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A bit of bragging about my auction adventure
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<blockquote data-quote="jkwilson" data-source="post: 1592005" data-attributes="member: 969"><p>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.</p><p></p><p>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.</p><p></p><p>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.</p><p></p><p>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.</p><p></p><p>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.</p><p></p><p>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.</p><p></p><p>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. </p><p></p><p>$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.</p><p></p><p>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.</p><p></p><p>Sold it for $6300 today. Better money than cattle, that's for sure. :cboy:</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="jkwilson, post: 1592005, member: 969"] 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: [/QUOTE]
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