Garyd,
That's what we all hope to buy, a tractor that is fairly described and is a good value for the price. I'm glad you found a good dealer.
My purchase was similar. The short term second owner I got mine from gave up renovating minor stuff before he accomplished very much, and sold it to me at a reasonable price. The only significant problem turned out to be very simple: very old fuel which caused hard starting. That had caused him to buy a new (expensive!) starter and he gave up at that point without determining the cause.
Soundguy,
The place I went for my 'original' restoration parts is also a container importer, and I encountered similar minor problems.
The importer had a nice looking 'reconditioned' YM2000 that was being stripped for parts after a warranty exchange. I'll give him major points for treating that customer very well.
I got a seat with nice upholstery off his YM2000, then discovered it wouldn't fit my tractor. It's mount had been cut off and moved 2 inches inward. I can't swap the seat cover because this seat is much smaller. I can't use this 'reconditioned' seat. I don't understand why reconditioning included butchering the mount.
The other thing I bought on that visit was a complete fuel filter assembly. (My tractor had been maintained with NAPA parts replacing Yanmar parts, and had an auto fuel filter in place of the Yanmar filter assembly.) The used Yanmar filter assembly off that YM2000 contained a filthy filter element. Not 'reconditioned' like the tractor's nice appearance suggested.
So I bought a genuine Yanmar filter element for it but discovered it wouldn't fit this assembly - the filter assembly from that YM2000 had a shorter filter bowl, one superceded years before the apparent year model of the tractor I saw it removed from.
The VN reconditioned tractors I have seen show the model number in a round medallion next to the radiator. According to my YM240 parts book the medallion was first used about 1981. But this first-series fuel filter bowl, and the right-side oil dipstick on that YM2000, indicated an engine from 1975 or before. I think the VN reconditioners have so many tractors to pull parts from that they take later sheet metal, with that medallion, and put it on tractors from all years. Buyer beware!
1danny,
re what parts do I need:
I want an authentic reupholstered seat, eventually.
Also I will eventually buy that longer second-series fuel filter bowl. That's the last part I need to install the genuine Yanmar filter assembly. For now I have two fresh non-stock filter assemblies installed in series so no hurry.
(That was a separate surprise - A brand new 'Yanmar fuel filter assembly' I bought on ebay from a large dealer was generic, and won't take Yanmar elements - or any element available from NAPA etc so far as I can determine. See the attached photo. Since I didn't know the quality of this generic filter, I added it in series with the automotive filter I had just replaced.)
I hope all this doesn't scare off a potential Yanmar buyer. None of this was serious or expensive. Most of the time I spent was trying to achieve perfect authenticity, rather than improve usefulness of the tractor.
Now that everything works smoothly, my resale value is considerably more than what I have into it. The tractor runs great, and I'm pleased!
