rScotty
Super Member
- Joined
- Apr 21, 2001
- Messages
- 8,258
- Location
- Rural mountains - Colorado
- Tractor
- Kubota M59, JD530, JD310SG. Restoring Yanmar YM165D
Domush, you've sure done an impressive lot of work. I did just the same on my first tractor....until I got lucky and could work enough overtime to buy one in better shape. Both machines eventually worked about the same.
You'll like the OEM service manual. If it is like mine it will have green colored slick covers and be printed on semi slick paper. It is specific to that tractor and the section on the powershift is fascinating.
The YM336D was one of Yanmar's world-wide models; they made OEM parts available in lots of countries through parts warehouses for years after the tractor itself was discontinued. In fact, they continued to upgrade some parts for at least another decade. I know that because I bought some for mine. For all I know Yanmar still has a US warehouse. I bought my manuals from a Yanmar parts warehouse in the Midwest....I forget the address, does anyone have it? Might it be in Illiniois?
What levers do you need to know about?
If Yanmar still maintains that parts warehouse then you will find that YM336 parts - including body parts - are surprisingly affordable. If not, you can probably still order from Yanmar warehouses overseas.
If you don't mind, I'll comment on some of the things you've gotten done. A few of those projects are places I've been as well. Some of it is general info. That's an impressive list of projects you have underway. Getting to it:
I think the service manual will tell you about checking the injector patterns. New seals are recommended. Not always necessary.
Diesels run with the air wide open, so any air filtration has to be very large volume and low restriction on the flow rate. That's why a diesel often has a cyclonic pre-filter. Typically, filtration designed with gasoline engines in mind will work, but not for long.i
Set the compression release cable for enough clearance so it can never hold an exhaust valve open if the cable sticks or heats up. Too much clearance won't hurt. I like to add gauges for oil, water, electrical.
(- installed new 3pt linkages.......)
Were you able to make one of the 3pt links adjustable? The OEM one had a nice hand crank adjustment on one side only. This can be fabricated An inexpensive source of parts is to use the lead screw and pinion gear from an adjustable caster wheel such as is sold for leveling the front of towed trailers.
(- replaced pretty much every single hose on it)
Good! You might notice that pipe threads into the engine block are British tapered pipe thread, not the US or the metric tapered pipe thread. Get them at the Brit sports car shop.
(- replaced seat with cushioned high back (priority #1 right there
))
In my experience, most tractors need new seats. I took the opportunity on mine to move the seat back about half a foot. The YM336 is notorious for having not much room between stock seat and dashboard. I also built an additional lower step to help get on and off.
(- reversed front tires) but being my first tractor, I want to err on the side of caution until I get used to how tractors balance on slopes.)
Tractors don't balance on slopes well at all. Especially with the Ag lug tires or the narrow turf tires. You are wise to be cautious. Switching to wide will make it much more stable on slopes. If you do a lot of slope work you will want to eventually put on wide turfs or duallies. The JD1050 wheels will interchange.
While we are talking tires and wheels, be careful on dry ground in 4WD until you can confirm that the ratio between whatever tires it has on it is correct.... and not creating a differential between front and rear axles. When the ratio is perfect, it will shift smoothly in and out of 4WD even when moving.
When the Yanmar patent on the bevel-gear style 4WD front axle ran out, many manufacturers began to put that axle on their own tractors. Quite successfully too. The front axle on my large Kubota is clearly derived from the old Yanmar tower gear design instead of from the old Kubota constant velocity design. But Kubota has improved it.
(- replace fuel cap (it is damaged, bummer)_
Yanmar used to sell a complete rebuild kit for the fuel cap! Cost about $30 and contained all the parts. Worth it if you can find one.
(- replace battery with marine battery (I had one hanging around))
I use a regular group 24 car battery even on the small YM165D - although on that one I did have to build a new battery box to fit it.
(- repaint body (previous owner painted John Deere green, I don't like it.)
It was JD's contract to have Yanmar design and build the JD compact tractor line that ended the import of the YM336D to the US. Yanmar was allowed to dump a large amount of YM227D and YM336D tractors on their US dealers in about 1987 or so for a few months. Most of those ended up on the West coast and many in rental service.Wish I'd had the money to buy a new one in the crate at the time. They were still expensive, though.
On the color....There was a time when JD and Yanmar were tightly connected. For their own compact line, JD elected to have Yanmar tractors "rebadged" as JDs. There was a popular photo at the time showing a Yanmar assembly line splitting with tractors going down one path being painted JD green and the ones going down the other conveyor belt ended up being painted with Yanmar colors. Unfortunately JD elected not to license the powershift option, or the good loader, or the Yanmar powersteering system....so the JD compact tractors from the 650 up to the 950 were never quite as sophisticated. The JD1050 had a Yanmar turbo as did the larger sizes made by Yanmar for Deere. I had always hoped to find one of the rare JD1650s. It was actually a larger Yanmar never imported to the US.
The low exhaust you built ought to work fine. A similar low exhaust was offered by the factory. I always liked the exhaust up, but then I had a 3pt backhoe so no choice.
Were you able to find the proper hydraulic filters?
Will be looking forward to some of your pictures.
(I'm hoping to keep this tractor for a good long time. I really like it. I just wish I found one with a loader)
Yes, it's too bad about not finding the loader. I didn't know that many of them were sold without it...although i see in my book that it was an "add on" expense. Frankly, that was an expensive loader at the time. In fact the whole tractor was probably the most expensive of it's size machine on the market. Back in the early 1980s YM336s with accessories would end up pushing the $20K mark out the door. The other day I saw a Buhler 295 loader in a advertisement and was struck by how much it looked like the OEM Yanmar loader. So you may find one yet. The Yanmar version has a heavy subframe.
