Bought a 1610 from RCO

houstonscott · Mar 24, 2011

Just bought a 1610 from RCO in Austin. The unit is a complete rebuild here in USA. Garden duties like rototilling and finish mowing and fence repairs are what's in store for this guy. On 55 acres in Gatesville Tx. Take delivery at end of April. Pictures when it arrives.

HS

California · Mar 24, 2011

houstonscott said:
... from RCO in Austin. ... complete rebuild here in USA. ... delivery at end of April.

Will they let you go up there and watch the rebuild?

houstonscott · Mar 24, 2011

You get a shop record of #hours on tractor when received from Japan. You get a list of items checked, and parts used in rebuild. You get a copy dyno test done after rebuild. You get a one year warranty. You get to look it over with a fine tooth comb before you buy. I'm good with that, looked like a good rebuild to me, they replace all the parts I would have had I rebuilt it myself. This one got new liners, pistons, rings, head gasket, water pump, radiator, hoses, connecting rod bearings, voltage reg., exhaust manifold, muffler, head got cleaning and valve job. All new electrical wiring, shall I continue...Not much more I would have done had I ordered the job done myself. Looks like the whole unit was blasted, primed and painted with modern paints. It maybe a better tractor then when it was built, with new synthitic oils, better coolants in it, and better paints then 1981 when it was manufactured the second thirty years maybe better on it. Allot has happened in thirty years.

HS

rmully · Mar 24, 2011

houstonscott said:
. This one got new liners, pistons, rings, head gasket, water pump, radiator, hoses, connecting rod bearings, voltage reg., head got cleaning and valve job. All new electrical wiring, shall I continue...

HS

Seems like a lot of rebuild to me but you know you should be good for a long while.

Enjoy it !!

kenmac · Mar 24, 2011

He may be correct about the rebuild. I called Fredricks about trading my yanmar for a larger mahindra. He told me that he would have to take my 3110D apart to install new pistons, liners,Install new radiator, etc,etc, to make it a new UTDA certified tractor B-4 he would sell it. I wonder if all UTDA dealers perform this type of rebuild B-4 they sell or re-sell ? He told me I would be better off to sell the tractor myself

houstonscott · Mar 25, 2011

The main reason or thinking behind this purchase was we had need to rototill a garden and mow a lawn around a house that sits on 55 acres. The mowing might even extend to the sides of the road maybe 2-3 hundred yards. This would be finish mowing and would at time be done by the wife. So a riding mower (diesel) like a JD 740 is 12K with no implements! North of that with a rototiller and things like a posthole digger. In comes the rebuilt 1610, the transmission allows wife to mow, got the tractor, a new rototiller, finish mower, and posthole digger, for about half of what a JD 740 would cost. In the end I think we ended up a much more capable machine.

HS

kenmac · Mar 25, 2011

liners in a 1610 engine???

houstonscott · Mar 25, 2011

They are wet sleeves.

HS

clemsonfor · Mar 25, 2011

Hope all is well. Im not sure if your the one who asked in another post about RCO or not. But MAKE sure you check it out well. CAR DOC a member got one of the rebilds from RCO and found that his head, while may have been "off" had not had the valves ground the head was warped and he could tell other "Performed" tasks were not done. He himself is a mechanic so he can tell if something had been rebuilt, ground or replaced. I think this is what California was getting at, by can you make sure that is all done. Cause chances are the tractor off the container from JAPAN would probably run several hundred more hours to thousands of hours no problem.

Car doc was out of the warrenty period before that gets brought up again, but the point is things were said to have been done which to the experienced person clearly were not. Hopefully these bad apples have been removed from RCO and the mgt has figured out how to properly fullfill what they say.

Your tractor will probably be fine for yrs and yrs. Just think how many are out there straight out of the container and been going strong.

houstonscott · Mar 25, 2011

I think that post was from a few years ago maybe as much as five or more. I think RCO was scammed by rebuilds from Vietnam too. This guy got one of those. That's well know now and avoided. The process to get these tractors from Japan and deliver them to their shops is a much better process now and RCO has their own guy in Japan picking the units out. At least this is what they tell me. I understand there are stories about the Vietnam rebuilds and they still exist out in the market so be careful who you buy from, even RCO was careless in the distant pass and got some bad PR by selling some these. I think those days are gone for RCO.

HS

clemsonfor · Mar 25, 2011

houstonscott said:
I think that post was from a few years ago maybe as much as five or more. I think RCO was scammed by rebuilds from Vietnam too. This guy got one of those. That's well know now and avoided. The process to get these tractors from Japan and deliver them to their shops is a much better process now and RCO has their own guy in Japan picking the units out. At least this is what they tell me. I understand there are stories about the Vietnam rebuilds and they still exist out in the market so be careful who you buy from, even RCO was careless in the distant pass and got some bad PR by selling some these. I think those days are gone for RCO.

