don't think you can turn a few dollars on it leave it you will find more there are plenty around. Good luck.

 

[old]

I do it all the time. All I manage to do is keep the ball rolling. I buy one and fix and sell then maybe buy 2 and keep the snow ball going. Guess thats why I have around 30 tractors right now. I don't really make any thing doing so since it takes a lot of time and work and money to fix one up so it runs well and can be sold. I figure if I'm lucky I make maybe $5 per hour if even that much but at least I do save a good number of them from the scrap man. Been doing it now for 5-10 years
Hobby farm

 

[Jrry]

Your wife is right.

 

[utupuller]

I agree with old and dirtfarmer. I have bought and sold a few over the last five years ( I can count on one hand) I love old iron and do antique tractor pulls. I guess my goal would be if I could buy and sell one then buy 2 ( snowball) I could keep one of the 2 and sell the other. Don't tell my wife!
I don't believe in parting out tractors but realize parts are needed to fix others. 7 years ago I bought the 1st tractor and sold it 2 years ago made a little money with out doing anything to it. 4 years ago started pulling and getting to see what all these other tractors can do and even fell in love with the old tractors more (my wife really does not understand that). And yes to see for sale a stuck JD A or B for over 1000 is crazy. A while ago there was post for a guy looking for a 720 Diesel and was told to plan on over 5000. I have seen them for under 2500 away from the auctions. And at the same time I do not beleive in any way just because a person paints a tractor it was worth more than 1000 over what there going for. John Deeres are the ultimate example a painted A does not make it worth more than 2000 (FOR THE AVERAGE MODEL, NOTHING RARE ABOUT IT). to me an A is worth no more than 1200 painted or not. Sorry for some of my own opinions, I know I post under utupuller (molines) but I currently have a JD 720 LP. Looking to trade for moline's

 

[dhermesc]

Its like what my dad used to tell me, "You make your money when you buy".

If you don't get it bought right, trying to make up when you sell is very difficult. Right now its a seller's market for good running equipment and unless your handy and have your own shop repairs & parts will eat you alive buying "fix it up" stuff.

 

[old]

I do part a few out when I can't fix them with out major $$$. Or like a Farmall B I had that had a cracked block that was so bad there was no way to fix it with out another engine so it got parted out and I still have a good number of parts from it, and will till I sell any thing that is good
Hobby farm

 

[Dandy Don]

Welllll, Sounds to me like you have a pretty smart wife. I've brought several cheap $200 to $500 tractors then fix just what I found to be wrong, put on a new set of tires and a nice slick paint job, end up with $3000 in a $2500 dollar tractor. My wife says thought you were going to make money on this tractor and I said yeah I would have except for.....Do you get the picture? I've had a lot of pleasure but with prices and supplies being what they are and still going up.... I'm through. You can have'em all as far as I'm concerned. All I need now is a wide front end for a Farmall C.
Have a nice day.
DD

 

[jubilee johnny]

I have put more money into family heilooms than they will bring. I have restored a 1935 chevrolet ton and a half grain truck my grandfather bought new and his 1929 ford model a both which I have more than I could have bought one outright. Now I have a jd styled d (which is stuck) which I will restore because it was my grandfather's. If you are doing refurbishing to make money you will have to be more selective.

 

[rrlund]

A friend of mine has been jockying them for years. He's doing fewer and fewer all the time. He has a semi.When the exchange rate was more favorable to the American dollar,he would go across the Blue Water bridge and buy Canadian tractors cheap and sell them by the dozen. That doesn't work so well anymore. He was going south and getting them out of Georgia and Alabama too,but fuel prices have all but stopped that. If you want to make a hobby of it,that's about all it would be. If you're real lucky and don't get stuck with too many lemons you MIGHT break even.

 

[Mike M]

Going to be VERY hard to buy anything right at auctions. Buy out of the paper local items you can get good deals. Buy in the fall alot of times then sell in the spring. Late model low hour compact tractors have been good to me. I'm very fussy and I get one I spend alot of time going over them doing all the little things that most neglect like maintenance,adjustments. I try not to spend too much on parts just oil and filters. I want them in good to go shape as I use them some and if I'm stuck with it so be it. I usually buy something I won't mind if I get stuck with it and don't spend anymore than you can afford to loose. The last several years I have been lucky. I'm not so sure this year is going to be as good ? The last stuff I had to sell it was getting hard to sell it. Makes me wonder if this is coming to an end with the bad economy,high gas prices,and everything else sky high.
Nothing wrong with getting something that needs some work on it as then it gives me something to do. But as soon as you start spending money on it that's when you can start loosing money too.
I used to do ALOT of work on tractors for others. Even did it full time for many years.I worked way harder at that and never made near the money I have just playing around with and buying and selling this stuff. I say go for it !
And remember buy low and sell high ! and even if you only sell it for $1.00 over what you have in it you are still makeing money. The best things are ones you can buy right and then use on some project and then after you got done what you needed sell it for a profit.