Good Luck!!
BTW, here's a picture showing wide YM336D turfs. These were optional.
rScotty
You'll like the OEM service manual. If it is like mine it will have green colored slick covers and be printed on semi slick paper. It is specific to that tractor and the section on the powershift is fascinating.
The YM336D was one of Yanmar's world-wide models; they made OEM parts available in lots of countries through parts warehouses for years after the tractor itself was discontinued. In fact, they continued to upgrade some parts for at least another decade. I know that because I bought some for mine. For all I know Yanmar still has a US warehouse. I bought my manuals from a Yanmar parts warehouse in the Midwest....I forget the address, does anyone have it? Might it be in Illiniois?
What levers do you need to know about?
If Yanmar still maintains that parts warehouse then you will find that YM336 parts - including body parts - are surprisingly affordable. If not, you can probably still order from Yanmar warehouses overseas.
If you don't mind, I'll comment on some of the things you've gotten done. A few of those projects are places I've been as well. Some of it is general info. That's an impressive list of projects you have underway. Getting to it:
I think the service manual will tell you about checking the injector patterns. New seals are recommended. Not always necessary.
Diesels run with the air wide open, so any air filtration has to be very large volume and low restriction on the flow rate. That's why a diesel often has a cyclonic pre-filter. Typically, filtration designed with gasoline engines in mind will work, but not for long.i
Set the compression release cable for enough clearance so it can never hold an exhaust valve open if the cable sticks or heats up. Too much clearance won't hurt. I like to add gauges for oil, water, electrical.
(- installed new 3pt linkages.......)
Were you able to make one of the 3pt links adjustable? The OEM one had a nice hand crank adjustment on one side only. This can be fabricated An inexpensive source of parts is to use the lead screw and pinion gear from an adjustable caster wheel such as is sold for leveling the front of towed trailers.
(- replaced pretty much every single hose on it)
Good! You might notice that pipe threads into the engine block are British tapered pipe thread, not the US or the metric tapered pipe thread. Get them at the Brit sports car shop.
(- replaced seat with cushioned high back (priority #1 right there
))In my experience, most tractors need new seats. I took the opportunity on mine to move the seat back about half a foot. The YM336 is notorious for having not much room between stock seat and dashboard. I also built an additional lower step to help get on and off.
(- reversed front tires) but being my first tractor, I want to err on the side of caution until I get used to how tractors balance on slopes.)
Tractors don't balance on slopes well at all. Especially with the Ag lug tires or the narrow turf tires. You are wise to be cautious. Switching to wide will make it much more stable on slopes. If you do a lot of slope work you will want to eventually put on wide turfs or duallies. The JD1050 wheels will interchange.
While we are talking tires and wheels, be careful on dry ground in 4WD until you can confirm that the ratio between whatever tires it has on it is correct.... and not creating a differential between front and rear axles. When the ratio is perfect, it will shift smoothly in and out of 4WD even when moving.
When the Yanmar patent on the bevel-gear style 4WD front axle ran out, many manufacturers began to put that axle on their own tractors. Quite successfully too. The front axle on my large Kubota is clearly derived from the old Yanmar tower gear design instead of from the old Kubota constant velocity design. But Kubota has improved it.
(- replace fuel cap (it is damaged, bummer
)_Yanmar used to sell a complete rebuild kit for the fuel cap! Cost about $30 and contained all the parts. Worth it if you can find one.
(- replace battery with marine battery (I had one hanging around))
I use a regular group 24 car battery even on the small YM165D - although on that one I did have to build a new battery box to fit it.
(- repaint body (previous owner painted John Deere green, I don't like it.)
It was JD's contract to have Yanmar design and build the JD compact tractor line that ended the import of the YM336D to the US. Yanmar was allowed to dump a large amount of YM227D and YM336D tractors on their US dealers in about 1987 or so for a few months. Most of those ended up on the West coast and many in rental service.Wish I'd had the money to buy a new one in the crate at the time. They were still expensive, though.
On the color....There was a time when JD and Yanmar were tightly connected. For their own compact line, JD elected to have Yanmar tractors "rebadged" as JDs. There was a popular photo at the time showing a Yanmar assembly line splitting with tractors going down one path being painted JD green and the ones going down the other conveyor belt ended up being painted with Yanmar colors. Unfortunately JD elected not to license the powershift option, or the good loader, or the Yanmar powersteering system....so the JD compact tractors from the 650 up to the 950 were never quite as sophisticated. The JD1050 had a Yanmar turbo as did the larger sizes made by Yanmar for Deere. I had always hoped to find one of the rare JD1650s. It was actually a larger Yanmar never imported to the US.
The low exhaust you built ought to work fine. A similar low exhaust was offered by the factory. I always liked the exhaust up, but then I had a 3pt backhoe so no choice.
Were you able to find the proper hydraulic filters?
Will be looking forward to some of your pictures.
(I'm hoping to keep this tractor for a good long time. I really like it. I just wish I found one with a loader)
Yes, it's too bad about not finding the loader. I didn't know that many of them were sold without it...although i see in my book that it was an "add on" expense. Frankly, that was an expensive loader at the time. In fact the whole tractor was probably the most expensive of it's size machine on the market. Back in the early 1980s YM336s with accessories would end up pushing the $20K mark out the door. The other day I saw a Buhler 295 loader in a advertisement and was struck by how much it looked like the OEM Yanmar loader. So you may find one yet. The Yanmar version has a heavy subframe.
Good Luck!!
BTW, here's a picture showing wide YM336D turfs. These were optional.
rScotty
