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What Have I done now? 8 Pieces saved from the salvage yar...

W

westicles

Member
Last weekend my neighbor texted me, and said that his brother (mid 70's) was about to go bankrupt due to his wife taking him back to court to double his
alimony.

The second text read "you better get over here as soon as you get off work, Tom called the scrapyard because he needs cash but he's selling a lot of old
equipment for steel price because he doesn't want the bank to auction it later on and get nothing, I know a lot of it was running when he parked it!"

So, maybe a mistake, but I went over there with a flashlight at night and offered him $4200 for everything his brothers didn't claim. (They had already beat me
to several old olivers, a dozen bushhogs, sawmill, square bailers, fuel tanks, spreaders ect.)

So he was in a hurry, I believe the bankruptcy story was legit, but don't know about everything running....its been sitting for no telling how long.

I went over there for a about 15 minutes the next day when he was about to leave and took a few pictures of everything and wanted to see what you guys would
think would be worth getting back to par ( I can rebuild engines, but I'm slow and have 4 kids at the farm still so time is sometimes lacking) The scrap man was
there at that time making his offer on the remainder.

So here's what I bought to the best of my estimation, and HIS summery story of their condition.

Allis-Chalmers HD-7G Crawler Loader. (Running when I parked it, it should start with a new battery and some Aether) I looked over the tracks and the rollers
and tensioners arent scorn or rounded.

Massey Ferguson 3165 Industrial W perkins diesel + backhoe and loader. ("That thing should crank up pretty easy, but has bad hydraulic leaks and valves")

Case 1830 Skid Steer ("It just needs a Carb")

Ford 841-941 Series? Diesel with old loader (It ran when I parked it, the sheet metal is in the barn)

3 Redbellied Fords.... 2,8,9N, Jubillee?? (No explanation)

Whisper Chipper, big wood chipper on kart, looked industrial...had an inline 6 on it I'm thinking 100 HP or better car engine on it...has stickers of a
woodchuck on the side ( I bought that thing not running, and I never got around to looking at it)

My estimate is that I can't get hurt too bad on much...Most of it will probably scrap for 3/4 what I paid for it.

What do you guys think would be worth putting a little time and money into for work and use?

What should go right to the scrap yard?

What should I take off and part out?

I don't mind putting money into something if I know I'm going to get ten years use out of it after the rebuild.
freshly rebuilt my Massey 50 for bushhogging ect. I have 52 Acres, Half timber, Half pasture, and I was planning on buying a used dozer, digging a big pond,
and selling it before this came along.

I have access to a full machine shop and hydraulic shop at work.



Just my gut feeling at first glance.

If the crawler has any major engine issues, main bearings ect......scrapyard

MF 3165 industrial, if it runs should be worth fixing because of the heavy duty frame.

Case 1830, was already an under-powered skid.... if the Renault parts are hard to find...put a 35 HP kawasaki in it.

The diesel ford with a loader....would be better than my gas massey for utility work.

The three redbellies...may have enough parts between them to make 1 good running tractor.

The whisper chipper, if the motor is too much trouble maybe adapt it to run on PTO?

Let me know what you guys think, I'll post pictures below. A lot of experience on this forum....I need to get one of them running and useful to get my money
back out of the scrapyard on the rest.

Uploading Pictures...Thats a Dead limp on the ford...Didnt didnt the gas tank.
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You're way over 'my' head, but I'd sure like to get my hands on that wood chipper and the crawler. ...Assuming the engine runs, that is.
 
Well the chipper is belt drive. It looks like the same model as this one on ebay? https://www.ebay.com/i/254057926356?chn=ps But its gas.
 
I'd have to give that MF backhoe a try as well. The more I look at it, the more I want it! *lol*

Looks like it's still got a lot of life left in it.
 
The Ford with the loader would be the 800 series as the 900 series is the rowcrop, not a utility type as that one is.
 
I would skip work today and get that stuff moved.!!! Hopefully you can get it off his property fast. I think you did ok on price.
 
