"Oh for Two", or "How Not to Buy a Tractor"

That is my score right now when it comes to finding a tractor. Of course I have been looking for another Farmall 450 or at least a good complete engine, but so far I have yet to find any that I can look at right now or that fit my bill. In the meantime I decided to look at a few other tractors. Specifically I wanted to look at tractors that I could buy and use some of the stuff from the 450 if I wanted/needed to. I'm talking about swapping over my brand new tires, the three-point hitch, the wide front end, or even the loader.

My most recent tractor search took me to a very nice looking Farmall 560 that had a narrow front end and a loader. I drove the tractor and really liked everything about it (except there was a little hydraulic leak up front). The only problem is that with all of the projects we have coming up (plus the need of a new washing machine) and taking into account the problems I have already had I was a little gunshy and didn't buy right away.

I looked at the tractor on Saturday and by Sunday evening I decided that it was a good enough deal and something that would work great for our farm. So, I called up the guy ready to tell him I wanted to buy ... except someone had already decided to buy it earlier that day. Yep, I was a bit disappointed.

As soon as I got off the phone Sunday night I started scouring TractorHouse.com, TractorShed.com, and IronSearch.com (this was like the 400th time I had scoured those sites). In those searches I came across another 560 with a loader and a wide front. It seems like this tractor had been listed forever as I had come across it quite a few times, but I thought I would go ahead and try and find out more about it.

Since I didn't figure the dealer was open at the time I sent an e-mail. After not hearing back all day I decided to call in the late afternoon. Yep, you guessed it ... sold that day (pending pick-up)! I couldn't believe it...

Now we are back to square one ... last evening I searched those same sites again looking for tractors within a 250 mile radius. I didn't really come across anything in our price range, so I guess I'm going to keep looking.

On the plus side, I did find some large round bales of grass/alfalfa and I'm off with a friend from church to pick them up today. Sorry for the rambling post, but just thought I would give a little farm update.