16 replies to this topic

[wilberj]

Around here finding a decent tiller for any GT under $400 is pretty good, I looked for two years before finding one for my AC.

In the search I stumbled over a few Bolens that were for sale and every one was either trashed or there was no tractor to match them to be found around here.

I passed on a super clean 1250 with a rear tiller for $1200 last summer that hadn't run in ages but looked super clean.

I just couldn't muster up the cash before it sold. I ended up spending $425 for one to match my AC, then needed to hunt down the drive parts I needed to make it work for another $250, plus shipping. I hated to spend the cash but the only alternative was to buy a new machine and a new tiller for big money. The way it usually works though is that as soon as you buy one for real money one turns up for cheap somewhere right after. A week after I bought my tiller I found a complete running Simplicity with a tiller installed all ready to use for $100 at a yard sale about 3 miles from here. Someone had past away and the kids were dumping everything he had for cheap. I sold the tractor for $800 and kept the tiller for a spare figuring that if I ever needed new tines they would cost far more than I'd get out of selling the extra tiller.

 

 

Ya but you guys in NJ pay more for that stuff....

[freeisforme]

I don't think its just NJ, I see similar prices in neighboring states, to get those real deals I suppose I'll have to start traveling to Ohio, Michigan, and Indiana.

 

I suppose its got a lot to do with Bolens being a bit scarce here, there just never was many large frame machines. There's a decent number of tube frames but I suppose that large frames were just out of reach money wise or that they were more geared toward the larger estate owner, something we don't have much of in this area here. The normal place to find big GTs is the small horse farm, the type of place with a dozen or fewer stalls.

If your into Wheel Horse, John Deere, or CC, you would do fine here but Bolens, Simplicity, Allis Chalmers, and the likes are harder to find.

Case, Ingersol, and Power King are almost non existent as there never was a real dealer here.

WH, CC, and JD dealers had a real presence here and were well supported for many years, there simply wasn't any reason for people to travel out of the area for any other brand. The few Bolens that I do find here are those that came here when people moved here. My 1250 came from PA, and four of my Simplicity machines came a pretty long distance as well. I bought the one in NY, one in PA near Scranton, and the other two came from the west coast and were brought here when their owners moved east.

My second Bolens came from FL, it had been abandoned there after someone passed away but had been brought there in the past from North Carolina.

 

Deals can be had anywhere but if you need or want a decent machine here chances are you will have to fork over more money for one than if it were in the midwest.