The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Smallholding => Equipment => Topic started by: Fishyhaddock on March 01, 2011, 08:24:09 pm
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Hi there,
Still on my never ending search for a tractor. Saw a 24 hp Yanmar Tractor (2 wd) the other day. In v-good condition, wondering if anybody has any knowledge/experience of Yanmar. I want it to do some work on the ever growing veg patch,topping and genera carting about. I would guess being Japenese it would be better than the Chiese ones about?
Thanks in advance Fishy
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My own experience of Yanmar stuff is boat engines which are fabulously built and run like swiss watches. As long as they're maintained, they're absolutely bulletproof and keep going.
Genuine spares are a bit pricey, but really, as long as you look after it it should be fine.
Hope that's some help!
Dan.
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That's interesting - we've been thinking about a wee tractor (or at least John has ;D)
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We bought a tractor last year. We'd been looking for a compact but the prices are ridiculous so I broadened the search to "proper" tractors too. In the end an old Nuffield came up nearby with some accesories at the right price so we bought it. Glad we went for a regular sized machine in the end as a compact would have been too small and powerless to get things done in a reasonable time. Plus availability of implements is better and parts are very cheap if you need anything for older british made tractors. They are also simple machines that are very easy to fix if they do go wrong.
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we have varous tractors and a massey ferguson 135 with built in pick up hitch is by far the best one we have but if you need power then you should get a fordson ela major
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Part of the problem with Massey Ferguson 135's is that they are now coming into the hands of collectors which has driven the price up, as are MF35, MF35X, Fordson Majors, and some David Browns.
If you want a smaller, lighter tractor then a grey Fergie is not a bad buy. Depending on the size of tractor you're after, a Leyland isn't bad, or for something bigger, a Marshall, or as Hughesy recommends, a Nuffield.
For spare parts for older machines, try the Old 20 parts company www.old20.com (http://www.old20.com).
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the small FOrd tractors are solid, I think its the 7000 series..
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it is the 1000 series 7000 was a 5000 turbod and is now also a collectors tractor even international tractors are several thousand pounds now
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here you go heres a fordson major looks quite good
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Fordson-Major-tractor-/130492966436?UK_BOI_FarmingEquipment_RL&hash=item1e61fca624 (http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Fordson-Major-tractor-/130492966436?UK_BOI_FarmingEquipment_RL&hash=item1e61fca624)
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here you go heres a fordson major looks quite good
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Fordson-Major-tractor-/130492966436?UK_BOI_FarmingEquipment_RL&hash=item1e61fca624 (http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Fordson-Major-tractor-/130492966436?UK_BOI_FarmingEquipment_RL&hash=item1e61fca624)
Andrew, sorry, but I think that's a bodgit and scarper job. The ROPS ( Roll cage ) frame has had the centre sections cut out of it. If the tractor rolled over sideways then the frames that are left would crush the occupant. Having looked closer it looks like the frame is just mounted to the tops of the mudguards anyhow. It gives an illusion of safety, which is a really dangerous thing to do as some people will push the tractor a little bit further than they would normally whilst thinking ' It's ok, if it rolls I'll be safe '.
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IT IS A RUNNER JUST ABOUT THE FRAME IS NO USE ALSO THIS IS A COLLECTORS TRACTOR SO LOOKING FOR MORE THAN THE PRICE STATTED
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fergie 35 or 135, these tractors last forever, buy one thats had the engine done, fordson majors are fine but a much heavier machine, theres stacks of implements still around farm sales they will do everthing a modern tractor does. prob pay up to £2500 for a tidy one. got minr from a farm sale for £800. fergies are easy to get on and off whereas majors are more cluttered with levers.all spare parts are avaliable readily, agriline are excellent.
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My neighbour has had a little Yanmar for the last decade and it has been faultless though it has always sounded like a bucket of bolts when first started.
