91 replies to this topic

[yardiron]

I can't help but notice that lately a lot of pretty nice GT's are going unsold both at local auctions and online. I regularly see very desirable machines just sit for sale at prices only fraction of what they would have brought a couple years ago.

I hit just about every farm and consignment sale within a day's drive from me every spring and I've consistently been seeing GT's sell for only a few bucks. Just last month I picked up four 7100 Simplicity machines, complete with engines and decks at an auction for $12, $8, $22, and $3. The only other bidders were scrap guys buying iron. The one had a snow plow and rear tiller, another a plow and rear hitch, the other two had Brinly dirt plows. Two started right up when I got home with only a jump start, the one 7119  needed a starter, and the 7116 needed an ignition switch and coil.

 

A buddy bought a Kubota diesel for $400, it needed rear tires and a battery.

Two years ago that would have gone in the thousands. I bought a minty clean Wheel Horse B-80 two weeks ago for $20, I drove it on my trailer and cut my grass the next day. It sat for two weeks on CL for $200 with no takers, I finally parted it out and used the motor on a log splitter. There were several Case 220's for sale last Friday at one sale, they went unsold after the auctioneer couldn't get a bid. They eventually grouped them together with all that was left in the row for $20. They were complete, but I didn't stick around to see if they ran. A scrap guy bought the lot and was tossing it all in a dump trailer. My trailer was full or else they would have likely come home with me.  There's been a Gravely with a 16hp Briggs listed online for a month now for $350, the guy started out at $500.

It looks like a well kept machine and the ad says everything works but it just sits. I bought an original Cub Cadet off CL last month after it was listed about 30 miles from me since November of last year. The guy took $75 and it came with a front mounted 120v Winco Generator and an original timed mower deck that works. I cut my grass with it this evening.

 

Maybe those who were into the older of vintage machines got old and quit messing with them?

 

[4getgto]

I ain't far from Jersey but I sure don't see prices like that across the river.!!!

[Kster526]

Wishing it was like that here also, then I'd really have storage problems

[dodge trucker]

Wishing it was like that here also, then I'd really have storage problems

thats for sure... and I currently can't find a Cub spec K series engine around here.... all kinds of wide base ones out there, in fact I have a couple of those for sale and have all spring.... no interest either////  a couple years ago (when I didnt have any) they were going for more than my asking price, and those were in "not running" shape. Mine run. 

I have scrapped out 2 Cubs because I got them w/o engines and couldnt find replacements. 

last summer there was one on CL for quite a while, a K341, the bare block was $150, the crank had an $80 asking price, the carb (needing rebuilt) was like $50, etc. Ridiculous. 

[Sprint 6]

Nobody in Jersey has money for hobbies, do they?  I thought it all went to taxes.  They even tax the rain in Jersey.

[Vrdaddy]

I see that also at our club's consignment sale we have every april, decent tractors,implements and even walk behinds being sold for a little bit of nothing and like you mentioned that the scrap guys are there buying them for nothing and "Tossing" them on their trailers and trucks to be hauled off for scrap steel, sad to see all that history being destroyed.

[Cvans]

Maybe those who were into the older of vintage machines got old and quit messing with them?

 

 

You could be onto something. I know age is affecting my interest and ability to work on them. The idea of pulling a deck out from under a GT is now depressing. 

[Bob E]

It's been a while. So, I just looked through the local craigslist ads. Prices are still pretty high around here. Saw a couple that looked decent, but for the most part it looks like a bunch of junk that sat in the weeds for 20-30 years, just got pulled out yesterday, and now it has a thousand dollar price tag on it... just needs carb cleaned.

I'd rather buy a lawn mower and a rototiller. Or a real tractor.

[Bolens 1000]

Different areas of the country experience different results it seems .

From what I see selling parts as a dealer across the us it seems the highest tax states are the ones where the customer wants to spend as little as possible .

 

Thats why I have a collecting problem , cant believe you can get such nice machines for so cheap !

[Avalontractor]

Hey yardiron,

 

Wish I had your problem around here. The closest place to me where you see garden tractors regularly posted for sale would be The Maritime provinces. And, nothing even halfway decent has an ask below $ 1,500 to $3,000. Not to mention; for me a ten hour drive and an eight hour one way ferry trip. If you ever see a Massey 1655/1855 in need of a good home for the prices you note, please grab it for me and I'll pay you double your cost.

[Doug E.]

We aren't seeing cheap garden tractors out here in the PNW either.  Prices have jumped here in the last couple of years, and the better made ones are hard to find.  I'm trying to find some Bolens for parts machines, and they just don't show up.  When anything does show up, parts or otherwise, you have to be quick to get anything.  Walk behinds are even more scarce. 

 

I have noticed other things that are no longer on craigslist.  Small diesel engines come to mind.  I used to see a couple a week, but the few I see now are priced past my threshold of pain.  Garden tractor attachments, like the older Brinly product line are another tough one to find out here.  I just picked up a pair of Brinly sleeve hitch discs, but have been looking for a long time. 

 

I hate to see usable older items go to scrap.  I avoid buying new cheap junk when I can, and look for older quality made product when I need something, including vehicles.  We are not alone in this, as people around here are rebuilding older vehicles, especially older 4x4 pickups and SUVs.  It is common around here to see old PU's being hauled on a car trailer.  We obviously don't have the salt/rust problems that some of the country has.  There is even demand at yard sales for the older US made gardening tools. 

 

In my usually hazy crystal ball, all I see for the future around here is higher prices and less availability for quality older products, including the larger well made garden tractors. 

 

Regards,

 

Doug

 

Regards,

 

Doug

[AllisKidD21]

Man, I wish I could find those kinds of prices around here! Usually it's a miracle if I find a non-running garden tractor for less than $300, haha.

As others have said it's really sad to hear than some guys can buy a decent old tractor for next to nothing just to make some cash off scrapping it. Real shame.

[Cnc]

Decent old GT’s going for less than the price of a Happy Meal?, wow!

[tractorskipper]

I see what Vrdaddy says about his area of PA, but out here in the western end there isn't any cheap stuff unless it really is junk.

Not being able to even get a bid on Case 220's is ludicrous!

[Dee]

I don't see those low prices in my area.  I just sold a dozer blade for $340.