# Tractor auctions. What do you look for?



## umpire52 (Oct 26, 2011)

Kubota place about 20 miles away is auctioning 100 used tractors.

A guy I cut hay for is going to another auction about an hour away and asked me to go to auction at dealership.

So I've bought used tractors before but thought it would be interesting to see what other people look for when purchasing a used tractor at auction. They are also auctioning off other equipment.

Thanks for the input.

Jeff


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## slowzuki (Mar 8, 2011)

I look at recent paint - with overspray over oil and grease. Check to see wear matches meter. Looked at one yesterday with 500 hours on clock but tractor obviously has 4000 ish hours and bad respray job.

Drawbar and hitch arm wear gives a good idea too of work. Leaks around axles bad sign sometimes, I look for grease stains around zerks to see its been greased regularly, not just fresh grease for the sale.

If it has a loader check wear in pins. Try to get to sale early or day before and start the tractor cold.

Use loader to lift front end, see if it has any trouble lifting, watch for slop in axle pivot as weight comes off it. Cycle steering lock to lock, try all the remotes etc.

If 4wd put it in and if allowed drive front and back, try brakes, pay attention to clutch, try gears.

All the usual stuff.


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## hog987 (Apr 5, 2011)

Check the oil dipsticks. Check oil filters. Lots of guys write the hours on filter when oil was changed. If oil is below add at all move on. Just try to get an idea of service. Also if all possible like was said get there early. If you find something that is of interest try to see if you can get the number of the pervious owner. You can learn a lot from a guy about how will he looked after things.


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## cmd (Oct 26, 2012)

Along with what the others said. Blue or orange RTV sealer hanging out of any joints. If they use that shit they weren't professional mechanicing. Severely mis-matched tires- if the guy was such a tight wad to throw junk used tires on, he probably cut costs other places. Condition of 3 point hitch. Cab interior, is it nice or nasty beyond it's age says a lot about the owner or one of the owners. Oil puddles under tractor. Missing parts (draw bar, hyd outlets)


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## rjmoses (Apr 4, 2010)

All of the above, plus:

Check the oil for whitish sludge---bought a used tractor at auction, neglected to pull the dipstick, got it home, block was cracked. Antifreeze was leaking into oil.

After that, I wouldn't buy a tractor at an auction. Buy from a dealer I know and trust (more or less). Then have their service department go over it (make friends with the service guys first--they'll often tell you things the sales guys can't or won't tell you about).

If there turns out to be problems, you can often negotiate on a take-back or the repairs.

Ralph


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## hillside hay (Feb 4, 2013)

Look at debris or residue left on the machine. It can give you a good indication what its main use was. Loader marks but no loader could mean a shot front end you may not notice till too late. Personal experience with that one.


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## RockmartGA (Jun 29, 2011)

Lots of good advice so far. I would add that it might be helpful if you could find out about the previous owner and why they were trying to sell.

For example, equipment that was repossessed and is being sold by the bank might give me pause. If someone doesn't have the cash flow to stay in business, routine maintenance is usually one of the first things they put off.

On the other hand, some of your commercial operations have equipment programs where they routinely swap out a certain percentage of their stock each year. These type operations are usually pretty good about keeping up with the maintenance. I've bought a few things from an auction for the local power company and have had good results.


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## JD3430 (Jan 1, 2012)

I would look for township, county, municipal equipment.
They are typically owned by agencies that live off taxpayer money and of course we know they spare no expense to get the best for their employees.


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## rjmoses (Apr 4, 2010)

JD3430 said:


> I would look for township, county, municipal equipment.
> They are typically owned by agencies that live off taxpayer money and of course we know they spare no expense to get the best for their employees.


Not around here! Most St of Ill. equipment is "used and abused". I'd bet that the oil doesn't get even get checked once between the time a tractor is delivered and the time it's returned.

Ralph


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## JD3430 (Jan 1, 2012)

rjmoses said:


> Not around here! Most St of Ill. equipment is "used and abused". I'd bet that the oil doesn't get even get checked once between the time a tractor is delivered and the time it's returned.Ralph


Our municipal equipment is all over maintained so the guys have lots of extra work to do in the shop. 
After all, who cares? It's just taxpayer money!! Lol


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## FCF (Apr 23, 2010)

I have bought 2 pieces that came in off lease that have been very good. I know in another thread there was the comment "Lease it, don't grease it." If dealing with the dealer who leased the tractor you should be able to find out the history of the machine and may be have a warranty as well. I always as a dealer who owned it before and could I have contact information. If they are unwilling to provide the owner I usually do not continue looking at that piece. The last two pieces I bought the dealers told me "Here's the guys name and phone number, call him." before I got around to asking for it. Less hassle for the dealer and makes you feel better! I was a first time customer at both places, they could just as easily not cared to provide that information.


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## endrow (Dec 15, 2011)

We bought lots of good equipment on farm sales were farmers were selling out, But I think these consignment auctions and similar type auctions are quite often a place where dealers & farmers get rid of junk


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## ontario hay man (Jul 18, 2013)

I always buy from retirement sales. Not consignment or reduction sales with motorized equipment anyway. Things like hay equipment and tillage equipment are easier to look over so I dont mind buying them at consignments.


