Our "new" 186D

buckstar25 · May 12, 2012

He told us about the belly mower, he got rid of it to get the pull behind finish mower.

Here are the tire sizes

31x15.5-15 in the rear

23x10.5-12 on the front

buckstar25 · May 13, 2012

So when my dad got on the tractor for the first time he puts the tractor in 3rd gear shifts up to top end on power shift and proceeds to try and go up a pretty steep hill at the side of the house. Tractor starts smoking pretty bad, he gets to the top and back down, gets off and says... "I don't like the way that thing smokes!". I am pretty sure he just lugged it down and that's why it was chugging because I couldn't get it to smoke. I love the floating front end and wasn't aware of that which will help with stability on the hills of our property and also help keep the power to the ground!

California · May 13, 2012

Forget doing steep hills in the highest gear. Shift down to maintain full rpm and it will do fine.

I was surprised when I got my YM186D how its torque decreases at lower rpm. My YM240 (YM2000) has great torque at any rpm and the throttle is just for how fast you want to go. The YM186D in contrast seems to have a torque curve like a lawnmower, it lacks that stump-puller torque in the lower half of the rpm range. It obviously is designed to use the Powershift to maintain peak engine rpm.

buckstar25 · May 13, 2012

The guy we bought the tractor from said he tried to keep rpm in the 1800 range when he was finish mowing or working the tractor.

Does anyone have any thoughts on the gravely tiller? I got to thinking about coming up with something to hook it up to the yanmar. Don't even know unit is possible yet but it is just wasting away to nothing beside the shed

California · May 13, 2012

Seems to me that 1800 rpm is at the beginning of where these have adequate torque. Well above that, it will pull better and work easier. Ignore the racket.

Isn't that tiller intended for a smaller garden tractor? Is it designed for 540 rpm input? Buying a driveshaft and building a 3-point mount sounds like more trouble than just buying the right tiller.

Edit: I didn't highlight that. I see it points to Ads/random etc. Apparently not a bug, just a 'site feature'.

284 International · May 13, 2012

I'm going to echo California. My 186D is quite doggy below 1800 or so RPM. I would suggest, especially for mowing, running it at full throttle. Use the Powershift to keep the correct groundspeed. You won't hurt the engine running at full load and full RPM, but running it slower and lugging it will cause damage.

If you are looking for a project it may be interesting to check the Gravely tiller. I would suggest finding a model number for the tiller, then trying to figure out what RPM it required. Your Yanmar will have 540 and 1000 RPM speeds. If either of those match the Gravely, then it may be worth pursuing. If not, sell it and put the proceeds toward a proper tiller.

buckstar25 · May 13, 2012

Haha...yeah it is for a small yard tractor. He bought it without any attachments. He has a 16G he uses to mow around his house. The tiller just sits there and I was wandering if it would be worth it.

clemsonfor · May 13, 2012

I think the smoke was that he was lugging it, but i think it should still just "drive" up a hill with no implements on it. But if you bog it up it will roll black smoke the whole time. Put that tiller in uncut ground in to hight a gear and you will see what i mean!

And looking at the pics again that you just posted, yea that tractor has 1014 or 2014 hours. The engine and radiator looks to well used to have only 14. And unless he just mounted and dismounted the thing for fun in the shed (which looking at the sheet metel i know it was in a shed or garage its whole life) for funzies its got the hours we say as well. A tip is also he "got rid " of the belly mower. It was probly tore up! With 14 hours he would only have a few years of most mowing at 14 hours if he was telling the truth. Those tire look to have hundreds of hours on the fronts alone from these new pics. Unless he got them used or drove on concret a lot there is many hours on them a lone.. BUT that still is a good tractor at a good price since u got some extras. Change the oil and start using it. Even it the guy said he just changed oil, DO IT anyway. He is already a PROVEN liar!

pennwalk · May 15, 2012

When I am really working it just before it bogs down my 186d will blow some black smoke. There is a red line on the tach at 2430. That is 540 pto speed and it is in the middle of the power sweet spot. That is where you want to be if you are working the machine. It is different than other diesels that are operated at lower speeds.

Chris