I enjoy a good rant myself, but... HANG IN THERE! I have this marginally-operational SEE I could go on and on about how it should be in better condition... but! Despite working on it as much every day as I'm working it, if you own a SEE you've got yerself a **** fine piece of kit, so to speak! Bear with it, work through the bugs, and it oughtta last a lifetime of relatively trouble-free service. At least that's what I tell myself every time I crawl under it on a snowy driveway in January...I would most likely get banded if I REALLY posted what I thought of this POS, so POS will have to do.
Love your SEE, dude, don't hate it! Otherwise, once you get it running, Karma may come around and bite you in the butt for your lack of faith.
Plus, we're here to help! This thread's a monstrosity, but going back through it has made me a better owner/operator. When it does work, my SEE draws a crowd of spectators, but it's not like tractors & backhoes aren't commonplace around here. When the SEE does work, it has some capability other backhoes lack, which hasn't escaped the notice of my tractor & backhoe-owning neighbors.
Yeah, I hear ya, I really wished either or both my FLUs were put to rights by their previous owners before dumping all that work on me, when I thought I was buying fully-functional gear. What I don't own, are unrepairable lemons best relegated to being parts tractors. Hang in there, once you get your FLU sorted, you'll wish you'd never hated it, eh?