Axle spacing, ROPS and Soot for Yanmar 1500D

[VT_Hokie]

This is my first posting, you all seem to have a really good forum going on and look forward to your responses. I just purchased a Yanmar 1500D to maintain what will end up to be about 12 ac of pasture for what my friend calls my wifes grass maggots (Horses). I figured if she talked me into buying the land that I should at least get a Tractor out of the deal! Picked up this little refirb down in Atlanta. Runs good and I bushhogged some trails around the property. Ended up realizing I am going to have to get a dozer in to clear the land as it is covered with multiflora rosa and may hidden stumps from the previous owners timbering. But the tractor should do O.K. with mowing and pushing the poop. From and expert, it looks like the land has been tilled at one point, as there are not rocks and very good soil for the area. However, this farming may be by horse drawn as there is an old cutter and rake in the barn, don't know if they attach to a 1 or 2 hp Tractor . Well back to the tractor part, Everything is pretty much on an incline and this little tractor scares the the blank out of me driving it around event in low 1.4. Just don"t want to be a statistic for tractor safety class. I have contacted a few parts suppliers/dealers about ROPS for this unit and have not had any good leads. Saw Jagmadave's mod of a 1600 but I do not have a ZTR to take apart. Looks like LMTC may have one some day but I have not contacted them yet. I can get someone to fab one but there seem to be a lot of discussion not to do it. What are your'alls thoughts? The second issue that I was thinking about was extending the axle width, maybe both front and back to spread the center of gravity over a longer distance. Not knowning a great deal about tractors, I assume that the narrow spacing aides in turning with the differentials that are in these things. I noticed when I was clearing brush with the FEL and hit something hard one wheel in the front and one in the back would start spinning, instead of being true posi. If I spaced the wheels further out, the turning may be a little harder and my tires would be wider than my impliments but I think it would give much greater stability on these slopes. Talked briefly to my dealer about getting spacers and he said he would have to look in his shop as he recalled making some for someone at one point. What do you think? I would rather prevent a roll over by spacing than entrust the current setup with a mod ROPS. The last thing I have is mechanical issue that I just found. I have 13 hours on a refirb and I noticed a hole in the muffler weld that seems to be leaking. I attached a pic. When I picked up the tractor it had 4 hours on it and did not see anything, but the other day at 10h when I was going over it I noticed this residue. I thought it may be diesel mixed with oil from the valves or somewhere else. ( not a good sign). A couple of days later when I took this pic it was a sooty residue. It did not smell of either diesel or oil and came off pretty easily with wipeing, kinda like a film. Could this be water from combustion mixed with uncompletely burnt fuel? Anyway, look foward to the feed back and hopefully I will become a productive member of your forum.

 

[JerryG]

The way your wheels spin is the normal. Just like a car with an open differential, one wheel will spin if it has less traction than the other. What most tractors of that size does have is a differential lock. It will lock the two rear wheel together. That way you will have three wheel drive. Again, this is normal. I don't know if your tractor has a differential lock or not. I am sure that some of the members here that are more familiar with Yanmars will be able to tell you. Most tractors have a pedal that activates it by pushing it with your right heal when sitting in the seat. Like I said, I am not sure if your Yanmar is like this or not..

 

[normde2001]

The first thing you can do is to reverse your rear wheels, side to side, to increase the stance, not recommended for the front. You will end up with the valve stems facing inward. (They built them narrow to carry in the bed of Japanese pickup trucks.) I would not put too much stock in the "0" hours showing on your "refurbished" tractor. That is nothing short of odometer tampering, which is apparently not illegal on tractors. I would get that hole re-welded, or replace the manifold, and hope the poor welding job is no indication of the work done on the rest of the tractor.

 

[cfoxmd]

Yeah, zeroing out the hour meter is dishonest. In aircraft, if you rebuild the engine, the time stays the same. If you replace the engine with a factory reman or a new engine (where they have replaced wear parts and x-rayed all others and measured tolerances to bring it back to specs of a new engine), you zero the engine time, but the airframe time stays the same. If someone went over your car that had 75,000 miles on it, and repaired anything broken, you wouldn't turn the odometer back to 0. The vehicle might be worth more if they took everything apart and rebuilt it (and did a good job), or it might be worth less if there were significant problems that were addressed, partly addressed or glossed over. Car manufactureres are starting to have their certified used cars where they take the cream of the trade ins, look them over carefully and give a warranty. The warranty is backed not only by the dealer, but by the car manufacturer. No one is taking used cars and reconditioning them and then putting a verifiable warranty. The reconditioners/dealer of reconditioned tractors use this as part of a technique to make the buyer feel he is getting something new or nearly new rather than used. The other part is allay the fears of the buyer about buying a used machine and make him feel like he is getting an exceptional deal. Some of these work out well, others not. I bet it has more to do with the oriinal condition of the tractor before reconditioning.

