Both my tractors have Yanmar diesel engines. The 455 I have owned since late last summer and my 4410 for about 18 months. I mow an acre with the 455, spread seed and fertilizer with it, and roll with a 5 foot wide 3 foot diameter water filled roller. Its most recent achievement went beyond my expectations.
I really want my yard to look like a golf course. That has been my obsession for the last 2 years. At the beginning of last summer I spent every day on my 4410 raking out rocks, contouring, and installing irrigation. But, my soil is painfully poor. The zoysia seed germinated and is trying to grow, but it just doesn't have much to work with. In researching what to do, I decided that top dressing with organic compost offered the best chance to amend the soil and give the grass a fighting chance. I bought a used golf course top dressing machine (Turfco Mete-R-Matic) off eBay. I stripped it completely apart, sanded it, painted it JD green and put it back together.
But, here's the problem. If I pull it with my 4410, I have to stop, unhook, fill the hopper, hook back up and go back to spreading. The hopper holds two heaping tractor scoops, and if I am spreading 1/4 inch thick, it last about 10 minutes. I didn't relish the idea of that much hooking and unhooking, so I decided to try to pull the spreader with the 455 -- even though, fully loaded, the spreader weighs about 2800 pounds. To my amazement, not only did my little 455 handle the spreader, it handled it without ever bogging down or struggling to either pull the spreader or stop it.
I could tell equally impressive stories about my 4410 and how it has proven time and again that it has all the power I need or want.
Anyone that expresses a negative opinion about Yanmar engines is either uninformed or trying to mislead.
Oh, one more thing. Mowing at least weekly from early March till the end of November, plus seeding, fertilizing rolling and topdressing, I just filled the 455 for the second time. I think it makes fuel while it sits in the barn. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif