Ok, mostly a for fun question, but I read with envy all you guys who live in places which seen to be overrun with garden tractors laying around waiting to be plucked up!
While I find the occasional deal, tractors in central Florida are slim pickings, and attachment/implement finds are almost non-existent! Everybody (at least those who don't use a lawn service or a push mower) is using newer box store junk.
Our place in Tennessee is out in the country, and there are a FEW more GT's to be found locally, but most of what we see available are older full size tractors - ford 8/9n's, cub low boys, massy/Fergusons, etc. I've found some good deals, but still not real common.
Seems like the farther NORTH you go, the more you see older GT's and the better the deals. Some of my best deals (usually off Craigslist...) have come from Illinois,Indiana, Ohio - but that is also a well traveled path since my wife has family we visit in Michigan. She makes fun of me because we have pulled a trailer up once even though I didn't have anything specific lined up to buy! I joke (she THINKS its a joke...) about bringing the flatbed and the camping stuff and making a "tour of the northeast" and not coming home until the trailer is full!
Maddening when most of the deals you see are too far away to be worth going after!
So where do YOU think the "Holy Grail" of tractor land is? Where is the best place to find a "tractor, with implements for sale cheap" on every corner? :dancingbanana:
Lots of old junkers here in Al..well there were till the price of scrap went up a couple of years ago..many got crushed.Yet I still find a few here and there and most are free.Wish I had the money to redo some of them but I usually just leave them alone..going to pick up a freebie today that I couldn't pass up(International 184 with the belly mower)
There used to be one in every bush up this way. Many of the bushes have been picked and many of the old barns are being torn down before they fall down.
The well isnt dry yet, but it's level is lowering.
West Virginia is tough to find stuff in good condition sometimes, and most is MIA nowadays. I end up pulling more tractors out of Ohio and Pennsylvania. Ive even bought stuff farther out before. Big thing is having another GT addict's wife's permission to let him go after tractors for you. oke:
Live where you are happiest. For GTs plan a vacation to go to some tractor shows. There are often good deals at shows and they are right there for you to see. A bunch of us plan to go to Zagray in Colchester, CT in October. I have seen some excellant deals sold there. I usually am just looking for parts but you can learn and see alot in just one day. I plan to go to a classic car show and swap meet tomorrow. There is usually some tractor stuff too in the swap meet(last year a complete DB walkbehind with four attachments for $100). Good Luck, Rick
Illinois is not great! The prices are too high. Everyone thinks a Wheel Horse is worth $500+ now. Sears are every where. The downside of folks buying box store tractors is junk for sale.
Well that is why they call New Jersey the garden state. We have some sweet deals here from time to time but also have a lot of people parting out on cl. I have mixed emotions of that due to needing parts but also know that a tractor got gutted to get them. Still lots of good deals to be found, just got to weed through the high price items.
I was going to say the best 2 states I've seen is Penn and Ohio as far as #'s go, but as Alan stated, pickings are starting to dissipate.
It seems that there used to be a lot of models around those town/in the state of where the tractors were built.
The trend I have seen lately on some FB groups and on youtube is the younger "mudding" crowd. Thankfully they are using mostly lawn tractors, craftsman, MTD, murray, etc, and converting them to "mud tractors", but a few of them see the durability of the GT's and are cutting up/modding perfectly good older restoration tractors, Cubs, Sears, JD, etc, seems Sears has become a favorite of theirs.
Some enjoy beating the bushes to find the old gold but for a great selection it's hard to beat a big show like Portland, IN where there are acres of stuff for sale. That show draws from lots of states and even outside the U.S. If you are a bottom feeder you better get there early in the week and hone your bargaining skills.
Being in the southern part of NY close to pa I find good deals but I never have money nor do I have a trailer to haul them home on. I personally have stored a gt for a fellow member that he bought an I picked up for him when I had my truck.
All of the nice stuff seems to be in Ohio and east. In my opinion based off of the tractors I've seen, folks in New England have taken far better care of their equipment than the local equipment I see in the midwest where I live.
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Related Threads
?
?
?
?
?
Garden Tractor Forums
951.2K posts
49.2K members
Since 2010
A forum community dedicated to garden tractor owners and enthusiasts. Come join the discussion about performance, modifications, attachments, classifieds, troubleshooting, maintenance, and more!