Newbie here - need some guidance!

[satch]

Hello there,
I have been seriously thinking about buying a 420, 430 or 440 crawler/loader.
As such, I have been looking around. There is a 440 on ebay, that, from what I can see, seems to be priced fairly reasonable. http://cgi.ebay.com/John-Deere-440-Craw ... 286.c0.m14
You may have to copy and paste this into your browser.
Is this a good deal? If not, why not? Why did no one bid on it?
Thanks for all your help.

[Tigerhaze]

I think this may have been the $25,000 crawler that we posted about a few weeks ago.

http://www.jdcrawlers.com/messageboard/ ... php?t=4141

[JD440ICD2006]

Yes, this is the same epay ad that I posted about. They started at a minimum bid of $25,000, claiming that the "owner" (who ever that may be) had more than that in it. So if they truly had more than $25,000 in it, no way would they drop the price to $5,000 starting bid. Like some wives, it would be "cheaper to keep her". If they do not have $25,000 in it as previously stated, that is the first lie (rat). When you find one "rat", there are many more you don't find until it is too late.

Anytime you get dialog that places distance between the "seller" and the "owner", it is usually something being hidden. It forms an easy out for the seller as they will always place blame for anything mistated on the "owner". One of many very old trader tricks.

I would be suspecious, not to say that what is there could or could not be worth the revised $5,000 price.
Something just does not seem right about the whole process of this ad.

Looks like most of the money was put in the paint, which is yet another very old trader trick. Even though we know better, we are more attracted to shiney paint than we are understanding the real mechnical condition.

Good luck, this will not be your only chance or last chance to buy an old crawler.

[Lavoy]

Come on now, that is only 80% off, maybe it went on sale!
I would have to agree, non one would drop the price that far if they truly had 25K in it. I would also have to assume that that was a lie, so not so hard to believe that another lie will follow it up. If you want to pursue the crawler further, ask the seller for a complete breakdown of the work that was done to the crawler. By that I mean don't accept a statement like "the engine was completely rebuilt" at face value. Ask him what the block was bored to, what the crank was turned to, etc. Same thing on any other work, ask very specific questions as to work done, and parts installed. Anything less than an exact answer is simpy an evasion, so assume the worst. My favorite is "Won't steer on one side, just needs an adjustment". You see that all the time in ads. If it is just an adjustment, the owner would have done it, and changed the ad to "steers great".
Lavoy

[JD440ICD2006]

Lavoy,

As you and many of us know, the "beauty" of a "seller" selling for another "owner" is that they never have to give specific answers.
One of the most used that I have seen in this scenario is, "I am told................." How elusive is that?

There are honest folks still out there, but they seem to be harder to come by. I answered an ad for a JD 440 IC not long ago, guy said, "Runs good, carb needs adjustment." I asked specific questions until he finally admitted that they had not started it yet. Amazing, and this is a guy that seemed honest.

Chuck W


PS An old addage that fits is this: "I had the money and they had the experience, now, they have the money and I have the experience."

[Gil]

I won't disagree with anything that has been said. If I had a $25,000 crawler for sale on eBay, I certainly would post more than two pictures taken from halfway across the barn yard. However, I have bought a number of JD440 crawlers and they all came with a story. However, when I find someone who is very convincing and tells a compelling story about their machine, I often find that they learned how to be so convincing by practicing talking people out of their money. The caveat is buyer beware.

This owner has definitely put some work into the machine. Even from a distance you can see that there is the new seat and a paint job. He painted the hoses, etc so I wouldn't expect a restoration paint job. At least he put on some expensive decals that a slap-it-on-to-sell-it owner is not likely to do. I might add that the metal emblems on the side of the hood look pretty good from a distance. That may be some indication that the crawler was at least a little taken care of.

If there are in fact new tracks, rollers, and sprockets, that is worth a good chunk of change and something that will probably last you a life time. A gas engine rebuild is also worth a good deal if you pay someone else to do it. But like Lavoy said, ask for specifics. No one would spend that much money and not keep some receipts - or ask to speak to the place where they got the parts and work done. It does make you wonder why someone would "recently" put that much money in a machine and then turn around and sell it for a loss. Maybe they know that something else major is about to fail. So like all used machines I would expect to put another reasonable amount of money into it.

The auction has ended and no one bid, so I would make arrangements to drive down and see the crawler. Take your trailer and a pocket full of cash. Remember that $5000 is a lot for this model in average condition. You must find that you are in fact getting a new undercarriage and that the engine at least runs and the thing steers. You can always turn in your clunker car or pickup truck for a new fuel efficient vehicle and use Uncle Sam's (meaning the rest of us taxpayers) money to buy the crawler for free.