What should i offer for this

Blewis89

New User
Hello all im new here and looking to get into my first restoration.This tractor is behind my house and iv been looking it over for some time now. it says ar on it but it has the narrow front and adjustable rear wheels. i didnt think the ars had that. i havnt been able to find the serial number on it anywhere to varify what it is. I know the motor is locked, the carb is missing and the manifold is busted. not to mention the tree that fell on it that bent some things up. I finally found the owner and he says he would let it go for 1100 dollars. i just cant see spending that much on something that has been sitting open to elements since the early 2000s. any help is appreciated.
 
Narrow front,sounds like a straight A. I sure hate to rain on the parade of the Deere crowd,but if it is,and in the shape you describe,it wouldn't be worth restoring if it was free and that's the truth. There are so many of those around that run for under $1000,unless it was a family tractor with immense sentimental value,quite frankly,the owner is out of his mind.
 
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I would think 300-400 would be more realistic, basically scrap value. You should be prepared to put in 3-5K fixing it up.
 
Yeah my goal was to just just totally restore itover a few years. not looking to make money off of it i just want to do it and have nice tractor in the end. I was thinking five hundred at most with the bucketon the front its probably worth that in scrap
 
And as far as the narrow front he says its a rare ar because of the front end and somthing to do with the rear axle. But to me it looks like an A with AR stickers
 
David,

Your numbers are right on. Before I bought my '41 JD 'B', an old timer told me to figure 10X purchase price for the end result. He was right - I paid $350 and had $3,700 in it when I got done.

Stan
 
Now don't get me wrong, some say I bleed John Deere green, and its my favorite tractor.
On the other hand, a lot of people that have a JD to sell try to make people think they have one of a kind and its rare and it should bring a big price for a piece of yunk.
 
Should weigh around 5000 lbs scrapyard here paying $100/thousand lbs so its worth $500 plus any good parts you can scrap off it like the carb,mag,wheels etc.At $1100 you won't make anything for sure
 
(reply to post at 17:41:02 07/22/14figure )
well he said when he gets back to mi we can talk. I ill make him my offer and that will be that.if he says no then well he wiil leave it sitting their.
 
Where are you in Michigan. I'm in mid Michigan. My neighbor has a Case DC with a wide front and eagle hitch,decent tires for $500 if you just want a restoration project.
 
Im in hillsdale and yeah im.just kind of looking for my first tractor. Not real picky just wanted to get into it.
 
Its your first tractor, the engine is locked up, carb is missing, a manifold is broken, a tree fell on it, and those are the things that you know about. Well, there's not a thing wrong with being ambitious. Not a thing at all. When you get it going, you will take far more pride in it. As I recall from history classes while growing up, our nation started under similar circumstances.

Much good luck.

Mark
 
For a first resto pass on this one, might be worth the effort if you can get it for free, otherwise spend your money on something with something there to work with.
 
I don't believe there were any "stamped frame" AR,s. Like others said, it is probably a late styled A. Tons of them around. $1500 will get you a pretty presentable one that you can drive home. For your first project , don't buy something you can't drive and hear run and hear the gears etc. I paid $1500 for a '50 "B" that ran perfectly , good gears etc and needing no rubber replaced and still ended up at $2800 inc. original cost. No need to buy a fence row frozen tractor.
 
and just think, if ya get it for free and you put 10 times that much in it, you'll have a nicely restored tractor for free. :)
 
You don't say what you mechanical skill level is. That can make or break a deal. If you have to pay for everything to include a lot of labor that is one tractor to RUN away from. If you are pretty good with a wrench it may be doable.

Rick
 
To be quite frank about it, If I were looking for a first project, I would find one that was at least complete and not damaged by falling trees or anything. When you purchase one with damage such as that, you know up front that you will need to find those parts and it could turn into a real hassel. If it is complete and relatively straight, the restoration will go much smoother and you will be willing to tackle something more difficult next time. Restoring a tractor as you describe can be very difficult which tends to be discouraging and a lot of people give up because of this.
 
The only way I would buy it is for parts for another A and I wouldn't pay more than $500 scrap price. Take the parts I would need and scrap the carcass. Jim
 
"Ran when parked". He said it's not stuck,but his son in law drained all the fluids out of it. I've been gonna haul it home for the tires,just haven't yet. I'd like to see somebody fix it up.
 
Any way you could email a number to get ahold of him. Or a picture. Also where abouts in mid michigan. Thanx
 
As a JD man pass on that tractor. Missing carb $300-400, manifold anouther $200 plus all the rest. Case sounds like a good tractor.
 
A ridiculously high asking price like that is a polite way to say he isn't interested in selling it. It does not sound like it's in good enough condition to be very good parts tractor, as there isn't too much salvageable left on it. If you can buy it for less than $300 you might make a little money hauling it to a scrapyard, otherwise pass on it. There are better project tractors out there.
 
(reply to post at 07:10:40 07/23/14)
Well if all of you experienced folks are saying the same thing then sounds like I should move along. The case wouldn't be a bad thing seeing as their orange lol. And our other tractors are orange as well. Dont know a whole lot about them but its a learning procces I suppose.
 
Not much. I'd suggest owner pay you, say $20./hr to get it out of where it is and the tractor is free. Get agreement in writing first and a bill of sale for tractor before work begins. And know this: if the serial number tag is missing there is NO, repeat NO way to ever find what the number was on Waterloo 2 cyl tractors. There is a late A on CL in Elmira, NY area now for $1800, looks ok in pix, nice tin, tires up, says runs. Now that would be a good starter tractor. I see you are in MI, but there were lots sold there too. What you found is what I call a "residue". I have a few too many JD's so I am far from anti JD. Find one that is fun and not a burden.
 
I am probably going to pass on the jd. The case that was talked about sounds like.something I could afford and not terrible condition.
 

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