Farmall Cub

I noticed on ebay that one seller has these beautiful tractors that are being sold as parts. they list a part with a price and also have pictures of the "parts tractor" it came from. They have all these parts tractors and they all look very good and some even look restored. So it occurred to me, that the parts value must be much more than the whole value. Especially since the tractors are routinely being sold for $400 to $700 for good machines, some of which have rebuilt motors etc. Then you see parts prices. Sometimes $200 for a single part. So I wonder what is the actual profit for destroying these machines? In other words what is the approximate value of all the parts on a good machine..

What bothers me is that they are ruining good machines. It would not bother me to part out machines that need work, because they will provide parts for others to survive. And lets face it it doesn't take much wrong with a cub to exceed the value of it, with the parts prices as high as they are (forgetting the cost of labor). A worn pto, and 3 bad deck spindles would more than total out a $500.00 machine. Just replacing the 3 belts would probably cost $150 today.

For example lets say someone bought a model 147 for $600.00. Which might be an average price for a good machine with no rust or mechanical defects. Are the parts worth $1200? $2400? Would you double triple, or quadruple your money for ruining one of these? Or more?

Typically you can buy a complete tractor for less money than just a few parts off of it. True for farm tractors as well as Cub Cadets. There are individuals and companies purchasing tractor for parting out - a business.

Can you double or triple your money parting out tractors? Perhaps, if you could individually sell all of the parts. You need to look at this from a business aspect. Expenses such as time, labor, advertising, overhead, and then there are parts you can not sell.

Pictures of parts tractors. There is no relationship between the pretty picture and the condition of the parts.

I have purchased and parted out a farm tractor and several Cub Cadets because they were cheaper than the parts I needed.

Yea, I have also bought a few tractors for parts, then sold off what I did not need or use. You are right, you can make more money selling off the individual parts, however, you have to take the time to strip them down, organize, store, list individually, etc. It's a bit of a pain in the butt, and in the end you always end up with pieces that knowone wants. Right now I have two cadet frames, a couple of cast iron grill sections, and some other miscellaneous pieces just laying around, that I have had no luck selling. They'll probably go to scrap this spring.