MT160D

[oliver28472]

Black engine oil is normal for a diesel. Keep the updates coming!

 

[Capricious]

You may need a bigger tractor, but I never cease to be amazed what my little Beaver can do. Even though I've abused it for 30+ years and haven't always maintained it as I ought to...

Having a second tractor with some ability is always a plus. So buy that larger machine and keep the little Mitsubishi.

The Mitsubishi already is the "larger machine," considering the Sears 11 hp garden tractor that I have been running. Larger used tractors often are no more expensive to buy than the compact tractors, but the ground that i am dealing with is 200 miles away from home, there is no place to safely leave a tractor down there, I need to have the tractor at home for maint. and repairs (in order to make the most productive use of the limited amount of time I can spend on site) and the limit of what my current truck and trailer will haul is no more than 2000 lbs.

And I am rapidly running short of space at home to store tractors, trailers and the like.

If this thing will run, it will do the jobs i need done. Specifically, I need to bush hog 6 acres or so twice a year, and I need to grade between 300 and 900 feet of exisiting rock road after I have someone dump more rock on it.

If i can get this machine to the point where i have some confidence in it (which the reader may note is somewhat lacking at the moment) I will be in the market for a 4 foot used rotary cutter. I have 160 lbs of homemade "suitcase" weights that i welded-up for the Sears, and have the materials for about 40 lbs more, and will adapt them to be usable on the Mitsubishi, since the rotary cutter will certainly make the front end "light."

 

[oliver28472]

I found this one for $325 on CL.

 

[Capricious]

I found this one for $325 on CL.

Price aint bad, but is it missing a universal joint and coupler?

This is a little bit closer to home:
4' Clipper 400 Bushhog - Reduced

Maybe a little more expensive than it should be. I think "Clipper" is Lowery's light-duty line.

I would really prefer a 42 inch cutter, but very few of those to be found used, and more expensive to buy new than a 48" due to low selling volumes.

A 42" would be a lot lighter than a 48", which would help the trailering situation. I have mowed almost the whole place with the 42" deck on the Sears tractor so the time factor of 42" vs 48" is not a big issue to me.

 

[techwrtr2]

Too bad you're not closer to PA. I have a Woods RM42, perfect for behind a tractor with multispeed PTO. Only thing "wrong" with it is a need for a new PTO shaft. And it's been used hard and shows it, but I think lots of life left. Useless to me since my Beaver has CCW PTO and my Deere is limited to 540 RPM which is much lower than the mower needs.

 

[oliver28472]

Price aint bad, but is it missing a universal joint and coupler?

This is a little bit closer to home:
4' Clipper 400 Bushhog - Reduced

Maybe a little more expensive than it should be. I think "Clipper" is Lowery's light-duty line.

I would really prefer a 42 inch cutter, but very few of those to be found used, and more expensive to buy new than a 48" due to low selling volumes.

A 42" would be a lot lighter than a 48", which would help the trailering situation. I have mowed almost the whole place with the 42" deck on the Sears tractor so the time factor of 42" vs 48" is not a big issue to me.

It is complete, I bought it over a year ago and it does a good job.

 

[Capricious]

My preference would have been to buy a tractor & implements package, rather than go try to find all the individual pieces (I need a blade as well) but it didn't work out that way.

By the way, according to the owner's manual, the 4 wheel drive version of the MT160 is supposed to have right about 50% more drawbar pull than the rear wheel drive version; 1301 lbs vs. 860 lbs.

Which reminds me, while crawling underneath the thing i noticed that only the two rear mounting holes for the drawbar had bolts in them. The front holes were empty. I wonder if the threads in those open (certainly rusty) holes can be chased-enough to take bolts.

Stormy here yesterday evening, so I didn't mess with the thing. I am leaning towards draining the old hydraulic fluid and refilling with fresh, and leaving the strainer and it's rusted bolt for another time. I don't know if I can get a drill up into the space available in order to drill out the bolt if i break it off.

 

[oliver28472]

I looked into buying a bottoming tap for chasing those threads. It was around $44.00 almost 20 yrs ago. You could take an extra bolt and with a side grinder cut two or three grooves along the side of the bolt. A regular tap is too tapered to get those threads in the blind end of the hole.

 

[Capricious]

I looked into buying a bottoming tap for chasing those threads. It was around $44.00 almost 20 yrs ago. You could take an extra bolt and with a side grinder cut two or three grooves along the side of the bolt. A regular tap is too tapered to get those threads in the blind end of the hole.

That should work, assuming there are any threads left. The bottom rear of this tractor looks like it was parked on a salt pile.

Would be interesting to start yanking on something big, and have the drawbar come loose because it only had half of it's bolts.

 

[Capricious]

Would something like this cut waist-high grass?

older 48 inch Woods finish mower

Also, interesting to note the photo of the tag: mentions Kubota B6000, which if I understand correctly, has a reverse-turning PTO. Also mentions the Satoh Beaver; does that have a reverse-turning PTO ? I would not think the thing would be set-up to run "both ways" but maybe it can be??

Also mentions yanmar YM135 & YM 155

What i really want is a rotary cutter but not a whole lot of them in sizes 4ft and under for sale at the moment.

 

[skylarkguy]

I agree that you probably want a rotary cutter rather than a finish mower.

Some of the Satoh were ccw and the box to convert it to CW is rare and pricey. Wouldn't hurt to check which way yours turns.

 

[Capricious]

I agree that you probably want a rotary cutter rather than a finish mower.

