jkwilson
Well-known member
Was in the market for a batwing a couple of years ago, and I had some saved searches on some auction sites that I never got around to shutting down. Got an email back in April about an auction 45 minutes away that had a batwing. Wasn't batwing shopping, but they did have a gooseneck trailer I liked the sound of, so I went.
Nasty, rainy day. Wasn't a typical farm auction. Place has estate auctions at the county fairgrounds on Thursday afternoons. Water was running across the gravel lot like a creek.
Trailer wasn't much to look at from close up, and the batwing was 1000RPM, but I was there, so I went inside and listened to the auctioneer's pre-sale speech. He said they didn't have a tractor there to help with the few implements, and the story on the batwing was the owner had hit a culvert and broke the shaft. After he got the gearbox fixed, that side mowed 3 or 4 inches higher than the other decks, so he assumed the deck or wing was bent.
I wasn't interested in the household stuff, so I went outside to take another look at the farm equipment. Kept looking at the batwing, trying to see if it was bent. Looked square as could be, so I was looking for scrapes and scratches from the impact to see what might have happened. That's when my brain finally saw what I was seeing. I walked to the other side to check to see if I was crazy. No more than normal, but I was darned sure you shouldn't see wear and polish on the back sides of the blades on a bushhog. I checked the top of the deck and the blades were the right ones.
Checked out the gearboxes and shafts. All was tight. A couple of guys came out to look at it and decided to let that wing down so they could see if the deck was bent. I was about to bust a gut knowing they'd be hiding the clue to what was wrong. Came back out to see both wings down, but they were gone.
I twiddled my thumbs trying to kill time until the sale moved outside. Finally headed out with about a dozen of us following the auctioneer. Lawn mower and lawn furniture sold, a grader blade and then got to the batwing. Auctioneer repeated the story about the bent deck, and I heard a couple of other guys say they could see a bow to the deck. Thought to myself "It's made that way, but keep talking about it". Finally got rolling and a guy stepped in at $500. Up $100 at a time and it hung at $1000. I said 50, and it was mine for $1050.
Had to run to town to get a come along to fold it up. Towed it down the road to a friends to wait until I could get a trailer. Got it home and finally had time to look at it over the 4th. As I guessed, whoever rebuilt the gearbox built it like the opposite wing and put the gear on the wrong end of the shaft so it drove the pinion backwards.
$45 for a set of seals, $60 for a shim kit, a gallon of gear oil and a few hours figuring out exactly where the pieces were supposed to go and getting it shimmed right and it was good.
I borrowed a tractor with 1000RPM PTO, hit the field and it mowed perfectly. The guy I borrowed the tractor from used it to clip his pastures and it worked fine mowing for a couple of days.
Sold it for $6300 today. Better money than cattle, that's for sure. :cboy:
Nasty, rainy day. Wasn't a typical farm auction. Place has estate auctions at the county fairgrounds on Thursday afternoons. Water was running across the gravel lot like a creek.
Trailer wasn't much to look at from close up, and the batwing was 1000RPM, but I was there, so I went inside and listened to the auctioneer's pre-sale speech. He said they didn't have a tractor there to help with the few implements, and the story on the batwing was the owner had hit a culvert and broke the shaft. After he got the gearbox fixed, that side mowed 3 or 4 inches higher than the other decks, so he assumed the deck or wing was bent.
I wasn't interested in the household stuff, so I went outside to take another look at the farm equipment. Kept looking at the batwing, trying to see if it was bent. Looked square as could be, so I was looking for scrapes and scratches from the impact to see what might have happened. That's when my brain finally saw what I was seeing. I walked to the other side to check to see if I was crazy. No more than normal, but I was darned sure you shouldn't see wear and polish on the back sides of the blades on a bushhog. I checked the top of the deck and the blades were the right ones.
Checked out the gearboxes and shafts. All was tight. A couple of guys came out to look at it and decided to let that wing down so they could see if the deck was bent. I was about to bust a gut knowing they'd be hiding the clue to what was wrong. Came back out to see both wings down, but they were gone.
I twiddled my thumbs trying to kill time until the sale moved outside. Finally headed out with about a dozen of us following the auctioneer. Lawn mower and lawn furniture sold, a grader blade and then got to the batwing. Auctioneer repeated the story about the bent deck, and I heard a couple of other guys say they could see a bow to the deck. Thought to myself "It's made that way, but keep talking about it". Finally got rolling and a guy stepped in at $500. Up $100 at a time and it hung at $1000. I said 50, and it was mine for $1050.
Had to run to town to get a come along to fold it up. Towed it down the road to a friends to wait until I could get a trailer. Got it home and finally had time to look at it over the 4th. As I guessed, whoever rebuilt the gearbox built it like the opposite wing and put the gear on the wrong end of the shaft so it drove the pinion backwards.
$45 for a set of seals, $60 for a shim kit, a gallon of gear oil and a few hours figuring out exactly where the pieces were supposed to go and getting it shimmed right and it was good.
I borrowed a tractor with 1000RPM PTO, hit the field and it mowed perfectly. The guy I borrowed the tractor from used it to clip his pastures and it worked fine mowing for a couple of days.
Sold it for $6300 today. Better money than cattle, that's for sure. :cboy:
