Dear PK,
Apologies, but 6 months on I've only just seen your query. by now, you'll either have bought a machine, or decided to body-swerve it.
Basically, parts for the engine and ancillary bits n bobs etc are available from a number of sources, reflecting its fairly wide use in other contexts (eg construction equipment and electrical generators etc) and the grey import restrictions only seem to be an issue with agricultural dealers. Even so, tracking down parts numbers can develop into a bit of a hobby.
Other parts such as radiator, maybe refurbed locally. OEM starter and alternator can be sourced fairly easily using data acquired from original parts, or again easily refurbed. A new tacho-gear, I tracked down on German eBay; a new tacho-cable came from Florida, with knowledge of a John Deere parts number, again via eBay. New rubber non-OEM tracks are available to special order from Cautrac, Colchester. Relays are generic and usually marked with their manufacturer's parts numbers. The owners' manual is downloadable as a .pdf from the Yanmar website, but only in Japanese. However, it may be translated fairly easily with a iPhone camera and Google-translate. Replacement idler rollers, I've had manufactured locally. Ditto their axle stubs. Bearings for idlers are easy to source. If you need to know more, email me (
cjpoole@mac.com).
For me the CT-55 has worked very well, and I could not have developed the vineyard without one. I've used it with a (chunky Cat-1) rear 3-point linkage mounted Lewis 320S back-hoe, an Augertorque hydraulic-powered earth drill, a box grader, a Muthing flail mower, and a Lewis equipment dozer blade. Latest equipment just ordered includes a rear 3-point linkage mounted 300L air-blast sprayer and a Braun Rollhacke & finger weeder combo. I'm about to see how it copes with a single tyne mole-plough and a Kuhn EL 62-180 rotavator on some 1:6 / 1:7 slopes. In the vineyard , the wide tracks minimise soil compaction, and it can spin on a 6-pence on some fairly narrow headlands. Unfortunately, given its 1.7m width, it's required 2.5m wide alleyways, but some folk feel that's the optimum width for Somerset.
The nightmare would be having to replace a front hydraulically powered roller drive unit, a hydraulic pump, or an instrument console. When buying, do check out the wear on the drive wheel sprockets...
I hope that helps,
Regards,
Chris Poole
