How much time????

I have found that my procrastination seems to be directly related to amount of effort and reward....grin. The easy parts are a breeze. The hard parts are a breeze the long term ones seem to be the ones that I procrastinate on. I am not proud of my patience. I like instant gratification....

I do not have enough money to spend several thousand dollars on a newer tractor nor do I have the patience for the long term project. I can handle three or four day repair projects but that is about my limit of interest...

I have found it is best to be honest with oneself as well when it comes to buying something that is the proverbial deal....

If it would have had a blade with it I would have bought it for sure. Since my need is greater in that area....grin Now I read that this 3 point will drif and require constant attention or yet another expense of a controller...

How reliable is this model once I take care of these basic repairs. Also any idea as to how much parts money I will spend on the 3 point pump repairs and the axel seal?
The axel seal scared me when I read tht one fella spent 1000.00 on having both of his done. I am hoping that was labor and materials????

I guess the last part I will describe is the conditions of which the item is being sold. I know this individual is in great need of money and is not selling by choice. As a matter of fact I am pretty sure he will take less if I bring to his attention the cost I will incur to make the repairs. (I would kinda feel like a smuck beating a person in need, out of money though) Therefore I do not believe that he is selling due to a known needed critical repair that the tractor needs. But on the same token I am pretty sure he performed NO maintenance on it either????

The only implement he has is the bush hog so I know all that he has done with it was bush hog..

Just for my piece of mind I will ask him if I can remove the inspection plates and spend some time looking it over. If he says no I will simply offer seven hundred as is and take my chances. If he counters I will accept any counter up to eight hundred. If he refuses then I will walk away and wait for one with a loader and spend the extra money when that day comes....

You can definitely consider exchanging the bush hog for a blade if that is what you need most.
As for the seal repair Jim can correct me on this model but my TO 35 has two seals per side and when I purchased the tractor it was leaking on both sides. I decided to change the outer seals only and this has corrected the leak. The inner seals are quite more difficult to change if needed but it is another story too long for this post.
My cost to replace the axle seals? $15.00 and a days work.

In a nutshell the whole forum here are a whole lot of people like you and I that are much satisfied with their Fergies and love to keep them in shape so they can probably operate for another 50 years.

Good Luck Brian