Yanmar F155d v. Iseki TU180F

[davepays]

Been reading the forum for a while now, looking to make a purchase in the next few weeks. I looked at a couple of machines up at Dave's today (sorry I missed you Dave!) and I'm looking for some TBN input! The two units I'm looking at are a Yanmar F155D with just over 500 hours on it, comes with a tiller for an asking price of $6K. The other is an Iseki TU180F without a tiller for $4950 and the hour meter reads 222. It looks a bit more worn then 222 but it has a 4 digit hour meter with a 0 to start. The other question I had for y'all was about the badging. The Yanmar has Zen-Noh decals, which I'd never seen before on a Yanmar. (Dave, feel free to chime in here). Let me know if y'all need any other info...I plan to use the tractor primarily for tilling a few acres of vegetable crops (strip till).

Thanks! TBN is great! /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

cross posted in the yanmar forum, hope that doesn't violate any rules here!

 

[KiotiJohn]

The F series are some of the newest Yanmars avaiable in gray market tractors. I can't remember much about the Iseki model. As for the Zen-Noh decals, these are usually used on Kubota tractors to avoid the problem of not being able to import Kubotas into this country since Kubota won a lawsuit to keep them out.
Zen-Noh is nothing more than a farmer's cooperative, and with those labels on, there is different handling of the products at customs coming into this country.
I had read that Yanmar was pursuing the same track that Kubota did, and maybe that's why the tractor was imported under the Zen-Noh label.
I don't know what you need to do with your tractor, but both of these tractors are rather small, low HP, with the Yanmar being 15 at the PTO, and the Iseki 18 HP at the PTO.
Now, I have a Kioti with 15.5 PTO HP, and it does what I need it to do. I just want to make sure you're aware of the HP rating.
Since it has been nearly a year since I bought my Kioti, I'm not really sure about gray market prices any more. I had considered heavily the Yanmar tractors as they seem to have better parts availability than the others, but that's on Yanmars that had US equivalents, which the F tractors are not.
Any parts for ANY gray market tractors will be more difficult to find, and will be much more expensive than parts for a tractor made for the US market.
This is not speculation on my part, it's the culmination of a year of reading gray market forums, and talking with suppliers like Southern Global in MS, and Len Sheaffer in Illinois.
If I were going to go for either, it would be the Yanmar, but I would't pay more than $4500 for it. John

 

[DavesTractor]

Hi Dave,

I'm sorry I missed you when you stopped by. Makes you wonder if there really is a Dave at Dave's Tractor?

The Zennoh thing is similar to what John described. I don't like that sort of rebadging, but we see it every once in a while. The three-digit F series are the newest models you will see over here in any numbers. I pay a good deal more for these than for tractors such as the YM1510D, F16D and similar. Consequently, they are a little pricey.

As I mentioned today to you in an email, you can have the F155D for just a little over cost, including the four new tires and tubes I installed due to weatherchecking of the originals.

Both the TU180F and the F155D sport original paint. They have some fading that a little wax will brighten. I always feel it is better to buy an original that is nice than something that has needed toi be rebuilt and repainted.

I should tempt you to buy a Mahindra 2015HST???

 

[LMTC]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( Any parts for ANY gray market tractors will be more difficult to find, and will be much more expensive than parts for a tractor made for the US market.
)</font>

I'm sure you are simply trying to offer helpful information to this poster, but your information is simply wrong. Yes, I am aware that some gray parts are NA and there are brands we do not touch because of parts, but we can find used parts and MANY parts are now being made by aftermarket manufacturers for the Yanmar models. Can you get a starter for your Kioti for $200? I can get one for most of the grays we carry for that. An alternator for $50? How about rings or pistons? Have you actually PRICED the parts?

 

[KiotiJohn]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( I'm sure you are simply trying to offer helpful information to this poster, but your information is simply wrong. Yes, I am aware that some gray parts are NA and there are brands we do not touch because of parts, but we can find used parts and MANY parts are now being made by aftermarket manufacturers for the Yanmar models. Can you get a starter for your Kioti for $200? I can get one for most of the grays we carry for that. An alternator for $50? How about rings or pistons? Have you actually PRICED the parts? )</font>
I spent a year reading the Yahoo Group, yanmartractorowners. I saw way too many posts about what parts cost. There were hundreds and hundreds of posts over that time. I know what people were quoting. I've e-mailed some of the better known yanmar people, some of them you may know, and I also had extensive phone conversations about availability and cost of parts with Southern Global in Mississippi. I researched very well, and unless things have changed dramatically since last January, what I said is what I found. I'm not sure since I've never needed a new starter for my Kioti, but I do know that someone posted on here that they bought a new fan blade for $11. Don't think you'll find one for a gray at that price. Also, someone I know bought a PTO shaft new for $35. Once again, don't think so on a gray. It's nice to hear that others are starting to support the Yanmar market as I have always been fond of them, and had seriously thought I was going to end up with one. If parts support really gets better, I still may.
But the fact remains that unless one is fairly mechanical, or knows someone that is, it may be hard to deal with a gray market tractor. There is no US equivalent of the F series tractors, so unless someone is specially importing those parts, it's a long wait for them to come from Japan. Not trying to be flip, it's what I was told by people who deal in these tractors. John