TE-20 Available

On the plus side: It started and ran fine, and I drove it for a few minutes and the steering seemed nice and tight. The 3 point stays up on it's own. It appears to have been converted to 12v (though the alternator or whatever that thing is looks real tacky).

On the minus side: The hood/front side panels)are pretty bad, (though the grill seems surprisingly good), the tires are basically shot, and I think at least one of the back rims will require replacement (leaky tube filled with sodium choride). The exhaust system is shot and the place where the battery sits under the hood is fairly corroded, and someone tried to add a gauge on the dash and that would have to be repaired. It could be these are minor problems, as old machines go, but they still cost alot of $$.

Questions: Should it matter whether it's a TE vs a TO? How tough is it to get sheet metal replacement parts? The guy is asking $1300 for it, but with the item's I've mentioned (along with the usual leaky seals, etc) it seems high. How much SHOULD it sell for, given today's values? I priced 11.2 X 28 rears, and the lowest I could find was $145 each (is that good?), and probably around $90 each for new rims. What other questions SHOULD I be asking before making a decision?

Any advice on this potential purchase would be greatly appreciated.

The place where the transmission bolts to the engine is missing a few bolts, and, on each side using the holes in about the middle, someone drilled out through the transmission "bell" housing (for lack of a better description) and put bolts through to draw the tractor together. There is no gap, but it sure looks shoddy and I wonder about the structural integrity of it with several bolts missing (maybe some of the holes are stripped?).

Can this even be repaired correctly (without an entirely new transmission housing), or would I have to live with bolts sticking through? Should this be a concern, or is this common in these tractors?

A second (and less troubling) observation is that the "ball units" in both ends of both three-point arms are really loose. Can these be repaired or do the arms have to be replaced with new ones (I can't see how they even put those balls in there in the first place!)? Are there aftermarket/replacement arms, or does a person simply have to find used ones in better shape than the existing ones?

I'd appreciate any advice available on these issues. Thanks!

Bill Mc

It appears that the engine number was cast as a "129", but the "9" was ground off (you can just barely tell from what's left of the number that it started out life as a "9", as what's left of the casting has that shape - it was not ground to level with the block) and a "0" was stamped in the spot that was ground off. It was never meant to fool anyone, obviously, but why would this be done?

As far it this being an incorrect mating of the engine/transmission, I can't see that as the contours are all correct. I was assuming someone stripped out the threads in the transmission and this was the only way they could regain some integrity. Even if this were a 129 block, why would someone go to the trouble to grind out the 9 and stamp in a 0? Either way, do I have some kind of "Frankenstein" tractor here? With the "modified" engine number, how can a person tell?

Bill Mc