Price Check Yanmar FX335

[freedomlives]

Hi,

I've been looking for a small tractor for my farm over here (Slovakia). Actually, I have a thread going in the general buying forum about what would be needed for manipulating hay bales.

[if you've read that thread, skip the next 3 paragraphs]
Last week, I drove across Slovakia to look at some dealers in Japanese tractors. They had some nice looking tractors, but what I found out from one of the dealers is that the Polish firm that imports the tractors carefully takes off the stickers, repaints everything, and then re-attaches the original stickers -- he showed me on the Iseki he had for sale how the sticker was actually cracked from age if you looked close, even though the tractor itself looked practically new. The problem with all of these tractors is that the Poles put on them a front end loader with about 750 pound/350kg capacity and a lift of just over 6 ft / 2m.

I'd really like to stack bales 3 high, because I'm going to do rotational grazing and basically want to stockpile the hay in the barn, as I won't be using much except for the harshest winters. I also want to be able to haul around gravel and make some decent paths instead of our clay/mud that we have during all the wet part of the year, which is at least Nov-Apr except when the grounds frozen.

I realized that the tractors with original loaders have a higher reach as well as better controls (the after market ones use separate levers for each set of hydraulic cylinders). And my wife wants me to have a cabin, so that when our kids want to ride, there won't be risk of them falling off.


I found in Czechia now a Yanmar for sale, that on the technical side looks good. On the cosmetic side, it looks rough. What would be some sort of checklist if I go see what to go over and look for? Attached are photos of it. The seller said the loader has a 600kg/1200lb capacity and 2.8m / 9ft lift.

 

[winston1]

Make sure you run in all gears, high and low speeds. Make sure 4 wheel drive operates correctly. Check front wheel knuckles and axles for signs of leaks. Check all fluids for correct level and condition. Take a look at the air filter. Make sure coolant level is correct and overflow tank has a level. Try pto in all speeds. Make sure 3 point operates as it should and has no fast drop with engine off. Work loader in all positions making sure it also has no fast drop with engine off. That's a few things you can check. Good luck with your purchase.

 

[California]

The other aspect to consider is support. If that tractor has lived there for years then there must be some local support. If it was brought there used and there is no local support, then you may wait at least weeks for repair parts when it eventually needs attention.

My first Yanmar looked equally beat-up but I found all essential components were in good condition. But it took me a month to find and install all the small stuff that should have been repaired long ago by the previous owner.

I found things like the fuel filter assembly (which he had discarded) at a source he hadn't discovered: an importer of repainted tractors like the importer you found. If you don't have local support then expect that the tractor could be out of service for weeks while you wait for mail order parts. For hobby use that may be acceptable. If you have a critical need such as delivering hay to livestock in all weather, then maybe a locally supported brand might be a better choice.

But Yanmar tractors are excellent. If you buy it, you will love it.

----
One other comment: The tractors you found with nice paint are random quality, in some cases assembled out of pieces from several junk tractors then an excellent paint job applied. There are factories in Vietnam that specialize in this. It is believed that some of their input is tractors that served one useful life in Japan, then after retirement a second life in Vietnam, then when retired in VN as worn out, they get put through the 'reconditioning' factory. Long ago posters here told of visiting used tractor junkyards in Japan where they saw random salvaged tractor parts loaded for shipment to the VN 'reconditioning' factories.

So this one in original condition may provide useful life for the future as good as, or better, than a repainted one that is claimed 'reconditioned'.

 

[runningbird]

fx335 is my favorite Yanmar. how many hours on it? looks to not be redone which is great. if you are mechanically inclined i think you'll be ok.

