Well, I went ahead and pullet the trigger. SN is 79631, so appears to be a '65. Crotchety old fart selling it, but I think he's honest. He tells me it has never popped out of gear, and has never had the clutch slip on him. I couldn't make it slip as far as I'm aware. I went back and forth through all the gears, and it seemed OK. A little hard to get the shifter to pop out of 4th, but only once. The clutch doesn't engage (disengage? when the tractor starts moving) until the last 2 inches of travel or so near the top. I was hoping for more of a "lurch" when I pop the clutch out relatively quickly. Not sure if the engine RPM just dropped so it could catch up and get to speed or a slip.

There is a leak around the water pump, which I believe he had mentioned over the phone but I had forgot. Doesn't look to be a big deal, I will most likely have it rebuilt.

U joint for the steering next to your left foot is shot. Still turns well, but it's loose.

Didn't see any active drips of hydraulic fluid, but there was buildup everywhere. I imagine there are a couple of leaks. Who knows last time it was power washed. Probably never.

For those of you wondering, the hydraulics for the bucket (lift and tilt) are on the side of the transmission housing. It works even with the clutch in and is power down as well as power up. I was unsure about this going in.

I didn't test the PTO. I was fiddling with levers seeing what does what and the old guy yelled at me to stop. Hiding something? Doubt it. But would have been nice to actually see it. I did see the 3 point raise at one point when looking for the bucket lever. I would have liked a bit more time learning the levers without him barking orders at me.

Also the throttle control didn't do anything, it was always one RPM. Broken cable perhaps? I will look into it when I get it home.

Front end loader didn't look damaged apart from the typical bumps you see on the bucket. It just looked like it was reinforced with ugly welds. PO claimed he bought it that way over 30 years ago, someone added a bunch of extra gussets while trying to learn to weld apparently. If you shake the bucket side to side it feels tight and makes no noise.

Started up almost instantly. I swear it didn't turn over even twice. No smoke. Block was cold when I arrived, and PO claims it hasn't been started since last spring.

Enjoy the pics! Did I overlook something? Committed now, but hey, I won't ever be using it nearly to it's capacity.

Thought for a minute it might have a bad clutch, but I'm rethinking that. We got it home and were playing with it a bit and it seemed to slip. I was in R low backing up a hill and it slowed down and stood still for a minute. Almost like it was trying but not going anywhere. I was certain a clutch was in my future at that moment.

This could easily be user error. Not sure what was up, because now it seems great. It overpowers the brakes in low gear and high gear. Even went up a fairly steepish hill in 3rd HI and while I could tell it was drawing a lot of power I didn't get the feeling it was slipping at all. Perhaps I didn't have the power director firmly in place?

I do know that the clutch doesn't engage until about the last two inches on the top side of the travel. Meaning if I'm in gear and letting out the clutch the tractor moves when the pedal is 2 inches from the end of travel. Meaning the majority of the movement isn't doing anything. Does this seem right? I looked at my clutch pedal, and it seems like the linkage is worn. Are they supposed to be oval, like you see in the picture? Sorry for the blurry picture, it was getting dark.

Would love some more info on this. Thanks a ton!