Looking to buy Yanmar tractor

[California]

don't mean to steer you away from Yanmar, but there is a good deal local to me on the CL,
would seem like the next best thing to a Yanmar
tractor 4x4

Agricat 254, year 2000.

That's a Jinma, a Chinese tractor. Better read up on those before jumping in. I think quality has now improved to average but the early buyers had to do a lot of DIY re-design and workarounds before they had a reliable tractor. Most telling, I think, was a post here by the importer who straight up said these aren't for commercial farming, they are 'specially designed' to be low cost hobby tractors for suburban weekenders. Caveat emptor.

 

[schoolsout]

where are you located? is (Awendaw) anywhere close by Jefferson?
I don't mean to steer you away from Yanmar, but there is a good deal local to me on the CL,
would seem like the next best thing to a Yanmar
tractor 4x4

Awendaw is on the coast of SC, just north of Charleston. Wish that was closer so I could easily take a look as it does seem like a good deal. I may be thinking about a 30hp or so tractor now as suggested by others.

Question about the PTO on that tractor. I notices it has a 1000rpm PTO. Buddy is going to give us a bush hog....is there a way to know what works with what? I noticed a lot of tractors this size have a 540. I think, at least.

 

[California]

540rpm is the universal US standard for smaller tractors. (maybe up to 60 hp?)

Much larger US tractors have 1000 rpm to run big implements designed for that, so some tractors in the US are dual speed 540/1000. If that Agricat doesn't have 540 then it's a real early Agricat/Jinma from before Jinma even attempted to build US-compatible tractors. More likely, it's dual speed. Or else he broke the pto.

You can't use 1000rpm for US implements, in general. Simple physics: the tendency to grenade goes up proportional to the square of the increase in rpm. That said, many of us putt around with the engine just above idle using higher pto gears to bring the implement speed up to 540 rpm.

 

[deepNdirt]

Agricat 254, year 2000.

That's a Jinma, a Chinese tractor. Better read up on those before jumping in. I think quality has now improved to average but the early buyers had to do a lot of DIY re-design and workarounds before they had a reliable tractor. Most telling, I think, was a post here by the importer who straight up said these aren't for commercial farming, they are 'specially designed' to be low cost hobby tractors for suburban weekenders. Caveat emptor.

How dare the china folks use JD colors, I had no idea this was a china made tractor
I thought the model agricat was a series of JD, shows you how much I know bout tractors,

 

[California]

Anything you never heard of that says 204 or 254, think Jinma.

Somewhere on TBN is an owner who had a Yanmar YM240 then replaced it with a Jinma 254. (24 hp replaced by 25 hp, 4wd.) He said the Jinma weighed far more than the Yanmar. Good for plowing and tractive force but far slower. He had so many frustrating bugs to work out that he traded up for a larger and better-grade tractor, I think a Kama (also China, but a real ag tractor).

Common, maybe universal problems with early Jinmas included dead tachs that required a whole new dash panel, and an o-oring in the power steering cylinder that soon got pinched and sheared, leaking so the tractor could only turn right. Replacements soon failed; it was a design error. Front steering knuckles that shattered were reported. And the fluids were awful - full of casting sand, murky, smelly. (I've commented a couple of times that this was China's solution to its hazardous waste disposal problem - export! ).

Finally, a reputable Yanmar dealer who used to post here reported 1) he was averaging I think 60 hours of pre-sale labor to build crate Jinmas and get the bugs out before sale, so there was no profit in them, and 2) he quit selling them after two customer deaths compared to none on Yanmars.

Surely Jinma quality must be improving year to year - I hope. But that one in the ad was year 2000.

 

[kenmac]

If you buy a Jinma , you'll be wernching on it alot more than you ever would a Yanmar

 

[deepNdirt]

If you buy a Jinma , you'll be wernching on it alot more than you ever would a Yanmar

So true to anything made from China I wouldn't intentionally pointed this tractor out had I known it was a China made tractor, all I seen was Green & yellow and what I thought would have been a good price for a 2000 JD with a FEL plus 4wd, But when thinking twice and realistically a JD with these feature I'm sure would of been double this asking price

 

[kenmac]

I've read some of their post. Some of the repairs that some of those guy's have to perform with low hrs. Not for me

 

[BurningBushFarm]

You might want to talk to these folks.

https://www.mmequipmentandparts.com/

Hartsville, SC -- NW of Florence Handle MF, Yanmar, JD and others.

Haven't seen them mentioned here, but they had a listing on CL last month.

When I was looking I also considered Kubotas.

Good luck!

 

[Smoody]

Just for the record, if it matters, that dealer in Hartsville, SC sells Vietnam rebuilds mainly, every once in a blue moon he will have a well used yanmar come in from auction or trade in.