[AT] AC wd-45 - - what to look for?

[Henry Miller]

A neighbor is selling a Alils Chalmers WD-45 for someone a few miles down the 
road.  (the owner has had a couple heart attacks and can no longer handle a 
tractor)  The seller knows nothing about tractors, but seems honest enough 
otherwise.  (As if I would know)    Make an offer.

So far I have noted the following: 

Oil was a little low, but didn't look too bad.   

Starts right up and runs good (for about 10 seconds because we forgot to turn 
the gas on).   A little rough at high RPMs, but doesn't seem like anything 
abnormal.  It was nearly out of gas so I only drove it 20 feet in low gear.

Tires are bad.   All are worn have have cracks.  

Paint is bad, but the iron is in good shape, so this is a trivial fix.  

No obvious oil leaks, though I think it was washed the day before. 

Was converted to 12 volts (by a local dealer).   I doubt I can get the 6 volt  
parts back.

Breaks are good.

The hand clutch isn't fully releasing. From a dead start with it released 
there is a slight grinding when I engaged the PTO.   Is this easily 
adjustable?   A sign of something bad?

The foot clutch either lags or doesn't engage until the very top of the throw.  
Thus there was a little jerking when I tried to move.   (my cars are all 
sticks so I know how to use a clutch in general, though it might just be a 
case of not being used to the quirks of this one)   I should have tried the 
breaks on, release the clutch, stall the engine test, but I didn't.  (Will 
try that next time unless warned not to)

The hydrolic fluid was well below the add mark, though the rams were 
partically extended so I'm not sure how bad this is (clearly it is low 
though, the rams cannot take as much fluid as it was low).   I could not 
figure out how to operate the rams, so I'm not sure.

One of the snap couplers is missing.  (No 3 point, and no attachments.   This 
is a downside, though I'm not a farmer so I don't need most of the 
attachments I could get anyway)   Here I got the first useful information: 
the owner often hooked a chain to the arm and used that to pull fence posts.   
I didn't see evidence of damage on that arm, so appearently it didn't cause 
harm.

My next task is to get some gas and a compression guage.  Check compression, 
and then a test drive where I can get into road gear for a short time.   

I'm most concerned about the clutches.   I'm comfortable replacing them, but I 
don't have a good place to split a tractor.   Anyone have advice on how to 
check these?   Anything else I should be looking at on this model?  Any other 
advice for a young fool looking at old iron?

If there is no problems I'm thinking about making a low offer and see if they 
take it.   I'd prefer an older model, but this is a good first tractor, and 
overall more useful.