Roonabeck
Silver Member
I recently purchased 2.5 acres in MA. It's not flat, but it's not steep either. Primarily, I will need a mower for this summer. In the future, I will want a FEL for snow removal (or possibly a snow blower), but the FEL could be handy for general landscaping use. I would probably want a tiller (if I can get enough rocks out of the soil to use one) to make veggie gardening a little easier as well. I had been looking into small JD and Kubotas, looking at specs and options and attachments, just so I could have an idea of what I could expect when I was ready to buy.
Well, I decided that ready-to-buy was this past week, so I started looking more closely at prices and used tractors. And, I happened across the tractor mentioned above: Yanmar 1510, FEL, tiller, weight box, and he's throwing in a trailer to transport it on (which is great since I don't have one). He's asking $5500 for the whole lot.
I went to see it today. I should say that I grew up on a small farm in Ohio and have never used a "real" tractor that was this small. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif A WD-45 was our little tractor. Anyway, the Yanmar appears to be in fine running order. Whoever attached the FEL (a Koyker 110) screwed together the hose fittings so you'd have to spend some time with a wrench and hydraulic fluid to get it off. The tiller has sat unused for the last year or two.
A few questions: I counted three hydraulic connections from the tractor to the FEL. One from the bottom of the engine area. One from further back on the chassis. And one from under the seat. The connection under the seat is visibly loose, yet fluid is not leaking (during FEL operation or otherwise). What is that third connection for, and how worried should I be that it is loose?
The tiller, as I said, is relatively abandoned. That's just a gearbox and maybe a couple of bearings that need grease, and assuming that it worked a few years ago, it should be ready to go again, right?
The hour meter on the tractor appears to be stuck at 700. The current owner said he replaced the "clutch/drive shaft last year" (well, his local JD dealer did it for him). Any idea how long (hours) the tractor should have lasted before that needed to be replaced?
If I want to start this in really cold weather (0-20 deg range), is there a way to plug in the glow plugs?
Lastly, any comments or suggestions?
Well, I decided that ready-to-buy was this past week, so I started looking more closely at prices and used tractors. And, I happened across the tractor mentioned above: Yanmar 1510, FEL, tiller, weight box, and he's throwing in a trailer to transport it on (which is great since I don't have one). He's asking $5500 for the whole lot.
I went to see it today. I should say that I grew up on a small farm in Ohio and have never used a "real" tractor that was this small. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif A WD-45 was our little tractor. Anyway, the Yanmar appears to be in fine running order. Whoever attached the FEL (a Koyker 110) screwed together the hose fittings so you'd have to spend some time with a wrench and hydraulic fluid to get it off. The tiller has sat unused for the last year or two.
A few questions: I counted three hydraulic connections from the tractor to the FEL. One from the bottom of the engine area. One from further back on the chassis. And one from under the seat. The connection under the seat is visibly loose, yet fluid is not leaking (during FEL operation or otherwise). What is that third connection for, and how worried should I be that it is loose?
The tiller, as I said, is relatively abandoned. That's just a gearbox and maybe a couple of bearings that need grease, and assuming that it worked a few years ago, it should be ready to go again, right?
The hour meter on the tractor appears to be stuck at 700. The current owner said he replaced the "clutch/drive shaft last year" (well, his local JD dealer did it for him). Any idea how long (hours) the tractor should have lasted before that needed to be replaced?
If I want to start this in really cold weather (0-20 deg range), is there a way to plug in the glow plugs?
Lastly, any comments or suggestions?