Buying Advice Shibaura D23F

[lb-farmboy]

Anyone know if this is a good tractor? How about parts availability? Heard that Shibaura was discontinued in 2008.....any info. appreciated!

 

[Kernopelli]

Shibauras are generally good machines. They built the compact Ford/NH and some branded Steiger line for years. Normal maintenance parts (filters, belts etc) are easy/ generic. That is a grey market model and while some parts may be crossover parts from another Ford/NH model available though New Holland, most dealers will not knowingly support/ help grey market machines/owners. The other side is that there are import parts sellers but Shibaura is not a heavily supported brand there either. Yanmar then Mitsubishi are much better supported than Shibaura, Iseki, Hinomoto, etc. I love the grey market machines but most are not the exceptional deals they were 10 yrs ago. I had an opportunity at a good deal on a D23F several years back and had read online it was a crossover to Ford's 1720's but then two VERY knowledgeable grey market tractor dealers said they were not aware of any direct crossover to it and one had said he had just ordered some VERY expensive parts from Japan for one that would have been a reasonable shelf item on a Yanmar model. Seems I remember that model also had the electronic 3 point hitch control. I have never been a fan of this and while I have owned a number of grey market machines, I have steered away from any with this setup. Bottom line...probably an overall good machine as long as you never need much more than normal wear parts ( rarely happens in long term ownership).

Seems there are too many good deals on comparably sized common, well supported U.S. spec brands for me to buy grey market machines anymore.