HS

Yea i knew they use to sell VN rebuilds but this was only like a year and a half ago. He bought in like spring of 09. It was supossedly "rebuilt" in their shop, he got the dyno test and all. I think he said after 95 hours the head gasket blew, which he later found was from a warped head that was reinstalled after a rebuild. He called and complained about the quality of work from the rebuild and was blown off by them. I would put it through the runs in the warrenty period to make sure all the bugs are worked out before the time is out. Id try to get 150-200 hours on in that first year.

HoyeTractor · Mar 25, 2011

They are wet sleeves.

The 1610 does not have a sleeved engine. You can (and we have before) had the block machined and sleeves put in them but they do not have them from the factory.

Car Doc · Mar 25, 2011

Good luck I hope it is all they say it is for your sake. A 1610 is a real nice tractor it should do everything you say you need one for is it a 1610D 4wd?.

PM me if you like I will be happy to share a couple ideas I have for you! :thumbsup:

There is a guy on here who his mouth fly's open like a $2 suitcase when anyone talks bad about RCO so I wont put the board thru any more of that.

clemsonfor · Mar 25, 2011

Cardoc, you may get a PM saying "a post of yours has been removed. This usually happens if someone talks bad about another member, blah blah blah."

rmully · Mar 25, 2011

Too bad a guy can't tell it like it is without some problem. Be careful of what you are told in Austin. When I went shopping I was told one thing one day and something completely different another day by a salesman.... needless to say I did not buy my tractor there. I do not do well with flim flam and i got a lot there.

brownbr · Mar 25, 2011

So where then if not RCO for people in the Austin area? A drive to Alabama? Only reason I have not done the same and bought from RCO is a delay for my finances to come through. I was eager to get my cash, and then spint over there and buy one.

Now I'm a little uneasy in light of this new info.

I push mowed over an acre today, some of which had not been mowed in years. I've never wanted a small tractor more.

kenmac · Mar 25, 2011

brownbr said:
So where then if not RCO for people in the Austin area? A drive to Alabama? Only reason I have not done the same and bought from RCO is a delay for my finances to come through. I was eager to get my cash, and then spint over there and buy one. Now I'm a little uneasy in light of this new info.
.

I guess Hoye cleared up the liner/sleeve issue

You don't have to drive any where. order over the phone.Wayne ,Ernie,Fredricks can ship what you want

Kays Supply · Mar 26, 2011

I sold Yanmars for several years. I have had them apart. If the engine is good, which 99% are , the OEM parts are much better than the aftermarket parts. A Yanmar with less than a 1000 hrs is good for more hours than you would put on in a lifetime mowing and putsing around. I bought from Fredricks many times, have dealt with Ernie, and bought parts from Hoye. All three are straight shooters. I would send my brother to any of the three to buy a tractor or parts. There is nothing in this post negative about RCO.

clemsonfor · Mar 26, 2011

This kind of goes on the back of what Kay.. and the last few guys have said.

Here we try to point out the good dealers and bad for obvious reasons (not pointing fingers at whose on either side of that yet in this post). By doing this those who were or felt burned will post, those that are happy will post. We all take note of this so that when a new person comes up we can give them facts and let them decide on thier own about a place.

That said in over a yr and a half i have never heard anything negative about Hoye, Ernie, Fredricks, or Spalding tractor. That says a lot as this is one of like 3 places to actually get good info on yanmars, and i have been to all three, we pretty much have the same folks on each one, there are certain ones who dont cross the lines much but your getting most folks if all you do is come here.

Saying all this any dealer can have a serious problem, bad unit or some bad experience with a customer. Its how they handle it wich makes them shine. For example, i hope any dealer will fix anything in warrenty period, but if your tractor is say 3 months or something out of warrenty period and they supposedly did a complete rebuild on it, my thoughts are that they should at least offer you a gasket set and someother parts to go with the head your removing due to their work.

houstonscott · Mar 26, 2011

You know you have to be realistic about buying a 30yr old tractor. I am a car guy so I am realistic about something that old having a hidden issue. It doesn't scare me. I hope there are none and if there are thy are small and crop up in the first years, or even the first few hours. I am very skeptical about tractor owners and what they report because a tractor as a machine that is probability the most abused piece of equipment you can find. I have seen people do things to tractors they were never designed to do and people buying to small and "doing it anyway" and loading machine until it bends or breaks seems to be common. Not taking care of tractor is common too in my opinion.

HS