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My $0.02 worth on that 149, the traactor has spent some time in it's life abandoned outside, the nob to set mowing height shows deterioration from weather. And the wires running to the Starter/generator are faded. Sad, I leave my car sit outside.... the Cubbies stay INSIDE.
The left frt spindle looks bent, too much postive camber, possibly from falling in a hole, ditch, hitting something, etc. The design of the 1X8/1X9 spindles makes them difficult to straighten, the actual shaft the wheel mounts to is welded on and I've seen many of those welds fail.
The rear tail lights are called "armored tail lights", pretty common on over-the-road trucks. Not a bad thing. The wheel weights aren't IH weights but weight is weight. The rear lugged tires are I "THINK" only 6-12's, plus an off-brand that are probably old because of the 45 degree lugs. They just don't fill up the fenders like a set of 23-8.50's should. Nothing wrong with them, Both my mowing tractors have lugged rear tires and I find I do far less damage to the grass with them, especially on slopes & hills when turning. The mower deck is an older 42" deck. Not a bad deck, made from very heavy steel, but they have to have the "W" shaped baffle in them in good shape to mow well. I'd make sure it's there and not bent up. I have a pair of the 38" versions and I find they pull hard, the pulley sizes actually speed up the smaller outer blades so they cut O-K and that makes them pull harder.
Without the engine running I'm thinking the tractor is worth no more than half of the asking price. The mower in decent shape about 1/10th, and the blade if in decent shape about 1/5th.
So add it all up I wouldn't pay but 80% of the asking price.
I'd have the seller try to start the engine, make sure the lights, etc work. The hydro rearend appears to have the common cork gasket leak, not expensive to repair, but a lot of work on a tractor with hyd lift, plus it's a great time to install fresh Hy-Tran & filter. The Hy-Tran will be the expensive part.
I fixed up a 129 that was in a WHOLE lot worse shape than that about 20 yrs ago. It turned out to be a great tractor but I also stuck a LOT of money in it. Many times the purchase price of $400.