Quick answer to that is, that he hasn't officially filed. He anticipates losing an alimony hearing next month, which he feels will lead to filing after he runs
out of cash to pay his house payment. Me and the scrap man probably bought him another couple months of house payments. I plan to have it all moved within the
week if the ground stays frozen enough not to tear his yard up.
 
What model do you think it is, I know its diesel but the sheet metal was packed in the barn. I'm not up on my old fords... i dont know the models of the rest other than the other three have red paint and burn gas.
 
(quoted from post at 15:32:53 01/30/19) I think you better be careful who you tell this story to because you never know if he was allowed to sell this stuff.... bankruptcy usually involves a bank, and they’ll be keen to know where the stuff they gave him money to buy went.
Click to expand...
Agreed. I'm no lawyer, but this sounds felonious.
 
Alimony+bankruptcy=trouble. How do you know his EX doesn't still have claim to half of the equipment? Or how the Bankruptcy Court doesn't lay claim already? You sure won't get any
$$$$ back if someone else lays claim to the equipment or has a lien against it,he'll just add you to the list of creditors that are S-O-L.
 
As others have said,tread lightly on this one. If you buy them,pay cash and have them out of there yesterday. I know a guy who had a machine shop. He mouthed off to the judge one time too many in divorce court. The judge ordered the Sheriff to lock up the house and shop right now. He couldn't even get in to get his clothes,let alone anything in the shop,nor could anybody who had stuff in the shop. If you wanted your stuff back,you had to buy it at the auction. That's right,the judge wouldn't even let anybody else in to get their stuff out.
 
I think that NO ONE parks working front loader tractors, back hoes, skid steers, and crawlers. Something is wrong with each and every one of them, or they would be out earning money, or sold for house payments when parked. Plan to drag all of them a long way, then work on all of them for weeks before they are ready for any kind of industrial work.

Get to know a tractor supplier real well because you're going to spend thousands on parts, and hundreds of hours making each of them do any work. Skid steer 'just needs carb' likely means a whole engine rebuild, and then start on the hyd after that.
 
I understand the legal concerns completely. He has been divorced for many years. I think if I get stiffed then so will his brothers, and they don't appear to have been stiffed much in their lives. Also one brother has a farm next door, I believe the simplest plan would be to move it all 500 ft to the brothers farm....so that in the worst case scenario he could say it was all his. I would say the wife wont know any better, because both of them collect hordes of the same kind of stuff.
 
For those concerned about the coming BK from the seller, that is a real concern. The legal term is 'claw-back' and the court does have the power to reverse any material sales withing a few months of the date of the BK. Combined with an Alimony case, where the assets may or may not be part of joint property, this could turn into a real can-o-worms should the vindictive party know that the sale was predicated on removing assets from the joint property.
 
It is fortunate that you had the resources (money) to take advantage of an opportunity. I believe you can have some useable equipment and some sale able parts or scrap. Money wise your profit maybe in what you are able to get going and use. Most of my "opportunities" came when I did not have two nickels to rub together. Now days don't have the ambition to take on a huge project that you've just taken on. gobble
 
you said the wife was taking him back to court. so the equipment should have been worked out in the first settelement. i have seen where these women get a big settelement and spend it all and come back for more. these women have to learn to live within their means.
 
Thank you all for your legal council. I am aware of the risks. Plus I've already paid him, so the damage is done one way or another. Its a gamble on condition, as
well as the legality if the situation is not exactly as he described. I was prepared that absolutely none of it would ever run when I gave him the cash, thats why
I paid just over scrap for all of it.


I've also gambled on brand new vehicles at the dealership and got screwed out of waaay more than $4200!
 
Thank you for your positive comment. Like i replied before... I've gambled on new cars at the dealership and lost more than $4200. If i can get one thing running and scrap the rest, i believe it will be more of a net gain than leaving it in the bank collecting interest.
 