If you want a smaller tractor I don't think you can't go far wrong with one of the Japanese makes. Bits are expensive but aren't often needed - and stuff like filters is readily available. Don't be persuaded that a "proper" i.e. vintage British tractor will do the same job. It will be much bigger and heavier and will lack boring safety features that could save your life.
I have enormous respect for the contribution that the grey Fergie made to agriculture but it was a long time ago and time moves on. My TEA20 is a lot of fun but scary to farm with. I had an MF575 which was safer but too big, with too few gears, only 2wd etc so I got a Kubota. Not much fun, just very reliable and very competent.
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I have a Yanmar YM 1510
I bought it 4 years ago from a local compact tractor dealer. compacts seem to attract a premium. I needed one so small so that the wife, who is disabled, could drive it - we needed automatic and hand operated brakes (that was my alteraation)
it weighs 600kg
My neighbour has a massey 35. My yanmar will lift a full big bale o' haylage, on the foreloader and drive off with it in 2wd. It runs very nicely, and quietly, apart from the first few seconds on a cold morning.
things that have broken:-
light switch
charging unit (replaced with motorcycle version for under a fiver - not the alternator)
um.....
had a puncture or two.
Had the injectors re-furbed at a local diesel specialist a while ago - no problem there.
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Hi, I bought a 20hp Yanmar F17D two years ago with 750 hours registered. I had a bad experience with a 20hp hunk of Chinese junk, a complete waste of money. However, the Yanmar is brilliant, it works a saw bench and splitter in winter and is used with a flail mower all summer for contract grass cutting. I recently replaced an axle oil seal and service regularly. Manuals were acquired from a US company, parts are easy to source from a lovely chap near Preston. Beware the older British machines, you spend half your life fixing stuff, dont forget how old this gear is!
The comments on prices of Massey's are true, restorers have and will continue to drive the price upwards.
The Yanmar is by far the Rolls Royce of compacts, the engines are the best small diesels in the world, mines about thirty years old and is as tight as a drum. Word of warning though, there is no roll bar or pto guard, the pto is a three speed as well, I am on very flat land and need to get into low spaces but on hilly pasture etc I would want a roll bar.
Road insurance? Easy, call a broker and register it as "plant" at present mine is £150 a year for third party road cover, its the type used for mini diggers etc. That covers trailers and implements.
I have noticed some Japanese machines entering our market that have been refurbished in Vietnam, the Americans hate these citing some dodgy practice. They look good but I cant judge as I dont know anyone who has run one for awhile.
Sorry for the ramble! No, the Japanese build a good product that have an easy life in rice paddies for a few weeks a year, I would not hesitate to go this route again.
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the PTO guard is a legal requirement is it a grey import and does it have a CE mark :)
British leyland pioneered the small tractor market unfortunately at a time when tractors were getting bigger :wave:
now jap engineering is just out of date British pattents refinned and coppied (the first Datsun 6 cyl engines were direct copies of the bmc 6 cyl engines
it is a sad fact that the japs have cornered this end of the market and are making inroads into the large tractor market if they can supply the spares now :wave:
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Hi, the pto shaft is unguarded yes. Its an easy matter to fabricate one if you want to use the machine for trailer work, most folk will have an implement mounted much of the time though. Grey import shouldnt put people off purchasing a machine, I dont advocate unsafe practice and would assume folk know what they are doing in the first place, if they dont they should not be near any machinery. I have seen some terrible practice locally, usually horsey folk with front loaders who should know better! The courses are there at local ag colleges, if not get instruction from another smallholder or farmer.
Yanmar have been making diesel engines for over a century and small Japanese tractors are the best in the world. The offerings from China are pretty dire. Anyone building a flatpack tractor needs to be very competent and these machines have a CE mark! Dont forget the CE mark is as much to do with emissions as safety. Bottom line is, tractors are dangerous bits of kit, but then is a car or a food mixer. The answer is "do what it says on the tin" and you wont come to grief!