1512 diesel worthwhile trade???

[tlm227]

first time poster to any forum ever, so bear with me if i don't hit the right keys... more salt than pepper in this beard.

i own a farmall a and had a farmall cub in the past, but never a cub cadet.

the reason i registered and am writing is because someone has proposed a trade to me. my '94 dodge dually flatbed w/ cummins 12v engine (and only 134k, but some rust starting), for his, (as he described it)...

1993 cub cadet mdl 1512 diesel with 23hp(?) kubota w/629 hrs. on the meter.
3 pt hitch, 38" tiller, 50" mowing deck, chains, wheel weights and manuals.

he said he bought it at auction back in april at an estate sale and gave $4200 for it, which is within $50 of my out of pocket on the truck.

i've always thought having a larger tiller than my (late 80's) troybilt 8hp 20" walk behind would be a good idea in order to increase the garden size in these economic times, but i always had in mind about a 40 hp small tractor that could handle 5' of tiller.

my ???...

how large of a garden would the 1512 work, economically speaking? (i presently till close to 2000 sq ft, but i have thoughts of 10,000 -20,000 sq ft.

how much is a 1512 as described worth? would i come out ahead? any market for the 1512 if i made the trade and decided it isn't big enough for what i have in mind?

would it run on waste veg oil? is the 1512 engine liquid cooled? i have a '95 dodge cummins that i converted to wvo and am pretty happy about the change in fuel costs.


any feedback would be welcome

thanks

[Matt G.]

First off, I don't think the seller of that tractor knows what he's talking about. 1512 was built 1986 -1987? and is 15 hp, hence the "15" in the model number. Not sure where he's coming up with 23 hp.

In my part of the country, that tractor, if in good mechanical and physical condition, is not worth anywhere near $4200. He screwed himself when he paid that much, in my opinion. The tractor w/ deck is probably $1500 or so as of right now, tiller $300, hitch $350, chains and weights $100, so ~$2250 in my area of the country.

2000 ft^2 is a cinch. 20,000 ft^2 is a lot more, but probably still doable, although a larger tractor would be better.

The engine is liquid-cooled. I would not run waste oil in it...I have read in a number of places that Kubota doesn't recommend that. I wouldn't run it in mine. It uses so little fuel anyway that I don't find that it would be worth the trouble.

[tlm227]

thanks for the response. sounds like i need to keep looking for cash for my truck.

cub cadet ever make anything large enough to handle 4 or 5 ft of tiller?

[Matt G.]

I think the tiller they made for the 982, 1914, 1572/1772/1872/2072 etc. was 48". Other than that, I think you'd be looking at a compact tractor instead of a garden tractor.

[tlm227]

thanks matt