What the others say about Divorce, alimony and all that is a valid point. So is selling items before bankrupt, reach back. BUT GOSH MAN FROM THE LOOKS OF ALL THAT STUFF For an ex wife and bankrupt court to fool with would be out there so far they would never get back!!! Some states require a lien to be posted on a program like UCC. This is the tractor serial number. I HIGHLY DOUBT YOU ARE GOING TO FIND THAT. I hope you make out ok and I hope you paid buy the pound (scrap value) for all that!!!
 
Well, there is probably some good and bad advice supplied by YT'ers here, but if you end up in court eventually, don't tell the judge, "Yeah but my friends at Yesterday's Tractors said ....... ". Your best bet is to seek legal counsel from a lawyer who knows about family law in your state. Worst case scenario is that you kiss your $4200 goodbye, hopefully it doesn't get worse than that before you start spending money on repairs (if that even happens). For my opinion, I see red flags waving.
 
The difference is now he is on fixed income. But yes, either she had a chance before... or she is unaware that any of it ever existed. Either way I'm confident I can get it all moved months in advance of anyone coming out to appraise his better assets.
 
Lie to a Court of Law and you are talking some real trouble then,what this guy is doing is tried all the time so the lawyers and courts know what to look for.I'd guess his EX has complete
photographic evidence of everything he owns plus there is this little thing called Google Earth that will pin it down to whose property it was all on and when.
 
I paid him $10 over scrap per ton. I doubt she ever knew any of this existed, and I plan to have it moved before it will come to that a few months down the road.
 
Westy I am going to add a little more from the legal side. Under the circumstance Divorce, alimony bankrupt etc. I WOULD REFRAIN FROM PUTTING ALL THIS ON HERE, OR OTHER ONLINE SITES (FACEBOOK) Sometimes keeping things quiet is the best route!!!
 
I think i might do that now. I was originally posting just to see if anyone thought the EQUIPMENT, had any potential, not the DEAL itself.
 
While most of you are making valid points that's all old equipment. This neck of the woods I haven't seen anyone with an old crawler, backhoe or such making money with that old stuff in years. Heck it became Fiat-Allis in 1974. The MF hoe? Mid to late 60's? Most of that stuff is so old that most banks won't take it as collateral. To the lending agencies most of it is scrap value only.

Heck if yer 70 and don't have a need for em you'd either sell em of park em. Lot of older guys I know would park em cause they have an inflated idea of what they are worth. So if they can't get what they want they park em.

Rick
 
Well maybe "a friend was retiring and selling stuff" would have got you a lot less legal advice!!
 
Thats exactly what my size up of the situation was. He thought it was all gold, but he was in his 70's and has a shop full of even newer stuff. He barely had
energy to walk around with us to look at the stuff.
 
I'm with oldtanker on this one.

"It would be out making money" is laughable. My guess is there isn't all that much wrong with any of it, but no self-respecting excavation outfit would touch that equipment with a 10' pole for front line everyday use. Not even as backup equipment. Too old, way too worn out, no parts, you name it. It's only good for an old farmer to putter around with pushing out trees and digging holes that he wanted to 30 years ago when he didn't have the time or the money.

If you're a farmer, you'll know why it's sitting around. With old stuff like that, you can give it away or leave it sit. Nobody is going to pay you a fair price for it, and you're sure as heck not going to give it away. So it sits.
 
(quoted from post at 09:25:21 01/30/19) Thats exactly what my size up of the situation was. He thought it was all gold, but he was in his 70's and has a shop full of even newer stuff. He barely had
energy to walk around with us to look at the stuff.
Click to expand...

As far as the equipment goes, It'll only take an increase of $25-35 per ton on steel to cover your investment plus the cost of moving the stuff. If you do a little work and dismantle the machines to sort the steel, and you sell off some easier to sell parts before you haul them in, you could do really well.