 

[freedomlives]

At least 548 hours-- but in the photo the steering wheel blocks the thousands place, so potentially 9548 hours
I'm asking the seller today about that. Also that he could make a video of it in operation, ideally lifting about 300kg to full height, as that would cover my hay bale lifting needs.
He offers a one year warranty (seems pretty standard with Czech and Slovak dealers of used tractors), though we're 600km away, so I doubt that warranty is going to include transport.
I am mechanically and DIY inclined. Sometimes I am not sure this is the greatest inclination to have, as its lead me to spend too much time underneath our cars when I really should have just dropped them to the mechanic and gotten back to my income bringing work! :-/

As far as the nice looking tractors here-- the one younger guy I saw last week explained that in Poland they are refurbishing them. I'm inclined to trust him in that-- he sent me photos of tractors on the way from Japan, and the tractors are sitting on Japanese lots, not yet all nicely painted. (also, in chatting, we have similar religious/political beliefs, he listens to the same famous (in Slovakia) priest, etc.). The other Slovak dealer I saw had mainly Kubotas, and a garage full of more tractors being restored. Incidentally, the ones being restored in Slovakia were more expensive than those restored by the Poles-- Slovaks sometimes refer to Poland as the "China of Europe" for reason of their low prices of production. I imagine it has to do with them being a country of 38 million, vs 15 million for former Czechoslovakia, so there's got to be a lot more "synergy" between Polish businesses. And they have seaports, so importing costs them less.

I would even go for the Yanmar AF35 that the Slovak guy has on the way from Japan. Only the price is going to be at least 8500€ without a FEL, and the Polish importer has one model of loader to cover all of their tractors for 1300€, which means, it is weak and short for my needs. I could buy separately a loader, dig through my neighbor's scrap yard for metal to make whatever sort of bracket, etc. but that is a lot to get to functionality that this FX-335 seems to already have.

 

[freedomlives]

The seller replied that the tractor has about 2000 hours. His warranty of a year is on the motor and transmission.

 

[freedomlives]

As far as the maintenance and parts goes-- Europe is crawling with gray market tractors and people dealing in parts for them. If something breaks, it will take some calling around, possibly to neighboring countries, but I count that the parts will be findable. If it is in Czechia or Slovakia, shipping takes at most two days. Other parts of the EU-- well, I just ordered some parts from Slovenia for my Goldoni 128 and 140 to get them in to shape for the gardening season, so we'll see how many days that takes.

If something is critical, there is always the option of asking a neighbor to help. The downside/upside of living in the country here is that we have 100 people living in a village, many people with older tractors for their own little fields, but a few work in the forests with more modern equipment. Mostly though, with my planned rotational grazing, there's not going to much critical usage of the tractor with front end loader. Bales will need to be put up in the summer for storage in the barn and/or stacked in the field. If during the winter the tractor were to break and the snow was high enough that I needed to feed the cattle hay, I could always at worst move the cattle (plan to start with 10) over to the barn, which is inconveniently located at an old house with no water and a small lot, but still doable. The downside of this village life is that-- well-- our houses are as close together as houses are put in older neighborhoods of US cities. I much more like the house in the middle of 40 acres approach. Our house is next to the road, and then we have narrow fields going back 1/2 mile from it, and more fields in other places around the village.

 

[freedomlives]

Another question, because my wife wanted to check through every other tractor with FEL available, and of course there is a 4WD Zetor 6945 for a bit less than this Yanmar FX335. What is the turning radius of the FX335? The Zetor has a 8m/10m turning radius depending on whether in 2wd or 4wd (or maybe it means the 4wd model is 10m, as it doesn't make sense to me how the radius would change by having 4wd on or off).

 

[freedomlives]

Well, the video sent isn't terribly confidence inspiring to me. Yanmar FX355 - YouTube

I see holes rusted through the FEL bucket, which, well, they are pretty thick steel, aren't they?

And we asked if he could lift the bucket to full height with 300kg in it (e.g. 6 50kg bags of wheat, which aren't hard to come by in the countryside), but it seems that getting the bucket to lift up off the ground took quite a bit of effort.

I may just have to pass this one by and keep looking.

The guy I went to see last week has got two Yanmars coming in from Japan-- AF-33 and AF-35, and the three tractors he had to show when I was there (smaller Yanmar, 35HP Iseki, and small Kubota) all ran well. Just the anemic loader with short height (6') that they put on them is a problem for me.

 

[winston1]

Looks like an oil burner to me. :thumbdown: