Southern Pa. | jim cema - 4/9/2020 06:58
Amen.
Not to be trusted
I wouldn't trust Bill Cowan an inch farther than I could see him, LOL!!
25+ years ago when I was getting started farming on my own, I was there a couple times, looking at some tractors he had for sale. One thing I didn't like was the lack of tractors in nice original condition. Almost all of his line-up was repainted. Even JD 50/55 series, which were still fairly new back then. I just got the feeling that it was roughish stuff repainted to look good. Looked at an early model 4020, all painted up real nice. Noticed the lack of "weep holes" in the block. A little probing/digging with a very small screwdriver I carried in my shirt pocket revealed that the weep holes were filled with silicone, smoothed up, and painted over. I jabbed the screw driver into one of the weep holes, and when I pulled the screwdriver back out, some coolant seeped out. Hmmmm. (Maybe it was that way when he bought it, and he didn't know better!!) At any rate, I didn't have a good feeling about that tractor, (or owner) and walked away. Went back several years later to look at a Quadrange 4430. The test drive revealed hi/low issues. (Super nice repaint, though!!) Walked away again.
Another time I walked into the back shop at our local Deere dealer, and saw a very nice looking (repainted) JD 4320 in the process of being split. Found out the customer had just recently bought the tractor from Cowans. Supposed to be a great running tractor according to the seller. However, the Farmer didn't run it long until both the Trans and PTO clutch were slipping badly. When the technician removed the clutch inspection cover for a look, he discovered it had been installed with a large bead of silicone, and completely sealed up. Also the cotter pin had been removed from the bell housing weep hole, the hole siliconed shut, and everything painted over. Tech said a gallon or more of oil drained out when he cracked the silicone seal on the inspection cover. No need to seal a dust cover on a dry clutch. Hmmmm.
A few years later my BIL was looking for a 2750 with a loader. Saw a nice looking one advertised at Cowan Equipment in a local Farm paper. My BIL asked me to go along when he went to look at it. We actually looked at 2 or 3 that day, as I recall. Cowan had the best price for the hours out of the ones we looked at, but my BIL wanted a little time to think things over, and didn't buy anything on the first trip out.
After some thought, he decided to take another look at Cowans 2750. On the first trip, the tach was showing around 4k hours. Second time we went to look, Guess what??!! It now had 3k hours!! Hmmmm. Jokingly, I told my BIL maybe he should wait another week or two to pull the trigger, might be a 2k tractor by then, LOL!
Sorry for the long post, but after all that, I personally was finished with Cowan Equipment.
I'm not saying he never sold a good, honest used tractor, but I'll take my chances elsewhere!!
Edited by JD 9400 4/9/2020 08:02
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