Lincoln Ranger 9

That "OBO" Can really be a blessing in disguise. Guy might even trade for something that's in your way at the shop. The Honda engines were notorious for being hard on the starters (Nippon) It may be worth looking at.. My buddy has a Ranger and he tortures it. keeps running strong on making utility buildings daily on "light commercial" structural steel stick. Worth a call.
Rob
FCE Mobile link

Any idea what they ran new or what the quivelent unit would run? I'm a bit (lot) gunshy. I bought an Onan Welder/Generator years back, not running. No big deal to get the stuck valve free, then I found out the 50% of the windings were toast (as in blackened toast!)
RDF wrote:

Yup, non-running welder-generators are definitely a crapshoot. One has to figure that there's a reason the original owner didn't fix it before selling it...and it is overpriced for non-running.
The newer-technology (expensive electronic guts) sort of equivalent model might be the Ranger 250 (Onan or Kohler, not Honda as an engine option, so far as I recall) for a price in the $3200 range.
Perhaps the cheaper Ranger 10000 is more in line with the Ranger 9 series (guts-wise) at around $2650
In blue, that would be some flavor of Bobcat.
Running, used versions are often available for prices similar (or less than) to your non-running used version. See one with no battery (but you could presumably jump-start it) for $850 in the local "all want-ad paper", another for 600 "runs good". If just arc welding, these are probably fine - the fancier ones can do MIG & TIG, but the accessories to do that with the engine driven welder may cost more than a MIG or TIG you plug into the wall (or generator). YMMV, and it depends what you want.
Couple of "excellent condition" used models for $1600-2500 (I suspect the $2500 guy is hoping to recoup more of his purchase price than the market will bear, but it is an early model of the somewhat fancy Ranger 250).