I thought I had found a dozer to go with my little JD 440b skidder.
Took a 176 mile drive to look at a 1974 JD 450 dozer. The engine started right up, and sounded good, but that was the end of the good that I could see. The sprockets were so sharp I cut my finger on one. :D
I just told the guy I didn't think I could use it, when he wanted me to make an offer. Got back in the truck and drove 176 miles home.
Oh well, I'll just keep hunting.
Andy
Oh well, you got out and saw the scenery. :D Trouble is, it cost you time and money.
Haha. That's what my wife said.
That's some expensive scenery at $3.999 a gallon.
Andy
I rebuilt the undercarriage of a 450B once. It's not that big of a deal, a little work and alot of money, that's all. I eventually sold that machine because I couldn't / didn't run it enough to keep the clutches cleaned up. The 450 models up to the B had dry clutches and you have to run them every week or two to keep them cleaned up. If you don't they get all galled and pitted up. With the C John Deere went to a wet clutch which is a little better system I think.
We made a trip to south central Wi. a few years back for a 190 AC farm tractor with a loader and cab. Pics on the Net looked good and the price seemed right. Pics don't tell the whole story. The loader was sprung and the pins were loose. The tractor was in worse cosmetic conditon than the pics showed and the tranny had a nasty growl. We left it there. The trip wasn't a total loss as I'd bought a Farmall Regular in Wisconsin Rapids the previous winter. We called the seller and he was home and would be so we headed that way to pick it up and also loaded a nice F-14 for the ride back home :)
I've made many such trips in my day, I just never heard it called a water haul, more like a dry run or, worse yet, a wasted trip :( If the scenery is good I don't mind though.
All I can say about the scenery is in the desert of southern New Mexico, after the first 20 miles it all looks the same.
If the undercarriage had been the only problem with this machine I might have made an offer. When we spoke over the phone, it had an open cab with ROPS. When I got there it had an old cab with all the windows and doors gone. :D The floor pans were gone, and there was no sign of any kind of skid plates under it.
I'm really not trying to complain too much, I did enjoy the trip with the wife, and the scenery wasn't that bad. I just wonder what people are thinking when they tell you about their machine, knowing full well that you're going to see it when you get there. ???
Andy
I went over 100 mi. last year to look at a single axle mack. it looked good in the pic. When i got there to look at it he couldnt get it started and the pedal would hardly move. It was in rough shape
I've made clear to a few sellers what I was looking for, and is that what they had. If someone misrepresents something and I make a 200 mile trip to look at it, I be mad :(