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## swmnhay (Jun 13, 2008)

endrow said:


> We bought lots of good equipment on farm sales were farmers were selling out, But I think these consignment auctions and similar type auctions are quite often a place where dealers & farmers get rid of junk


I agree a lot of junk on the consignment auctions.And you also have the machinery scalpers stuff that they drag from sale to sale until it brings what they want.I've had high bid on a item a few times just to have the auctioneer say they need $1000 more.I walk away.

There usualy is a few items tho where maybe the farmer has upgraded at another auction and is getting rid of his old stuff.Or maybe he got out of livestock or hay and is getting rid of that stuff.So once inawhile I've snagged something,if the scalpers don't bid it to high!!

The thing I don't like is it usually wastes a whole day.


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## ontario hay man (Jul 18, 2013)

Ya thats true I went to an "unreserved" dealer auction and stood in the cold pissin rain for most of the day to see about 5 items sell and high bid on a few things just to here ots not enough. I gave them and the auctioneer a piece of my mind. Havent gone to a dealer sale since.


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## sethd11 (Jan 1, 2012)

Ralph, up here in northern Illinois most of the municipal equipment is over maintained. Example, mowing tractors never leave 1St gear a workers would rather mow an/acre day than put in a sign. I've worked with bums that as soon a the tractor gets to an oil Change they will drive it back to shop to get a "break".
Plus usually they have fleet maintenance programs.


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## slowzuki (Mar 8, 2011)

Our DOT/municipal stuff is 99% junk by the time it goes to sale. They have no budget for capital purchases so the stuff gets run and run and run. The highway plows that breakdown and carcasses to keep the rest going. The backhoes are run until they won't run no more. Trucks all have 1/2 million -800,000 km + on them and rusted out.

I used to go to the sale every year, don't bother now. The only thing you can get deals on is when they close a garage the shop equipment goes in the sale.


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## JD3430 (Jan 1, 2012)

sethd11 said:


> Ralph, up here in northern Illinois most of the municipal equipment is over maintained. Example, mowing tractors never leave 1St gear a workers would rather mow an/acre day than put in a sign. I've worked with bums that as soon a the tractor gets to an oil Change they will drive it back to shop to get a "break".
> Plus usually they have fleet maintenance programs.


Funny you mention oil changes....I bought a municipal owned NH backhoe about 10 years ago. They gave me the service records. It had the oil changed on average about every 100 hours. Manual said every 250 hours! 
I asked the motor pool mgr about it and he said " I change the oil when it's dirty, not by the 250 hr interval"
I said to him, all my Diesel engines look like they have dirty oil after 10 hours! Lol

So if my math is correct on a 5,000 hr backhoes, that's 30 extra oil changes. If each set of filters, oil and labor are $150, that's $4,500 worth of mostly unnecessary oil changes on taxpayer dollar for just ONE machine!


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## sethd11 (Jan 1, 2012)

I used to work for the township, and we followed the maintenance by the book. Not wasteful as my former boss doesn't waste a taxpayer dollar. However when've borrowed something from the county, the waste was rampant. They bought anything they wanted and then some. The best part was that when they would bring fancy equipment out, they didn't know how to run it.

Slowzuki, the rural townships around me are Like that, everything is run until it literally can't be run anymore. Then they fix it again and keep running it.. Neighboring township loads salt with a circa 1950s. Loader. Practically coal fired


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## JD3430 (Jan 1, 2012)

Funny story: 10 years ago I sold a small farm tractor to a guy for his personal use. Guy shows up in a state owned, PA DOT yellow road repair truck to look at the tractor in broad daylight during work hours. 
Gets out, looks at tractor, runs it around on my property, asks me a 1/2 hours worth of questions.
Before he leaves, he goes back to yellow truck and comes back to me, hands me a brand new pair of expensive leather gloves and says "here ya go,,,,,, courtesy of the state of PA." 
I'm thinking, ok, this guy is stealing gloves from PA DOT and giving them to me while looking at a tractor for his personal use on taxpayer time in a taxpayer truck. 
I refused the gloves. Can't believe the levels of waste and corruption.


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## hog987 (Apr 5, 2011)

sethd11 said:


> I used to work for the township, and we followed the maintenance by the book. Not wasteful as my former boss doesn't waste a taxpayer dollar. However when've borrowed something from the county, the waste was rampant. They bought anything they wanted and then some. The best part was that when they would bring fancy equipment out, they didn't know how to run it.
> 
> Slowzuki, the rural townships around me are Like that, everything is run until it literally can't be run anymore. Then they fix it again and keep running it.. Neighboring township loads salt with a circa 1950s. Loader. Practically coal fired


I guess as long as they can bring the blacksmith out of retirement to keep fixing the loader why not run it.


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## mlappin (Jun 25, 2009)

A rule my grandfather lived by and I still do, if it has all fresh oil in it, don't bid. Fresh oil can hide a multitude of sins. If enough STP or Lucas is added to crankcase it can even bring low oil pressure up to acceptable levels for a short time.


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