Some of the Satoh were ccw and the box to convert it to CW is rare and pricey. Wouldn't hurt to check which way yours turns.

Mine is standard (clockwise) rotation. That was one reason why I was avoiding the B6000's, in addition to them being too small for a 4 foot cutter.

But I was not aware that the Yanmar 135's and 155's were also reverse rotation, as they apparently are according to the tag on this mower.

 

[oliver28472]

It has a right side discharge just like my Woods RM 48 which should mean a standard rotation. You should call the seller and ask if it has a six spline yoke. The price sounds OK. I paid $240.00 for mine several years ago. It is a decent finish mower but it will struggle cutting waist high stuff. On the outside chance the mower's rotation is wrong, there is not an easy fix. I had one of the backwards ones also and had to change the blades as well as all three spindles because turning it backwards from what it was supposed to be will cause the blade bolts to back out. I've been through this. I would recommend a bush hog for waist high stuff. In the meanwhile would it be possible to hire a neighbor to bush hog it for you?

 

[oliver28472]

I would also add that if you do buy the RM 48 Woods, go ahead and buy an extra belt. It is a B-124 everywhere. Make sure there is a good diagram decal on the deck showing how to replace the belt. I've been running them for years and still have to rely on the decal to see which pulley to start with. It has a drive pulley, three spindle pulleys, an idler pulley and a tightener pulley. It is a booger to replace. When I used it to mow full time, I had to replace the belt at least once a year.

 

[284 International]

But I was not aware that the Yanmar 135's and 155's were also reverse rotation, as they apparently are according to the tag on this mower.

The Yanmar 135 and 155 each are standard clockwise rotation PTO. According to the service manual they have 540 and 770 PTO rotation, clockwise when viewed from the rear.

 

[Capricious]

The Yanmar 135 and 155 each are standard clockwise rotation PTO. According to the service manual they have 540 and 770 PTO rotation, clockwise when viewed from the rear.

I saw one 135 and a couple of 155's advertised for sale but did not seriously look into them (the 2WD 135 seeming too small, while the 155's were too far from home) so I never really looked into the PTO issue.

 

[Capricious]

It has a right side discharge just like my Woods RM 48 which should mean a standard rotation. You should call the seller and ask if it has a six spline yoke. The price sounds OK. I paid $240.00 for mine several years ago. It is a decent finish mower but it will struggle cutting waist high stuff. On the outside chance the mower's rotation is wrong, there is not an easy fix. I had one of the backwards ones also and had to change the blades as well as all three spindles because turning it backwards from what it was supposed to be will cause the blade bolts to back out. I've been through this. I would recommend a bush hog for waist high stuff. In the meanwhile would it be possible to hire a neighbor to bush hog it for you?

Last comment first: i have already made a couple of attempts to get locals to bush hog the place. Too long to relate here but neither experience worked out well. That is when I started dealing with it myself.

The Sears mower deck will handle the job, as long as I cut it at least (3) times a year. Due to family issues and weather, however, i have not been out there since last October, so at this point it is beyond what the Sears can handle. The walk-behind field and brush mower could handle it, but cutting 6+ acres with a 24" cut machine takes a loooonnnngg time. I have done it.

So, I need a machine that will let me cut it twice or even just once a year. Rotary cutter it is.

Oh, about V belts: I always carry a full set of replacement belts for the Sears and for the walk-behind, and on a couple of occasions have had to replace a belt in the field. One memorable day mowing wih the Sears, I had the deck off (3) times making repairs: (2) times to re-install belts that had "popped" off, and once to beat out the deck with a sledge hammer after hitting a stump and bending the deck to the point where the blades were hitting it. Obviously, I was working it a lot harder than i should have been. A trbute to old Roper products that the thing still runs and cuts.

 

[techwrtr2]

Having the stickers mentioning a Beaver isn't an indication that the deck runs CCW. The RM42 I have has the same stickers and it runs normal rotation.

 

[Capricious]

After letting the hyd. filter bolt soak with penetrating oil a few days, I tried again last night to remove it, but succeded only in rounding-off the head. I don't think there is room to get a drill in there unless i can find a drill bit at least 18 inches long. Would also need a center punch about 18 inches long to center punch the bolt before drilling.

While sitting on the ground next to the thing, and thinking about the next move, I found myelf looking at the fuel filter, or rather, where the fuel filter should be. There is no bowl and no element, and the remains of the filter housing have been bypassed with a piece of steel brake line tubing. So the previous owner was running the thing with no filter. i suppose an inline filter would work, but I'm not sure how easy it would be to bleed the air. I have installed many inline filters on small gasoline engines, usually clear plastic filters so that i could see what was going on, and it seems to me they always have a bubble in them. Plus, the shut-off valve is incorporated into the factory filter housing, so I would need to rig up some sort of shut-off valve.

Sent an email to Valley Power to see if the bowls are available.

On a happier note: I am always picking up bits of steel scrap in case they will be of use in future projects. One bit i picked up is a 3 foot long piece of I-beam with 5 inch flanges and a 12 inch web. This will be drilled and then bolted to the front of the tractor, web horizontal, for a front bumper and also for mounting weights to.

 

[oliver28472]

Now I'm going to have to go look at one of mine but I think you can take the right rear tire off to gain access to that bolt. One possible solution is to weld a larger nut to the head of the bolt. The heat from the weld will also help free the bolt. A buddy of mine over in Fulton could get that thing out for sure.