The tractors and skid steer are your best bet to start with if you're looking to do a little fixing for resale. That Case skid steer if running could sell for 3500+ at a consignment sale here. The backhoe and crawler are likely lost causes - not worth much even if you do get them going and parts will be expensive, unless of course you want them for your own use. I've long wanted a crawler/loader. I'd bet the chipper has a slant six chrysler or a ford 300 in it. Either engine has about a million donors if you wanna get it going. Not worth a lot though.
 
If I were you I'd be trying to get out of this deal and hopefully get my money returned. Ain't nothing there but scrap iron. It's parked where it is for a reason. Never heard of many guys making money fixing up scrap iron. And once the angry ex-wife and the bankruptcy court hears what happened it's going to be not yours anyway. Good luck getting out of this one.
 
Jocco ..... usually CAPITAL LETTERS means yelling by computer nerds, but in this case, the computer police will back you 100% .... just not a good deal !!!
 
I'd be moving that stuff home ASAP. If the ex wife is out for blood I would stay as far away as possible. If you can get the stuff off the property you have possession which is supposedly 9/10 of the law.
 
(quoted from post at 09:32:17 01/30/19) I'm with oldtanker on this one.

"It would be out making money" is laughable.
Click to expand...

Ok, I see your point. How about it would be sold for more than scrap value, or be used by someone. We have an old road grader a few block from my cabin. I've asked several times if I can rent it, and the owner keeps saying it both works, and needs xxxx before he will run it. So, it sits. Now I find out that not only does it not 'work', but needs a complete rebuild of the chain boxes.

This is the point I wanted to make, not that any of it would be an industrial money-maker. I still hold that every piece in the group is going to require many man hours, and big $$$ before it will do the job intended by the seller.

My other experience was a 'free' 8N that came with some property. Running when parked. Ok, after a carb rebuild, new gas tank/petcock, oil, filter, trans fluid, rear tires, water pump, battery, points, condenser, coolant, fan shroud it was finally ready to do some work. About $1400 in materials, and at least 150 hours of labor. For this deal X6+.
 
funny a lot of the posts on this subject sounded like lawyers. Lets see, we have the YT DOT, the YT grammar police, the YT osha inspectors, now the YT lawyers. The one stop shop for any counseling you need. lol gobble
 
I will have to disagree...
sometimes folks park running
equipment..I bought a Minnie mo r
and an Oliver 77 that ran when
parked , 5 years ago. The poor old
guy just got sick and weak and
couldn't fool with em anymore.
Both of them are back running with
very little time or money. Still
had a MM u and MM z sitting there.
 
The guy who said you can't make money on "Scrap Iron" has obviously never bought a used block. I bet a million dollars in parts has been sold on this forum
alone. "Hey email me, I have the **** you need for sale cheaper than ebay"

The Red bellied tractors should have a lot of interchangeable parts. So I'm optimistic there.

The skid steer... if the hydraulics are still good.... the procedure should be as simple as an adapter plate and a 35HP Kholer V-Twin from a big lawnmower.
There have been a lot of re-powers on old skids done on the cheap that ran for many years with no problems. That doesn't mean it wouldnt take me a week to do
the work.

I don't have much Faith in the chipper engine, but i have seen lots of old equipment that used to have an engine converted to run off of a PTO adapter for
relatively cheap.

If the crawler cranks and moves as he said it will, I'm going to have it inspected...I'm planning on pushing up a dam on a 6 acre valley that I have to make a
Catfish Pond, if the repair cost estimate (in parts exceeds) what It would cost to hire out, then I'll call the scrap man. It weighs 27,000 LBS, they discount
the weight 10% if they come pick it up. So as of this minute, approximately $1300.

The Massey backhoe is actually my favorite prospect. Its a Massey 165 with double heavy axles on it. And would have the most utility value long term for me.
With a good block, the Perkins engine can be made brand new for $700, and I have access to a full hydraulic repair shop at work for the Backhoe and loader.
There are some models with 3PT lift and pto behind the backhoe. Running as only a utility tractor it would be twice the tractor my MF50 is.


