Yanmar - Model Cover Pages

[bmaverick]

YM1700 Originally a Tree Frog.

A real cheesy production logo.

In a rare instance, a YM1700 Tree Frog restored to showroom new condition.
This is a beauty. The machine was on a market place, the only image left in the cache to pull from. It would have been great to have more pixs.

YM1700 as a Yanmar RED

Where's the logo between the eyes? 2 screw heads are shown This is common.
Now look just below the white grill. A tiny version at a slant from the Tree Frog era saying, Yanmar.

 

[bmaverick]

Finally, on the YM1700B the logo returns between the eyes.

Now, the 3 books below show how well the YM1700 and YM2000 are nearly twins. Should you own one, it would be wise to keep a copy of all three.

 

[bmaverick]

As the iconic Casey Kasem would say, "Billboard ranks them, and we keep counting them down"

YM1720

The YM1720 breaks a long tradition up to this point, it has a grayish face. It sets in motion another trend that later John Deere admires for it's own machines made by Yanmar. See the JD early 50 Series like the JD650, 850, 950 and 1050.

No logo between the eyes either. There is something there, just doesn't make sense. On the grill is some fancy Japanese writing. It's not the word Yanmar either. Yanmar did make a YM with a famous Japan person, Akira Kobayashi, a Japanese actor and singer. His nickname is Maito Gai (マイトガイ, "Mighty Guy"). Is the word on the front grill Mighty Guy? He did appear in Yanmar commercials too. His name was on a a few special machines from 1977-82.

UPDATE: Ah ha, found the logo between the eyes.

Now, the YM1720 works well with the average Japanese farmer for size. Here is a farmer who loves his YM1720. He is also dressed in the Yanmar beige fashioned clothing too.

Here is a UTDA like showroom new model.

The YM1720 has a very well laid out dash control panel with everything you fully need.

I tried to find a good image to show the very rear of the fenders. There are actual red brake lights. Now, on some of the YM 3-digit machines, this option is carried over, especially in the UK, France and Germany where it's mandatory.

Like the YM1610DGR, Yanmar made a YM1720DGR for Grounds Care work.

From a personal perspective and knowing much about the YM series, should I need a smaller YM than my current one, this is the machine of choice.

 

[bmaverick]

YM1810 On with the hits, from coast to coast -Casey Kasem

The YM1810 is a bigger sibling of the YM1610. And the recent mention of the YM1720, all utilize the 3T75 engine series. How dose Yanmar tweak these engines from 16, 17, and 18Hp? Air intake, injector pump and/or the injectors. This way, the same engine configuration can still be used. With part manuals, it may be possible to search out how to take a YM1610 to a YM1810 Hp output level.

Even though this is a popular machine on the gray market scene, finding good quality images are hard to come by. A few have been located after a far and wide search.

Notice, the YM1810 also has the familiar wording on the front grill as the YM1720.

Here is one of the cleanest and well kept YM1810 images found. The original paint is still brilliant.

Notice the special mask on the headlamp eyes. It's the common mask for the "Yanmar Red" logo. However, this is the best close up I could find to verify this logo offering.

Japan Yanmar owners love this larger SCUT. Here is an image of 3 Japanese generation farmers who use the machine. I have a pair of saddles just like the man up front, and yes, I putt around on my Yanmar too wearing them. How cool is that.

The original tiller mounted shows two winged plates and a very unique stubby toplink.

Yanmar tillers are nearly indestructible. However, wear items like bearings and drive chains do need care.

These tillers are capable of grinding thru volcanic harden soils. Thus, elsewhere on the planet, these tillers do a remarkable job. For the YM1810, 2 tillers are OE issued. RS1403 and the RC1603.

The add-on options are for this model as well.

 

[clemsonfor]

You do post some interesting and far researched material most of which I have never seen in the 10+ years I have been on this forum. You must be able to read japanese or use the Google translator and know how to search japanese websites.

 

[bmaverick]

YM1820

Engine 3T80-U

You do post some interesting and far researched material most of which I have never seen in the 10+ years I have been on this forum. You must be able to read japanese or use the Google translator and know how to search japanese websites.

And there is still much more to share.

You are a perfect segue into the YM2000 next. Thus, as the saying goes in baseball, batter up!

 

[bmaverick]

YM2000

This will be the base model in "tree frog" green. There is just too much on this model and it's variations to cover in one posting.

Much like the other tree frog family models, the YM2000 also shares the same rich history in it's origins.

