New Yanmar Guy...

[irishdude]

No, that is not recommend, because of the extra strain on the bearings due to the leverage from being out wider. Plenty do it and get away with it, but the original engineers never designed it to be done and therefore may not have figured that into their equations and design.

Most of us vintage yanmar enthusiasts will tell you no and never. Sometimes you will get another forum member or one of even the Yanmar guys say they do it and have for ten years or whatever. But what is not known is what increased wear has occured, when will a failure result of any vs when or if one occured in the proper stance. Just my opinion.

Hard on the bearings and may snap the spindles. Some have done it and got away with no problems. Then also if you have a FEL. and swap the front it will or may
hit the FEL.. I believe Hoye Doesn't recommend it......

So... Leave the front wheels as is. Got it.

I assume that it's OK to leave the rear wheels like they are in the picture? I assume it's been that way for some time.

 

[CoyPatton]

From what I've read and pictures I have seen it appears that the rear wheels have been flipped to give it a wider stance. My question is should I do the same thing for the front wheels? Swap them from side to side to that they have a wider track?

I asked the same question about the front wheels on ym owners web page and was advised against doing so. I was told that it put a lot of stress on the front axle. Makes it a bit harder to steer. And can cause the loader frame to interfere with steering (which I tried it anyway and found thus one to be true).

Yours looks much prettier than my old YM2002D. Nice looking tractor, I think you will come to love!
A couple of I did notice
It looks as if a couple of lug bolts are missing on the front wheel. It could be lug studs as I believe each of my front hubs have 2 studs for ease of mounting the wheel I suppose and then 4 lug bolts. Just something to checkout.
The other is your clutch pedal is the clutch engaged position. These little tractors have a tendency for the clutch to become ‘frozen’ to the flywheel. If yours is build like mine, and it appears to be so from what I can see in the picture, there is a loose 90 degree bend rod just to the bottom and inside of the clutch pedal when depressed. This is to hold the pedal down (clutch disengaged) during non use. Tip: it does not hold the clutch pedal down enough to depress the safety switch for the clutch if equipped.
Happy tractoring! Again a nice looking machine Congrats

 

[irishdude]

I asked the same question about the front wheels on ym owners web page and was advised against doing so. I was told that it put a lot of stress on the front axle. Makes it a bit harder to steer. And can cause the loader frame to interfere with steering (which I tried it anyway and found thus one to be true).

Yours looks much prettier than my old YM2002D. Nice looking tractor, I think you will come to love!
A couple of I did notice
It looks as if a couple of lug bolts are missing on the front wheel. It could be lug studs as I believe each of my front hubs have 2 studs for ease of mounting the wheel I suppose and then 4 lug bolts. Just something to checkout.
The other is your clutch pedal is the clutch engaged position. These little tractors have a tendency for the clutch to become ‘frozen’ to the flywheel. If yours is build like mine, and it appears to be so from what I can see in the picture, there is a loose 90 degree bend rod just to the bottom and inside of the clutch pedal when depressed. This is to hold the pedal down (clutch disengaged) during non use. Tip: it does not hold the clutch pedal down enough to depress the safety switch for the clutch if equipped.
Happy tractoring! Again a nice looking machine Congrats

Thanks for the tip about the clutch pedal. I read that in the owner's manual and need to remember to do that when I park it for any length of time.

As far as the front wheel goes, I'm not sure what those 2 extra holes are for, but other 1702D's have them also, so I don't think I am missing any lug bolts on the front...

This one has the same "extra" holes:

TractorData.com Yanmar YM172 tractor photos information

 

[CoyPatton]

So... Leave the front wheels as is. Got it.

I assume that it's OK to leave the rear wheels like they are in the picture? I assume it's been that way for some time.

Yes, none of us addressed the rear wheel swap because it is a very common practice in order provide additional stability on slopes. If you have some slopes that must be traveled across, you may also want to look into the possibility of additional spacers for the rear wheels. These tractors get really narrow when you mount the rear wheels dish in and are no fun on slopes in that arrangement. You really need that additional spread for a lot of cat 1 implements also to prevent the rear tires from constantly hitting the lift arms. When this happens you will end up losing lynch pins and then unhooking from the implement at least partially (guess how I know). With my wheels dish out, I still have a couple of implements where I needed to turn my pins on the inside of the frame on the implement.

I will try to get a picture of one of my front wheels to show how it is setup.

 

[clemsonfor]

So... Leave the front wheels as is. Got it.

I assume that it's OK to leave the rear wheels like they are in the picture? I assume it's been that way for some time.

Rears are fine. Most farm tractors flip or have adjustable hubs, but also just the sheer weight of lifting an implement puts tons more weight on the rear and they were designed for that.

 

[California]

As for that clutch hold-down lever, I think it's essential to use on the Yanmars operated in their native environment, run half-submerged in a rice paddy then put away wet. In our normal US working environment, the clutch isn't more likely to stick than any manual-transmission vehicle here that never goes in water.

I've never used mine on the YM240 and that tractor may sit unused for months until I need to use its backhoe. YMMV!

 

[California]

One more reason to not swap front wheels: It doesn't do any good. While a car has springs and a sway bar to transfer tipping force onto the outer wheel, the tractor's axle is hinged to swing freely without resistance so there is no resistive force. If you're tipped enough for the axle to hit the stop your rear tire may be off the ground (so no more engine braking!!! ) and you're on your way over.

And as noted, the front end is designed for the inner and outer wheel bearings to bear equal weight. Putting double the load on the outer wheel bearing can't be good. Especially when that model wasn't designed for loader use.