Good luck with the tractor. Reverse the rear wheels.

 

[LMTC]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( I bet it has more to do with the original condition of the tractor before reconditioning.
)</font>
Bingo and Double Bingo! This is what we've tried to stress for years. When we start with the best units we can find, we remain convinced it makes a better product (even if needing repairs, which we make) than a "refurbished" tractor that came from multiple worn out units. None the less, we lose a certain market share to the recons, and most of our calls/emails come from recon owners. I have seen other dealers echo this.

Before some seller of these recons feels the need to defend what they are selling....I fully acknowledge that any given unit may well be a good value. However, the proportion of parts/service requests we get from owners of these machines (well over half of all our inquiries) seems much higher than the market share they seem to have.

ROPS for the 1500 is likely to be in the THIRD group to come to market.....hopefully by year's end, but not likely in the next few months.

 

[Cord]

If the original tach was broken, it could have been replaced with a new one which would show zero hours. Frankly, I wouldn't be concerned about the hours. I would be very concerned about that mess. Question: do you park your tractor outside? Where the hole is located, could rain water be running down the pipe and then flushing the soot out? If not then there must be water or oil mixing with the exhaust. I'd send the pic to your dealer and start looking into a warantee claim. Your tractor will have a diff lock. This is a small round pedal that you would step on with your right heel. It may stick so be sure to pull it back up when you are through the thick stuff. Unlike a posi, when that diff is locked, the tractor will not turn. It will push straight you need to be ready with the clutch! Take a look at your rims. You should be able to turn the rims around and then adjust them even wider with the hub adapter. You may even be able to turn the hub adapter around for a super wide set. ROPs is a nice thing, but it's worthless unless you are wearing a seat belt. In all honesty, with wide set tires on a 1500 you will really need to be getting over your head for it to go over.

 

[Normmm]

The best safety feature on any tractor is a carefull and experenced operator. The tractor is more stable than it looks. You should alwayd be ready to appy the cluth, make sure that you feet are free to access the petals. These are as important as the stering wheel to control your machine. Do not lock the brakes together unless you are parking the tractor. Sometimes turning the stering wheel will have little effect because the soil is loose ,muddy, or the implement is resisting the change in direction. applying the left brake will help turn the tractor to the left or control minor left wheel spin. Also on all tractors they will lift the front wheels if it is only a little you can continue guideing with the brakes. If raises too much git on the clutch in a hurry. You have to be the judge. Run at low speed until you get used to the machine. Also on a light tractor like the 1500 adding liquid ballast in the rear tires is a big help. Fill less than half full. (roll the wheel until the valve stin is at the level you want to fill to and after filling you can judge the liquid level). I really enjoy operating my tractor, it is fun, but i respect how dangerous the machine can be and stay alert to the feel of the tractor at all times. Check out http://www.cdc.gov/nasd/docs/d001601-d001700/d001634/d001634.html for more info.

 

[VT_Hokie]

I agree with what you are saying with zeroing out the Tach. New paint, new tires, new tach, it does catch the eye of someone strolling by. It wasn't a selling point for me though, I knew when I bought it the hours were probably somewhere between 1000 and 2000 judging from similar imports I have seen for sale. I know too that this thing could also be a frankenstein of past tractors but I took the chance on the refirb figuring that guys that see the same model day in and day out may have a better time catching a potential problem. Now doing something about the problem is a different story... The tractor has a 90 day parts warranty, so the muffler will be replaced, we will see how my dealer's support service is like. When I picked the tractor up at the refirb place they were working on a 2000 series. Really didn't look all that bad, paint was a little faded and the front tire was flat, overall pretty good shape on the outside for a 20+ year piece of equipment. Does n't say much about the insides though...

I did have the tires spun around when I bought the bushhog from a local dealer, including the front. I noticed the front ones do stick out a little further than the back now. So in this configuration, this tractor would be pretty stable on an incline while going slow? I just need a pillow to even out my rump I guess. /forums/images/graemlins/smirk.gif

 

[LMTC]

Also read
This and This too and lastly, this.
Rollover, particularly rear rollover, is extremely serious and happens VERY quickly. It doesn't have to FEEL dangerous to be dangerous.

 

[oldgrizzlybear]

I have a 1500D and hills. Did two things. I reverse the rear tires as already mention. The other thing is don't drive across a steep grade! Drive up or down the grade. The safety books will tell you to drive down a grade frontwards and backup a grade. A tractor flips either to the side or backwards, its very very difficult to flip one over the front.

Personally, I will drive up some pretty good grade with the bush hog on figuring that the bush hog may increase the probably that the front wheels will come off the ground but at the same time prevent the tractor from rolling over backwards.