The Ford 841 I have no idea, it may be scrap but my neighbor could use the loader.
 
Haha. The internet is great. I thought, surely if there was a forum to give me opinions on what equipment is worth fixing up over others or if anyone had owned any of this stuff quote me what it cost to fix theirs or what goes bad first it would be this one. I've got about 3 replies about equipment and 30 legal advice posts.

Once i got on here with a buddy and I made a survey because we were doing research about designing a utility tractor using the best of all of the old designs that are out of patent protection...we wanted to make a 100 year utility tractor under 50HP. That could be mainted by the average joe. There are none built in america anymore, but lots still running from the 40's and 50's. Every post was... I WOULD BUY ONE IN A MINUTE! BUT IT CANT BE DONE! NOBODY WOULD BUY IT!.
 
Can't argue with your optimism. Genuinely hope it works out well. We will never know how it goes from here.
 
N Ford's are worth nothing more Than scrap price, even running ones are bringing $500.00 or less here. The rest has a chance of making you a few dollars.
 
(quoted from post at 11:44:33 01/30/19) Haha. The internet is great. I thought, surely if there was a forum to give me opinions on what equipment is worth fixing up over others or if anyone had owned any of this stuff quote me what it cost to fix theirs or what goes bad first it would be this one. I've got about 3 replies about equipment and 30 legal advice posts.

Once i got on here with a buddy and I made a survey because we were doing research about designing a utility tractor using the best of all of the old designs that are out of patent protection...we wanted to make a 100 year utility tractor under 50HP. That could be mainted by the average joe. There are none built in america anymore, but lots still running from the 40's and 50's. Every post was... I WOULD BUY ONE IN A MINUTE! BUT IT CANT BE DONE! NOBODY WOULD BUY IT!.
Click to expand...

Your last sentence is pretty true. People will drive across town to save a nickel. If you truly built a 100 year tractor, it would be priced far beyond what the other garbage available today costs. You'd have 1000 guys standing at the tractor saying "But, but, I can buy a Mahindra TYM Kioti etc for a lot less." Then they would.

These guys on here cry about the loss of American manufacturing, then come on and brag about the $24 log chain they just bought at Harbor Frieght. THEY are your buyers. They want cheap. They want quality, too, but they want cheap more.
 
No more legal replies please.

This old "Junk" has ran for so long because someone like me came along and replaced parts in it and painted it. As long as there aren't emissions standards on used equipment then I'll keep fixing up "Junk", because some day everything will be totally electronic and the farmer wont be able to shade tree mechanic it into running order. Just ask a John Deere Combine owner.

That's a lot of the reason Forums like this one exist. Because the knowledge base and can do attitude always prevail, but so much of each are disappearing today.
 
I hope it works out OK for you,and I'm agreeing there is money to be made with what is pictured you bought.That one skid loader alone if it turns out to be OK will just about cover
what you paid.A little work,marketing and patience and you'll make money on the deal.Plus you have some good parts machines too, takes awhile but that is where the real money in old stuff is these days.
 
I would say you got a bargain.the backhoe alone will about bring your money back if it is ok.i would jump on any of that equipment at plus scrap price.i would get it all moved pronto. If I understand right,she is wanting more alimony, also he has not filed bankruptcy so you bought some equipment from the owner who wanted to sell it.whats wrong with that?
 
Also people park things with nothing major wrong with them sometimes I have bought some that were fine. I would give twice scrap for that chipper even if engine had a hole you could stick your head in.
 
Nothing at all, actually I helped him a little. The scrap made made him an offer per ton and he was coming the next day... he frankly told me that if i would give more or less anything more than that I'd be helping him out. It may be six months before he files, plus between me and the scrap man he got 4 months house payments. He had a D6 dozer with a bad bearing and a semi trailor, so i think the scrap man probably wrote him a check bigger than mine. I think he was wanting to downsize and move to the city, he was getting too old to take care of the place by himself anyway. His brother is my good friend, another gentleman with too many projects and a decade past retirement. I cut firewood for him, and he gave me the heads up. He talked me into the crawler because he didn't want it to leave the neighborhood, he said hes seen it push over some pretty good sized cypress trees. So someone besides me has some confidence in some of it.
 
