BUYING A YANMAR TRACTOR

READ ALL OF THIS BEFORE YOU BUY A YANMAR TRACTOR!

!!!!!WARNING!!!!!!

You will not find a better buy in the tractor market than a used Yanmar tractor. They are designed and engineered to be used commercially in the Japanese farms. They are NOT "department store" tractors. They will last between 5,000 to 8,000 hours before major repairs are needed if treated properly. JUST LIKE A USED CAR THERE ARE A FEW THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW BEFORE YOU BUY.

ALWAYS Check Here to find out the actual year your tractor was built. The amount of years on a tractor makes almost NO difference other than some, easily repaired, cracked hoses and tires. There are, however, a lot of misleading dealers out there selling their tractors as 30+ years newer than they are so that they can charge a premium for them (this says something for the quality of the tractor doesn't it...... after 30 years they still run good enough to pass off as a new tractor). Remember- you are looking for the number of hours the tractor has been used to determine the wear on the tractor- not the age of the tractor. A 30 year old tractor with 600 hours is a better buy than a 3 year old tractor with 2,000 hours.

If you hear

"..... these tractors are new"

"..... these tractors have been completely rebuilt at the factory and are considered new"

"..... these tractors are refurbished at the factory and so we are allowed to call them new or zero hour tractors."

"...... this tractor only has about 20 hours on it"

RUN AWAY!!!
YOU ARE NOT GETTING WHAT YOU THINK YOU ARE GETTING!!!

The dealers that are doing this are usually, either knowingly or unknowingly, selling Vietnam rebuilds.

Types of refurbished or rebuilt tractors-
- Some rebuilt or reconditioned tractors are good tractors that have just been fixed up. A coupe of seals, a new paint job, new hoses, etc. These tractors are usually very good buys. They have the factory hour meter in them (reading in the several hundered hour range). The dealer started with a good, solid tractor and just fixed a few common issues and resells it.

- Then there are the rebuilt or refurbished tractors to avoid. They are usually the poor condition tractors that can not be sold in the US as it. Many are tractors that were considered complete losses. Some were burned. Some were buried under water. Some were just abused or wrecked. They will go to a large lot where laborers will piece several salvage tractors together to make 1 "decent" tractor. They will take 1 piston from 1 tractor, a valve from another, weld on a front axle from something, etc and piece them together. They then do a fantastic paint & body job and the tractor comes out looking like new. Most are fitted with new hour meters and are sold as "NEW". Many of these dealers say that they are "factory reconditioned so they are able to sell these again as new tractors". There is often no way to supply parts for these tractors because they are pieced together from many other models. DO NOT BUY THESE!!!!!!

Example of problems we seen with these-
- engine rebuilt with 1 wrong connecting rod (1mm too long). Customer payed to have engine rebuilt 3 times & could not correct the problem. Less than 30hours.
- engine found to have a bag of old parts inside the oil pan. The bag plugged up the oil suction tube and ruined the engine. Less than 50 hours.
- tractor found to have a front axle from another model & needed a gear for it- no way to tell which model it came from, no way to get them the correct gear- customer had to buy a $1,000 front axle.
- 1 main bearing cap not tightened on engine that was "completely rebuilt". Required new crank & rod within 10 hours.
- head gasket not torqued correctly.

Plus tons of other small issues that cause big problems!

Other tractors to avoid if possible:

YM177 - no chance of getting parts - very rare model
YM350 - Korean market model - no chance of getting parts
YM455 - Korean market model - no chance of getting parts
YM273 - no chance of getting parts - very rare model
YM1110 - limited chance of getting parts - very rare model

YM2200 - Rare model - parts availability getting better though
YM2700 - Rare model - parts availability getting better though

New 3 digit "F" series tractors like F195, F395, etc. These are still very new to the US and there are no operation manuals or service manuals for them. Parts availability is very limited at this time. It will get better but it could still be many years (10+) before the parts supply catches up with them like the YM series tractors.

Find dozens of other things to look for or look out for here.

Copyright TMS 2004. All rights reserved.
Yanmar Tractor Owner's - Site Map - Contact Us - Find Yanmar Parts -
Yanmar Owners Manual - Yanmar Parts Manual - Yanmar Tractor Parts-
Reproduction or distribution of any material on this website is prohibited by federal law unless permission is granted from the copyright holder.

CHECK OUT OUR SPONSORS FOR YANMAR REPLACEMENT PARTS. CLICK HERE TO FIND THEM.