What drove the "tree frog" look. As it was mentioned back in the YM1300 and some in the YM1700, the Japan culture ties nature into modern functionality. However, it goes deeper than just that.

In the year 1972, John Deere is interested in finding a partner to make compact tractors. A deal is reached, however with the economics of tariffs and an oil crisis looming in the 70s, John Deere didn't full activate the agreement until nearly 10 years later. This gave Yanmar the ability to tune a look of American Iron in a compact tractor package. The next image is from the Japan tractor museum.

The Yanmar "tree frogs" are derived from John Deere classics! Look at the top of the hood contour, the vertical slots, front axle, and the fuel cap locations.

From the Japan tractor museum site a tree frog chronology:

Yanmar already had many firsts in it's history. Something that had gotten the attention of John Deere. Now, has anyone ever wondered, how did Yanmar go from their earlier color of plain red to lime green? Was it because of the John Deere agreement? JD green paint was ordered by the boat load to kick off the agreement. Materials and components were being put in place ... then the agreement goes on ... pause. Well, sitting on tons of green paint that can go bad after 1 year is a huge cost burden to bear. Mix it or thin it would lighten the color pantone. Now you know the rest of the story -Paul Harvey.

Let's look at how the bleed over of the YM2000 tree frog into a US YM240 import tree frog came to be. A clue is given here in this thread.

Is this a YM2000 or YM240?

tractordata.com has a good picture of a 240 and it looks like a red 2000. Hope this helps Early YM240 had the same sheetmetal as the early, green YM2000. There are pictures of both early and late YM240 in the US dealer brochures referenced from my sig. Here is a more direct link...

www.tractorbynet.com

YM240 2TR20AX

Amazing I had found a YM2000 nearly in the same photo orientation to show this point.

YM2000 2TR20A

Yanmar never published a chart matching serial numbers to manufacture date. That's like rebranding a Dodge as a Plymouth, or a Chevy as a Pontiac. There are many instances of machines made with just a different name plate model number. So, this topic remains a mystery. And so does ordering parts as there were minor changes over the years. The YM240 was made for almost 3 more years in the tree frog color before jumping to a different body style in green to match the YM2000. We'll see more of this in the next postings.

Additionally, if there was a thread on Yanmar engines, the 2TRxx family shares more than what one would ever realize.

PS, what IF these machines were never tree frog green?

From the Yanmar 100 anniversary history book,

 

[bmaverick]

YM2000 Rare breed

Other than the US YM 3-digit models in the updated body panels in tree frog green, finding the YM2000 in the newer body style like that is a very rare gem. These exist, but not many. Again, Yanmar didn't publish record totals of models made per year or by serial number when major changes took place.

This tends to make a person wonder. Last week while digging I came across a much nicer one. Forgot to save it.

 

[bmaverick]

YM2000 The more recognized Apple Red and body style.

This body style is the most popular, and still is a challenge because there were tweaks and some small cosmetic changes. Then a refresh with the YM2000B & YM2000BZ. And additional versions for Zen-Noh and Specials. Out of all the YM models, this one sure had it's flavors to choose from. Knowing this, it could have a thread all by itself.

The limit is 10 attachments per posting in the forums. This is images and documents combined. Thus, the reason why some models got more than 1 posting. The YM2000 variations are many. Lets get thru the main stay variants.

This newer body style upgrade will be seen on machine models going higher. The YM2000 could be the break point of lower models being the SCUT and from this point we are into the CUT models.

This image has been seen in several places on the web. Looks used, not abused.

A few images from the WayBackMachine on the old RCO site.

A Zen-Noh version

The Japan culture today still believes the farmer is the most respect person in society.
Here's a recent anime. Farmer, bride and just married cans out the back all on a YM2000.

This is the ONLY OPS manual I've ever seen for a YM gray machine so far. It's just the
cover page. The Yahoo.co.jp auction site show other snippets of inside pages, but incomplete. I never knew these existed before.

Notice the NEW in the lower right. It's not the tree frog any more.

 

[bmaverick]

YM2000A

If a good thing is going, let's refresh it to offer even more. The A-model is a refresh upgrade. Likewise the YM1700 goes to an A-model as well.

Did the YM240 go red at this time. Do recall it stayed tree frog green for 3 more years when the YM1700-YM2000 went Apple red. Hard to say. Again, Yanmar didn't publish model upgrades nor s/n changeovers.

Here's a documented YM2000A

And the proof of A on the driver left fender has this.