New TYM T1003C Owner

HenRut · Jan 1, 2017

Took delivery a month or so ago of a 2015 T1003C and I am mightily pleased. One of the last of the Tier 3 machines found in North Carolina (great dealer in Billy Smith's Smith's Equipment, who delivered it himself to Massachusetts). Along with the machine I bought a grapple, land plane, boom pole and rake. This is my first tractor so there's a lot to learn. Not helping is an owner's manual for an earlier iteration of the tractor with slight, subtle differences to my machine. Also not helping is the manual's English translation that is sometimes mind-twisting. Illustrations help a lot, and wish there were more photos. I'm still trying to figure out where the hydraulic filter is from their illustration. Kind of critical since I'm at the 50 hour service which tells me to change both hydraulic fluid and filter. I'll do a review once I have a bit more experience in the machine. Hard to compare apples and oranges when you've only eaten apples.

joeyd · Jan 2, 2017

Enjoy your new tractor. The members on this forum sure seem to be a wealth of knowledge, I hope someone can answer your questions for you.

Btown · Jan 2, 2017

Nice tractor you went right for their largest one. I would think the filter would be a spin on one so it should not be too hard to find. I am tempted to buy a tractor from themJust wondered who shipped his tractors. I too live in MA. I think this should be the filter.

Should be the transmission filter. I'm looking more to the 45-65 hp tractors. Where about in MA are you.

holeycow · Jan 2, 2017

best advice I ever got many years ago was from an old-timer; "that is a tractor. An agricultural tractor. It is not a piece of heavy equipment. It is not made to clear bush". You've got enough of a tractor there to hurt itself pretty badly if you push and pull stuff around willy-nilly. Go slow. Take your time. You sound very green if you cannot even locate the hydraulic filter(s). That is why I chimed in. You could destroy your investment and hurt yourself or someone else in a very short time.

good luck!

congrats! I have never seen one of those tractors in person, but they look pretty decent in pictures!

HenRut · Jan 4, 2017

I've lurked on this website enough years before buying to know that one (usually) doesn't regret buying too large a tractor, but buying too small will have you singing the "woulda" "shoulda's". I needed size and weight to fit in the cab (I'm 6'2" with long legs) and to run certain implements (15' batwing and boom mower). My next tractor will be a 40-50 hp cab with turf tires. The big TYM can do a number on grass and soft gravel with its filled tires and knife-sharp ag treads.

Re the hydraulic filter, the page you copied I have in both my manuals -- a paper manual that came with the machine and an electronic one that I got off the TYM website that are dated 2011 and 2008, respectively. My T1003C is the last year of the Tier 3 engines built in 2015 and there are some changes not reflected in either manual. The hydraulics are one. The manuals call for a dip stick to check the hydro fluid levels. There is no dip stick on my machine. Only after me and a buddy searched did we find s a glass sight gauge located on the left rear side of the machine tucked behind the rear wheel. The manual tells you where to find the smallish, vertical hydro oil filter. Where the manual tells you to look to find it you'll find the covered battery on my machine. The hydraulic filters are actually further back and they're much larger TWIN canisters that lie horizontally.

Yes, I should probably feel stupid for not instinctively knowing to ignore the manuals but I'm not a mechanic, nor did I particularly feel like crawling around in the snow and mud to explore. Even the dealer's mechanic and regional manager couldn't tell me anything other than what the manual was saying. It took the east coast distributor's lead mechanic to confirm what I suspected were the hydraulic filters by sending me the page from the parts catalog that showed an illustration of the filters (and even that illustration showed smaller, vertical twin canisters).

BTW, I'm located in the Brookfields in south-central Worcester County.

