Filed under: Honest Dealer Diaries — the bits most dealers would cut out.
Most machinery videos you'll watch online are a polished job. Good light, clean yard, the machine washed within an inch of its life, and a voiceover telling you what a cracking bit of kit it is. Nothing goes wrong, because anything that went wrong got cut out before you ever saw it.
That's not how I do things, and this week's video is a decent example of why.
I set out to do a straightforward walkaround of a used McConnel hedge trimmer that had come into the yard. Nothing fancy — camera on, walk round it, show you the arm, the flail head, the hoses, the wear points, tell you honestly what's good and what isn't. Fifteen minutes, job done, load it on the website.
And for most of it, that's exactly how it went. Then, right at the very end, it really didn't.
No edits. No second take. No pretending it didn't happen. Just another day at Tom Ray Tractor Sales.
Watch the video here — and stick with it to the end. You'll see what I mean.
Why I film machines warts and all
I've had people ask why I bother showing the scruffy bits. Surely you'd sell more if you only showed the good side?
Maybe I'd sell more in the short term. But I'd sell to a lot of people who turned up, looked at the machine in the flesh, and realised it wasn't what they'd been shown. That's a wasted journey for them, a wasted afternoon for me, and a customer who never comes back.
I'd rather you saw the oil weep, the age-related marks and the worn bushes on a video from your own kitchen table than drive two hours to find them yourself. If the machine's right for you, you'll buy it knowing exactly what you're getting. If it isn't, we've both saved a day.
That's the whole idea behind The Honest Dealer. It's not a slogan I had made up — it's just how I've always traded, and enough people said it back to me that it stuck.
What I actually check on a used hedge trimmer
Since we're on the subject, here's what I go over on any second-hand hedge cutter before it goes on the site — and what you should be looking at yourself if you're buying one privately.
The flails and rotor. Are the flails all there, and are they a matched set? Missing or mismatched flails throw the rotor out of balance and you'll feel it through the whole machine. Check the rotor shaft and the bearings either end for play.
The hood and the skids. These take an absolute hammering. Look for cracked welds, thin patches and skids worn down to nothing. Cheap to replace, but you want to know before, not after.
Hoses and hydraulic fittings. This is the big one on any hedge cutter. Look for chafing where hoses run over the arm, crusty fittings, and any weeping at the unions. Hoses are consumables — but a machine where every hose is perished tells you how it's been looked after.
The rams and seals. Extend and retract everything. Watch for scored rods, pitting, and any drift when you hold a function. A ram that creeps down on its own needs seals at best.
Pins and bushes through the arm. Grab the head and give it a rock. Some play is normal on a working machine. A lot of play means pins and bushes, and on a big arm that's a proper job.
The oil tank and cooler. Check the oil level and, more tellingly, the condition of it. Milky or black oil tells a story. Make sure the cooler and its fan aren't packed solid with chaff and hedge trash.
Guards and the PTO shaft. Guards should be present and intact, and the PTO shaft should be complete with its guard tubes and chains. It's a safety thing, and it's also a good indicator of whether the previous owner cared.
Run it. Nothing beats hearing it work. Pumps whine when they're on the way out, and you can't tell that from a photo.
And then, right at the end…
Which brings me back to the video.
I got through all of the above. Machine checked over, everything shown, nothing hidden. I was about thirty seconds from wrapping up when something happened that I genuinely didn't see coming.
I could have deleted the file and started again the next morning. Nobody would ever have known. But that felt like exactly the sort of thing The Honest Dealer shouldn't do — and, in fairness, it's a good reminder for anyone working around this sort of kit that machinery doesn't much care whether you're filming or not.
So it went up as it happened. Have a watch, and let me know in the comments whether you've had anything similar happen to you. I suspect I'm not the only one.
Looking for a used hedge trimmer or tractor?
I'm an independent used tractor and agricultural machinery dealer based in West Dorset, between Bridport and Axminster, and I sell all over the UK.
Every machine on my site gets the same treatment: an honest description, the faults listed alongside the good points, and a walkaround video on request. Finance is available and I can arrange delivery anywhere in the country.
- See what's in stock
- Give me a ring: 07881 563571
- Email: tom-ray@hotmail.co.uk
If you'd rather buy from a person than a pitch, you know where I am.
Tom Ray — The Honest Dealer