Just saying hi. New Satoh S370 owner.

[caferacermike]

A buddy bought 30 acres of retired cow fields to build a home and a dirt bike track on. He was in way over his head when it came to clearing the land. Thankfully it was mostly leveled when it was used as farm land back in the day. The grasses had grown up about 3', some bamboo made it's way over, and mesquite trees about 1 1/2" thick and 4' tall were growing all over. Myself always having wanted a tractor, decided I would buy something that I could drive around his place and mow since he wanted to scalp all 30 acres. Not sure why he wanted that, I prefer to mow out sections and leave the grasses for the birds.

I happened on a nice International 444 without a shredder. Talked the man down to $1,000 cash and carry. We made arrangements to meet up, on the way out to his place (almost 2 hours away) my friend that went with me had an attack of the stones. He decided 20 minutes from the tractor that he would rather visit a hospital than a farm. When I called the owner and told him what was up, he decided to tell me about his killer dogs and how country boys keep a bunch of guns around. He may have just been being social, but I took it as his way of calling me a thief. I decided to move on.

The next day I found a craigslist ad for a little Satoh Beaver S370 complete with 48" Bush Hog. Talked the owner down to $1,800 and figured hey it's all there, complete, running and ready to mow. Even though the 444 was cheaper, I figured after trying to find a big shredder and spending $5-800 on one, and possibly needing to nickel and dime myself to death matching up PTO and hitch parts, that the Satoh was a decent deal. Since the land isn't mine, why spend more than a couple bucks on a toy right?

Any thought on using the Beaver to mow down 30 acres? It is a daunting task 4 feet at a time. I've run the tractor for about a total of 8 hours now and I think I got through about 10 acres. The first day I know I could have gotten a lot more work done had I not been overheating the engine. Not knowing better, I ran the PTO on the shredder in 5th (high) gear while running the tractor in 3 high. Let's just say I was moving along and mulched that grass into dust. The engine light came on after about 20 minutes and would go off if I shut it down for 10-15 minutes and then I would start again. After 3 hours of this I noticed the engine wasn't running poorly and decided to just finish up that last little bit and ran it hot for an hour. I headed back out yesterday with some foaming engine cleaner, compressed air, and a bug sprayer full of water and cleaned the radiator until I could see through about 85% of it. Expecting a warped head or dropped ring, I hit the glow plug for about a minute and it fired right up. I ran the tractor in 3 high but the PTO in 2nd and I mowed for 2 solid hours without the light coming on and I couldn't believe how fast it started up, first hit in the mid 30's. I thought the cold would make it difficult to start. Ran like a bat out of ****. Broke a bunch of 3 point pins and the sway chains going so quick.

Can anyone tell me what size the pins are for the stabilizer/leveling arms on the 3 point where it attaches to the equipment? I had an extra 3/8" bolt under the seat and tossed it in there, was loose and got ate up within 5 minutes but held until sunset. I'm guessing 1/2". Trouble is the tractor is kept about 30 miles from my house and there is a TSC on the way to grab some more. Does anyone know if these sway chains will work? Stabilizer Sway Chains 3 Point Hitch Kubota Iseki | eBay I'm thinking the pin hole should be about the same diameter and I can drill through the arms to mount the bolt. I lost the side of the chain that mounts to the pin on my tractor. I've not seen any for sale that has a plate with a hole in it to fit the Satoh. I see them with clevis bolts but not the flat steel to mount them. For $40 that's a steal if I don't have to fabricate anything.

Sorry for so long an introduction but I really like this thing and want to abuse it without killing it.

Mike.

 

[creekbend]

I am not familiar with your make and model. It you don't already have an Operator's Manual, it would be in your best interest to obtain one. BTW, welcome aboard and best wishes.

 

[caferacermike]

I've downloaded a few thanks.

Thought about buying the parts book for $45 but then again parts are scarce, don't need a part number for what I can't buy.

 

[caferacermike]

Well since nobody seems to care, and I don't mind talking to myself.... Today I got bored after helping a friend put up the red iron for his large metal pre-fab building and decided to do some fab work.

After a quick visit to Home Depot for some 8" long 1/2"x13 bolts and a few 1/2" nuts I went home and got out some chain and some 3/4" and 1" galv sprinkler pipe and fired up the bandsaw, grinder, and mig. Took about an hour. I buried one nut in the pipe and drilled out the threads. I then ground the head of the bolt round until it fit freely in the pipe. Then I cut the shoulder of the bolt off and slid it through the drilled out nut. I then squeezed a cut link of chain on the shoulder in my vise and welded it all together. This provided an end that would spin freely. I cut a 2" piece of 1" pipe and welded a link of chain to it after working it through my turn buckle. After that I cut the 3/4" pipe to 4" in length and welded another nut to it. I pinched down a cut link of chain to the remaining threaded section of bolt. I will be cutting the threaded section down to about 5" and this will become my adjustment end when I come up with a piece of scrap flat iron for the lower arm attachment point. I will end up with a link of chain extra between the turnbuckle and attachment that the previous did not have due to not having the extra bolt length on the tractor side.

 

[Ilikeurtractor]

Might be too late, but you may want to read this thread - http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/iseki/246028-cat-1-a-2.html. It's a long thread with straying topics, but there is some relevent information in there for what you're doing. I'm not sure exactly what you're planning in the end, but you may want to consider some of the points discussed on the 3-pt sway systems, especially where you put the sway connections. I'm in the process of reconstructing mine using the sway chains you linked to above. They work well, but the welds need to be inspected if you ever buy any. Some look good, some aren't even welded on the seams. They're easier to fix (if necessary) than building from scratch - for me anyway. Yours look good and I like how you got around the left-handed thread problem on one end.

 

[skylarkguy]

On mine I have gone through several iterations of sway chains etc. You look to be on the right track, but will likely want to tweak them as issues arise. Good luck.

 

[oliver28472]

You will probably need a lock nut on the all thread parts.

 

[caferacermike]

Yes that I know. These aren't yet finished. Probably tonight. Had to find a piece of 1 x1/4 flat scrap that I could use for the attachment point. I now have that, the extra 1/2" nuts as well as 2 x 1" nuts that will fit nicely over the 3/4" (after I drill out the threads) that I can tack in place for a back up wrench when I tighten the 1/2" locking nut.

 

[caferacermike]

Done. Beefy.

Thought I would post a pic of my tractor and it's companion behind it, the 4' Bush Hog not the Tundra.

 

[284 International]

Those look good. Nice work!