JohnInAla
New member
About two years ago I saw an advertisement in the local shopping paper for a like-new Yanmar tractor with several implements for a very reasonable price. Having just bought a home with 4 acres of pecan trees to care for, I bought the little Yanmar. I knew nothing of gray markets and Vietnamese refurbs at the time. The tractor looked like new, had new tires and had 5 hours on the meter. It was shortly after the purchase that I found this site and started learning about the tractor. This is my experience for the first 100 hours of operation.
All of the parts and books I’ve purchased have come from Hoye tractor. They have been very easy to deal with.
The first problem I encountered was a leaking radiator. The local radiator shop fixed the problem. I also added the little overflow tank that had not been included when I got the tractor.
A few hours later I noticed the hood seemed to be flexing a lot. After a bit of troubleshooting I found that about half the bolts holding the front end of the tractor on had come out and the other half were loose. I bought replacement metric bolts at Lowe’s and used loctite on all the bolts to prevent this happening again. Several other bolts have come loose over this time and have been replaced.
At about 25 hours the voltage regulator quit. New one obtained from Hoye.
Also had a leaky rear tire. The guy at the tire place put in a bottle of green slime, which fixed the problem. He also ordered a new tube in case I need it.
The fuel tank started leaking at 90 hours and was replaced. I like the new white tank because I can tell how much fuel is left just by looking.
I use the tractor mostly for mowing the orchard. I pull a 60” Big Bee finishing mower. It pulls fine in third gear, high range. I also have a 4-foot bush hog, box-blade, big hopper style fertilizer spreader, rear dump scoop and a chipper. Although it works great, buying the chipper was a mistake because pecan limbs are so twisty they are hard to feed without a lot of chainsaw work first.
Despite the few problems I’ve had, I really like the YM2000. It does everything I ask of it. Would I buy another gray market Yanmar if this one quits? Maybe, but the local John Deere dealer is advertising a new 27 HP tractor for $8795. That would be tempting.
All of the parts and books I’ve purchased have come from Hoye tractor. They have been very easy to deal with.
The first problem I encountered was a leaking radiator. The local radiator shop fixed the problem. I also added the little overflow tank that had not been included when I got the tractor.
A few hours later I noticed the hood seemed to be flexing a lot. After a bit of troubleshooting I found that about half the bolts holding the front end of the tractor on had come out and the other half were loose. I bought replacement metric bolts at Lowe’s and used loctite on all the bolts to prevent this happening again. Several other bolts have come loose over this time and have been replaced.
At about 25 hours the voltage regulator quit. New one obtained from Hoye.
Also had a leaky rear tire. The guy at the tire place put in a bottle of green slime, which fixed the problem. He also ordered a new tube in case I need it.
The fuel tank started leaking at 90 hours and was replaced. I like the new white tank because I can tell how much fuel is left just by looking.
I use the tractor mostly for mowing the orchard. I pull a 60” Big Bee finishing mower. It pulls fine in third gear, high range. I also have a 4-foot bush hog, box-blade, big hopper style fertilizer spreader, rear dump scoop and a chipper. Although it works great, buying the chipper was a mistake because pecan limbs are so twisty they are hard to feed without a lot of chainsaw work first.
Despite the few problems I’ve had, I really like the YM2000. It does everything I ask of it. Would I buy another gray market Yanmar if this one quits? Maybe, but the local John Deere dealer is advertising a new 27 HP tractor for $8795. That would be tempting.
