Mitsu S373 Diesel 4x4 Questions

[oliver28472]

Is the seller making any kind of guarantee that nothing is wrong? In this condition without any guarantees I would stand firm at $500. Other than that, since it has turf tires the mower might be for that tractor. Also you might not be happy moving snow with turfs unless you get chains. This thread is interesting so keep us posted!

 

[duwem]

Is the seller making any kind of guarantee that nothing is wrong? In this condition without any guarantees I would stand firm at $500. Other than that, since it has turf tires the mower might be for that tractor. Also you might not be happy moving snow with turfs unless you get chains. This thread is interesting so keep us posted!

I'm sure that would be sold AS IS for that price no guaruntees. It ran when parked is all I know.

The other 2 tractors have the same rear diamond tread tires so deck could be for any of them.

Going to give it to the end of the day for him to call back, dont want to bug the heck out of him.

Was this specific model the same as any IH or Cub Cadet compacts?

Here is another picture I took when I was there last week to see it. This was about a year after I took the first picture I posted.

 

[oliver28472]

I'm stepping out on a limb a little but I don't think the IH relationship came together until the Mitsubishi 160 and 180 models came out. 284 could probably give a better answer. If the snow picture is the later one at least they put the breather cap back on. Tell the guy you have 5 one hundred dollar bills.

 

[284 International]

I don't think there were any other relabeled counterparts to that tractor; I know some of the other IH machines were relabeled, but I don't think any of them were of the Beaver. My 284 was built by Komatsu, and has a Mazda engine. I know Mitsubishi provided many engines to other manufacturers of equipment, including Iseki, but that Mitsubishi/Satoh also sometimes used Kubota engines in their machines. The intertwined relationships of the Japanese manufacturers baffles me, so I don't really know.

Either way, parts for the Beaver are available, though sometimes more scarce than for the Yanmars or Kubotas. Some of the service items for all of them, in my experience, are fairly generic, like the alternator, filters, radiator caps, and so on. Other things are more specific, like the water, hydraulic, and injection pumps. Clutches are often broadly applicable, though I've never done one. (That may be changing soon.)

 

[duwem]

I'm stepping out on a limb a little but I don't think the IH relationship came together until the Mitsubishi 160 and 180 models came out. 284 could probably give a better answer. If the snow picture is the later one at least they put the breather cap back on. Tell the guy you have 5 one hundred dollar bills.

I but the breather cover on after I saw the tractor the first time about a year ago when I took the picture in the first post..No idea how long it had been off before that. Kind of dumb that it needs to come off to open the hood, just asking for people to set it aside and not reinstall.

 

[skylarkguy]

Just for Reference

I paid $800.00 for my MT372 (KE70 engine, 2wd). It ran but needed a water pump and freeing up the 3pt, immediately before I could use it. I had the radiator cleaned up and checked while it was out for good measure.

Since then I had to put a clutch into it, and clean up some electrical gremlins. I'm up to about $1400.00, and put 63 hrs on it thus far. This is about $22 dollars/hr, Maintenance costs.

I really like this tractor a bunch, but would also concur that parts are hard to find and often expensive, but I haven't really broken it yet either.
It is fairly easy to work on. If it isn't going to be your primary machine right away and you have time to spend tinkering I'd think $500 is a pretty good price.

 

[duwem]

Is the water pump belt driven? Does it run the fan as well and that is how you know its siezed up? Is it common that they go bad on these tractors?

Was the clutch worn out or stuck? I assume its a dry clutch not a wet clutch?

Is the hydraulic pump on the tractor large enough to run a loader off of it?

 

[284 International]

The water pump is belt driven and runs the fan. On my ST1440 the fan bolts directly to the water pump hub; the tractors use the same pump, so they should be the same in that respect too. I don't think these tractors are better or worse for having seized up parts, except that this particular machine has definitely sat, unused, for extended periods of time. Any machine would be liable to suffer from that, irrespective of manufacturer.

A jammed 3 point is common to tractors that have sat and have water in the hydraulic fluid.

The clutch is a dry single plate.

I don't know if the hydraulic pump is sufficient to run a loader or not, but my similar sized Yanmar machine runs a loader fine off the original pump; I expect it would fine. On my ST1440, so probably the S373 as well, there's a cutout for a front driveshaft under the grill. It would be straightforward to adapt an auxiliary hydraulic pump to run a loader.

There is a site sponsor based in Washington called coldwater tractors, who specialize in building loaders for older compact tractors. Their loaders are usually $1800, built to your machine. They will likely have good information on how well the pump would serve you.

 

[skylarkguy]

In my case the water pump wasn't seized, the bearing were shot and it was leaking fluid. T
he 3pt got seized when it went up into the rusty cylinder and got stuck. My tractor was used to pull a sprayer in a christmas tree farm before I got it and apparently never had an implement on it that was lifted by the 3 pt.

The clutch wore out.

Let us know when you get it home...lots of good advice here to talk you through most anything

 

[evan price]

Was this specific model the same as any IH or Cub Cadet compacts?

Not 100% the same, however, the Case/IH 234 & 235, was "close enough" with a K3B motor and many parts are swappable, but most had a hydrostatic trans. I found a IH-234 at my local tractor dealer and spent some time crawling in it comparing parts to my Satoh Buck.

Case/IH 1130, 254/255 tractors, Cub 7235 7260 7265 7272 7273 7274 7275 7300 7305 7000 all used a K3x Mitsubishi motor in it. Iseki/Bolens used the K3A & B motors and I saw a K3D motor on a Toro 325D Groundsmaster golf course mower.

Motor parts are not hard to find but also not cheap. The mitsubishi K3X series breaks down to a 3 cylinder (The K3 part) and the HP is the last letter- an "A" is the smallest, going up to the "G" I think. Most parts like alternators, water pumps, etc are all the same.