I'll keep you all posted on my progress. Maybe a year from now we will come back and there will be "I told you so's" !

I'll keep a running spreadsheet count of everything spent on them, and all hours I work on them.

Maybe I can help someone else who is gambling on a similar junk lot or hopefully not a sketchy sellout deal.
 
Woo hoo ! I am so happy to see someone else that has this disease.
Just today I stepped in my local salvage yard and ended up buying two small John Deer discs, one 8' and a 10'. Two Rockford twin disc power take-off's, for Detroit Diesel power units.

Happen to see a nice set of west coast chrome mirrors on a L9000 Ford truck. I happen to have two of those trucks, bought the mirrors too. LOL
 
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Reactions: Wdj
I have to admit, it's hard to hear a story that starts out with buying something cheap in the middle of the night from someone running from the law, without instantly thinking it is shady at best. You can't really blame anyone for offering legal advice about a story like that.

I would be concerned that after the guy gets back on his feet he will want his stuff back for the same price as what you paid him for it.

If the guy is really that close to bankruptcy, I doubt any lawyers for his ex-wife would have taken on her case to increase her alimony. So, what is the rest of this story?
 
(quoted from post at 11:53:10 01/30/19) N Ford's are worth nothing more Than scrap price, even running ones are bringing $500.00 or less here. The rest has a chance of making you a few dollars.
Click to expand...

Well heck, you must never have learned to be an operator......just a steering wheel holder i guess. Heck I'd by running N's all day for 500 cause on a quick sale i could double my money. If I was willing to wait a week or 2 i could get 1500. Now some others? Like C AC? that's a 500 buck tractor here with new paint and new tires.

Rick
 
841 = 4 speed, 851 = 5 speed, 861 = 5 speed with 2 stage clutch for live pto. 971 & 881 are S O S tractors that transmission models I do not know. But I think all 801 series were avaible with the diesel
 

Update 2/16: Got everything pushed to the farm next door, no legal trouble expected from any direction. He had been divorced for many years, and all of the equipment was collected after his divorce, so his ex wife nor the bank has or had any knowledge of any of it existing.
Everything is staged pointing downhill to load on the trailer.


Equipment Status for what i've looked at closely:

Allis 7G Crawler : put new batteries on it, drained bottom quart from the fuel tank, topped off the hydraulics and transmission. Cranked up first rotation and ran like a champ, smooth as butter... its a stout little monster.

With this running well, I feel like I could scrap the rest right now if needed and be ahead.

The 3 redbellied (8n,9N,2N, Jubillees?) Every single one of them seem to be stuck in one gear or another...looked it up and its very common for the clutch to stick to the flywheel with rust.

Massey 3165 Backhoe: Turned over smoothly but after two rotations the starter solenoid gave out and wouldn't move the sprocket onto the flywheel (pivot lever style, can't jump around)

So far past my purchase price.

$310 in batteries

$20 starter solenoid.

$5 on Ether that i never used

$10 Battery Cable ends for the Crawler

$20 Diesel fuel.
 
(quoted from post at 20:11:51 01/30/19)
(quoted from post at 11:53:10 01/30/19) N Ford's are worth nothing more Than scrap price, even running ones are bringing $500.00 or less here. The rest has a chance of making you a few dollars.
Click to expand...

Well heck, you must never have learned to be an operator......just a steering wheel holder i guess. Heck I'd by running N's all day for 500 cause on a quick sale i could double my money. If I was willing to wait a week or 2 i could get 1500. Now some others? Like C AC? that's a 500 buck tractor here with new paint and new tires.

Rick
Click to expand...

You should start going to auctions, then. Old 1940's and early 1950's tractors have really dropped off in price.
 
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