 

[GeneMO]

By the time I get my super H done,fixed right, I will have invested about twice what it would bring on the open market. It had quite a few things wrong, but I bought it to tinker with and had no intention of really working it or selling it. And it was too good to junk.

Find another job to support your addiction to ole iron.


Gene

 

[Mike M]

I forgot to add my wife likely thinks I'm crazy and complains all the time , But somehow she is always first in line wanting to help spend the money I just made !!!! Go Figure ?

 

[RobMD]

Forget it. The only source of profit is by parting them out. Unfortunately, folks like the new McGrew outfit that bought polk out are determined to take everyone's tractors away and create a parts empire (what's gonna happen when there are no tractors left to work on?).

Restoration is something that should not be taken lightly: if you do a half-arsed job for the sake of MAYBE $250-500 bucks profit, that doesn't help out the hobby, does it?

The only thing that I can think of is to buy a tractor and get it running, and then re-sell.

Full restorations will put you in the red - UNLESS you manage to get that one person to make your day. How often do these people come up? ...Let's just say at least you're not paying holding costs for a house - you could be looking for a buyer for months.

 

[utupuller]

Like I said I don't want to support my family by doing it. As I said a hobby, if I make a little money to add to my fuel bills for tractor pulls then great or can afford to get another one even better.
I bought my first "usable" tractor 3 years ago and pulled with it for 2 years ( 49 MM UTU ) sold it last fall made a LITTLE money. I went to Canada and bought a 55 MM GBD (75th on made)lucky find. I had not planned on selling it but could turn down the deal either. I bought my 720 LP for a good price and plan to pull with it for now maybe do sell it down the road. I am looking at auctions for the simple fact to have a good idea of what they are selling for.

 

[kyplowboy]

Where I live I can drive 40 miles in any direction and be in a whole other world. One way you have steep hay country, another you have rolling tobacco ground, you have flat land row crop, and the other you have miles and miles of 1o acre McRanches. Here is what I have found works best. Go to auctions in diferent directons. At an auction in IL a fair shape john deere 3 bottom plow will sell for scrap price. Take that same plow to an auction around McRanchville where every one has a 4020 to work thier garden and mow thier pastures with, if it has shinny black bottoms the weekenders will fight each other all day running the price of a $50 plow up. A little grease in cutter blade bearings helps but is not mandatory, they don't check most of the time. In hay and pasture country where they don't raise tobacco anymore, an H or a two row cultivator don't bring as much as they will down on Tobacco Road.

Also some say you don't get good deals at auctions, they ain't look'n for the right ones. If you see a full page color ad in the Fastline you are not going to get any real deals, you will get stuff for fair price (if you know when to turn your back). If you go a few days early and look round the little estate sale in the Sunday paper you can hit the jack pot. Look in barns and garages. Auction people and the grandkids selling the stuff are scared of wasp and snakes and will over look stuff alot and if they do see it they won't think it is worth any thing. Also there is a company that has two huge consigenment sales every year around here. They have two rings going, 5 or 6 lines of equipment almost half a mile long. Starts at 9, people show up at 5 to get a good parking spot. Most get tired and leave by 1 pm. They don't stop selling most years till 7 or 8 at night. The first 7 or 8 what ever you wants sell bout right. The last 3 or 4 go dirt cheap. If it happens to rain on the day of the sale they get cheaper quick!!!

Good luck.

Dave

 

[Patsdeere]

A wife's saying: My money is my money, your money is our money.

 

[Luke S]

I would just strictly buy, clean up, then sell. I wouldn't do any wrenching. There are still good buys to be had at auctions, not as many as there used to be, but they are still out there. I went to an auction last fall where they sold a decent old JD 3010 gas wide front for $2,000, and a 1086 IH with a cab that was a little rough, with duals for $4,050. I shoulda bought em both, I think there was money to be made on both of em.

 

[Alex-41JDb]

Yes there is money to be made if you are careful and smart. My dad just got a 2010I JD for 500 bucks that the guy said hadnt ran in 3 years and didnt shift through half the gears, within 20 min the old man filed the points and spark plugs and drove it away. The seller was astonished. After points, plugs, fluid change the tractor is back to perfect running condition, and the gears all loosened up. so... there is money to be made.