Honestly I never intended to spend as much, but I was surprised to find as many of the parts to be as worn as they were, and what they cost. The cost of some of these parts has gotten out of control.
I do plan to keep the tractor, and I asked to see what the experience is for high end sales for restored or like new OEM tractors. My guess would be that if there is an affluent collector type like Jay Leno that they would pay twice that with no apprehension. But I also suspect that pretty every other buyer would result in a loss.
Also in hindsight is the realization that if I had the lump sum of cash in hand with the knowledge of what it cost to do the job correctly, that I would be considering a different machine. For a little more cash I could have bought a walker rider, or a compact diesel tractor with a loader.
As for the new old stock tractors; I would bet that someone has a few somewhere.
Mike
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