Old lawn mowers/tractors/riding mowers?

I have been asked to remove a derelict whatever you call them... 1980s 111 john deere from a horder garage.

Trying to decide what to do with a non running one. Sell it broken ~$100 or start doing some repairs and sell it for $500. ( someone on cl buying jd mowers suggested these prices )

I have minimal experience with push gas lawn mowers and non with the riding variation. I can figure out the mechanical but have no idea on what parts cost and what the used tractor market is like.

Just by looking at it i see flat tires, faded paint, corroded battery, and shift lever in the completely wrong place slot cut in the sheet metal( between drivers legs, rather than on the drivers right fender area). And cant get the rear wheels out of gear or park or whatever they are in.

Is repair potentially a profitable endeavor, or a sinking ship with these things?

You gotta go a little older or bigger (think cast iron transmissions) before they generally start to be worth messing with. That or newer stuff that normal people want and will definitely be an easy fix and flip, like a dirty carb (and a quick cleaning and blade sharpening) or something.

Old Cub Cadet's get the best money aside from old John Deere's. Wheel Horse's are cool but not as popular. Since International Harvester was near me everyone here likes them most. Two years ago a guy had his Cub Cadet in the 4th of July parade. This is not it.

I like the rounded hood, larger tires, and the metal seat on these old Wheel Horse models.

This magazine did an article on turning old riding mowers into go karts type runners.............

A friend of mine loves the 60's sears garden tractors. Not sure what there worth but they seem to take abusr better then modern stuff.

In reply to Datsun310Guy: someone in my development has one of these as a lawn ornament, plus restores them. They look like pretty neat little tractors.

Jere, here's some inspiration for you :

Take a quick look at it, it may be worth a bit of work; people seem to love JD stuff around here. I get a lot of stuff for my old simplicity online from jack's small engines .

XLR99 wrote: In reply to Datsun310Guy: someone in my development has one of these as a lawn ornament, plus restores them. They look like pretty neat little tractors. Jere, here's some inspiration for you : Take a quick look at it, it may be worth a bit of work; people seem to love JD stuff around here. I get a lot of stuff for my old simplicity online from jack's small engines .

first 2 years we cut the grass with a 1969 simplicity borrowed from FIL. kidney buster.

the JD ones are all model dependent. some of the newer ones are just green (insert other brand here) just like every other riding mower. some of them are real lawn tractors and those are the desirable ones. i like my little old 1973 wheel horse, it's job is snowplow and it does it well. real hydraulics and everything, just a miniature tractor.

i digress. i would sell it as-is and be done.

The 111 has a B&S engine. Could have a manual or hydrostatic transmission.

In reply to XLR99:

Oh man... Ive heard of tractor races, but always thought it was the farming style. A mower that was fast or a cart/mower would be a blast.

I am going to see how far i can get with a battery that has a charge,a spark plug cleaner, and some carb cleaner.

If that doesnt work I am going for the quick sell.

Thanks guys

I think that one may be a waste of time.

Bottom line- if a riding mower is not pretty, it won't sell for much.

It won't take long for you to be upside down in that. Sell it as-is and walk away.

I think you're on the right track. See if the tires hold air and a fresh battery and carb cleaning get it running. Even if it's ugly as hell, a running Deere should fetch at least $400 at a bare minimum during mowing season.

Recently I've been watching Youtube videos made by Mustie1: https://www.youtube.com/user/mustie1 He does a lot of small engine / lawnmower / lawn tractor repair. He often picks up dead tractors, does enough work to get them running and then flips them. He has a lot of good tips on bringing them back to life; most often a carburetor clean gets them going again.

SVreX wrote: I think that one may be a waste of time. Bottom line- if a riding mower is not pretty, it won't sell for much. It won't take long for you to be upside down in that. Sell it as-is and walk away.

Agree. Just putting tires on that thing is going to be expensive.

My dad has a 1968 JD110, restored almost near perfect. It has hydraulics, so it's kinda neat. Doesn't mow well, or for that matter, do anything well compared to a newer unit. So it sits in a garage and gathers dust. Maybe worth $1,000, probably less.

And now that I actually look at the dates on the above posts, it's clear bil_jack is a canoe. This might be a record for number of GRMers fooled by a paddle driven water craft.