HenRut · Jan 4, 2017

holeycow said:
best advice I ever got many years ago was from an old-timer; "that is a tractor. An agricultural tractor. It is not a piece of heavy equipment. It is not made to clear bush". You've got enough of a tractor there to hurt itself pretty badly if you push and pull stuff around willy-nilly. Go slow. Take your time. You sound very green if you cannot even locate the hydraulic filter(s). That is why I chimed in. You could destroy your investment and hurt yourself or someone else in a very short time.

good luck!

congrats! I have never seen one of those tractors in person, but they look pretty decent in pictures!

Thanks for the advice. You're right, I am pretty green when it comes to ag tractors, but not necessarily a newbie when it comes to heavy equipment. I realize how quickly one can become dead or maimed by under-estimating its weight and power or over-estimating my abilities. I'm also aware, via this website and others, how many old heads end up the same despite years of experience and "should-know-better knowledge".

As far as not being able to immediately find the hydraulic filters, yes I feel stupid (worse than green) but the mitigating factors (as described in my reply to BTown) are two operating manuals, a dealer mechanic and territory manager who all steered me wrong. By no stretch do the hydraulic filters on my machine match what is shown and described in the manuals. I figured it out eventually but this took more work than it should have. Interesting how the engineers who designed and built the machine had more on the ball than the technical writers and translators responsible for the manuals.

Btown · Jan 4, 2017

I hear you, TYM is well known for changing things and not updating manuals, or specs on the website. I grew up right next to the Brookfields, might have to stop by and check out your tractor someday. I have never seen the 90-100 hp ones. I have seen the small ones up to 75 hp. I really wanted a T-433 or T-503 cab, but timing was not right. Probably should have bought one. Maybe someday. I really liked the CAT/Perkins engines in those tier III tractors. Maybe someday I can find a nice used one. The Yanmar engines have few issues, might have to get the larger one with the Deutz engine. Or wait till TYM uses engines from Branson that they recently bought, they are a based on Cummins design.

HenRut · Jan 4, 2017

I'm expecting no surprises from the engine as the CAT/Perkins 1100 series is used in a fair number of machines. Most gremlins, you would guess, have been exorcised. If you look hard enough you can find a used 1003. As of October, there were even one or two new machines left on the east coast. I was also a fan of the 503 when I first started looking a few years ago, but decided I needed a bigger machine to do what I needed to do. When I look for my smaller machine, I'll give it another look.

Drop me a PM and I'll give you an address whenever you're in the area and want to stop by. Right now the tractor is a sad, muddy mess as I'm using it to put up a ClearSpan storage building and it's been pretty sloppy around here with the snow and rain.

Btown · Jan 4, 2017

It looks like you have the new design that they are using on the T-1054. I would think this would have been well known and more people would know. But not sure how many 100 hp TYM's are sold.

This winter is awful here in MA. The ice has been the worst I can remember well now it is all mud now with all the rain. The horses areas have lots of it now. I would rather have the white stuff than rain then freezing temps.

HenRut · Jan 5, 2017

Btown said:
It looks like you have the new design that they are using on the T-1054. I would think this would have been well known and more people would know. But not sure how many 100 hp TYM's are sold. View attachment 493940
This winter is awful here in MA. The ice has been the worst I can remember well now it is all mud now with all the rain. The horses areas have lots of it now. I would rather have the white stuff than rain then freezing temps.

From the looks of the T1054 manual, about the only thing changed from the last T1003's were the transmission filters arrangement and the engine, no doubt due to the Tier 4 change. The T1054 manual is actually better than that which came with my tractor and what TYM has online for download for the T1003. The technical writing also appears better.

I think the 100 hp models are more popular on the west coast and somewhat in the midwest. They must be profitable enough as they're still making them, both for themselves and Mahindra (and whoever else).

Climate change has been no friend to MA. Like you, we have little snow but rain and freeze/thaw cycles that make our sloped gravel driveways a challenge. It's the reason one of my first purchases last month was a Herd seed/fertilizer spreader, but with the sand agitator mod. It works great with the salt/sand mix we need here (and I'll be picking up some more today).