Yanmar US

[pennwalk]

Did Yanmar make Tractors for the US market? Are they the same as the old John Deere compacts? Why did Yanmar stop selling tractors here? Are they the same as the used Japanese Farm tractors that are being imported now? Where can I find specifications on Yanmar tractors?

Chris

 

[Anonymous Poster]

Yes, most definitely. Yanmar and JD were interchangable up thru the 240 series, with the exception of paint.
When Yanmar left the US market, they sent me a letter telling me to go to the John Deer dealer for parts for my 240D.
The "dealer" I bought mine from had a poster on the wall showing the assembly line at Yanmar, with Yanmars and JD tractors coming down the line one after the other, and the only difference was color.
Yanmar did sell some tractors in the US after 82, when they switched to red paint, and came out with shuttle shifts. Unfortunately, they never developed a dealer network, or any parts support for Yanmar owners. Dealers seemed to be anyone who would buy 6 tractors from Yanmar, and Yanmar US was pathetic at warranty service.

 

[Muhammad]

Do you know of any lists of Yanmar and John Deere models that have interchangable parts?

 

[pennwalk]

Muhammad,
The John Deere lists some JD parts for the US Yanmars. Mostly oil filters. We all suspect that many of the parts are interchangable but I have never heard of a list. Mechanics who work on both machines know many parts that are interchangable. Many new Yanmar owners ask about getting JD parts for their tractors but generally it is simpler to mail order genuine Yanmar parts from a Yanmar dealer. Yanmar still had a parts depot in Illinois and most parts are available. There are quite a few Yanmar dealers still who are just a phone call away and the parts arrive at your doorstep.

Chris

 

[Inspector507]

Chris, Maybe one of the dealers would be bold and start a new thread just for dealer info, name, e-mail, phone etc. I'd like to see an area here that I could look at the various dealers that I might be able to contact.
Jerry

 

[lens12]

Yanmar dealer

I'm a Yanmar dealer. I have manuals avialable for all US models & both US & Japanese parts books. I can supply parts from both Yanmar US & for the parts that they won't carry , I have Japanese sources. I also can supply parts & manuals for the other Japanese brands. I can be reached at sheaftractor@coiinc.com or 815-284-3226.
Sheaffer's Town & Country Tractors,inc
320 Palmyra RD
Dixon,IL, 61021

 

[roger_scotty]

Franz, it must depend on what part of the country or something like that. My experience is very different from yours. Here in Denver, Yanmar continued selling new US models through their dealers until about 1987. Yes, they changed to red paint in about 1981.
Yanmar still sells new parts (and in some cases improved) parts for the US models, and in fact has a US warehouse that stocks most parts. Yanmar US is actually a fairly large and healthy organization. There are also some of the old Yanmar dealers left. One dealer in Denver - Colorado General Equipment - can just about rebuild any of the US models from his stock of new parts, has factory tools, and even one or two factory trained mechanics still work there! There certainly were some small time US Yanmar dealers.....but also some who took it seriously.
I have seen several versions of the famous photo with green and red Yanmars, but I do not know of a single part that directly interchanges between the JD and the Yanmars. As you say, there must be some - tho I don't know how you would find out which ones. But with genuine Yanmar parts as accessible as JD parts anyway, who cares?

 

[Anonymous Poster]

My 240D is a 1981 tractor, and at least then, most of the engine & driveline system was fairly interchangable. I have on occasion, when I felt a need to bleed across the counter, bought parts from one of the local JD dealers. The JD dealer is fairly conversant with the old machines, given that the ones he sold with the funny paint job are still running and working.
The so called Yanmar dealer I bought from parted ways with Yanmar in 84, and became a Honda dealer. The treatment I got from him after dropping close to 10 grand in 1981 money across his counter definitely cost him a lot of business, because I let my feelings be known far and wide.
Very few red Yanmars wound up around Rochester, NY, but there are one he!! of a lot of Kubotas, primarily because of the Kubota dealer's attitude and support of his equipment.
There are also a lot of parts available for the old US yanmars available from NAPA, assuming you have a NAPA dealer who handles NAPA's agricultural lines. Prices ain't bad either.

 

[JeffRey30747]

I have noticed that most of the genuine Yanmar parts that I have purchased have a tractor model number on them in addition to the part number. Most of the time it is a Yanmar number such as YM1510, but occasionally I have seen a JD model number right on the Yanmar sticker. Seems like my brake shoes had JD 1050 on them. Then again, it may not be a tractor reference at all.

 

[roger_scotty]

Franz, I agree with that for sure.... When you get right down to what is important - and different - about the various breeds of compact tractors then it turns out to be the dealer more often than it turns out to be the engineering.
I think we may be in the golden age of compact tractors. The top half a dozen makes are roughly equal in ability and almost too good from an engineering and reliability standpoint.
How is the 240D holding up? I can remember talking to my dealer in the 80s and we decided that the 240 was about where the Yanmars became small utility tractors instead of large lawn tractors. But then I bought a 165D and spent 10 years doing heavy earth moving with it....so it isn't that you can't doit with the small ones, it is just time consuming.