The Newfarm Forums

[Mihail]

Hi all! Don't want to hijack anybody's thread so I decided to start my own even being new here(posting wise, I am silently reading). I am not a farmer per sei, but I grew up and lived in a farm environment(old fashioned one, including horse / ox land cultivation back home in Romania). Time is coming, after 20+ years in the States to go back home where I have an OLD,small 20 acres+ farm. The land and farm house is not like here, the house is situated within the village with < 5 acres around it, 4+ basically corn, potatoes, and hay, the rest of it vegetable garden, all peppered with fruit trees. Rest of the land is made of patches that are part of the agricultural land outside of the village, where most of villagers are cultivating corn and small grains. 10 acres small grain with river access and the rest of it hilly terrain - mainly corn. A small vineyard sums the lay of the land. I am reading on and off all kind of material, Rodale included. Bottom line - I will need a tractor and implements, I am thinking no more than 45Hp/4WD for what I have. I have lots of questions flying through my head, and very few answers obviously. New, rebuild? By here and send it there? Go there and find all the Chinese that floods the world and look to be cheaper? Maintenance repairs, pretty handy and fast learner, but not having tools and experience. What will get me a $20,000 initial investment with all these in mind? Boys and gals, put on your GLOBAL (in good sense!) thinking hat and help a guy start, anything will help. BTW, the move is planned in a 2-max. 3 years window, so I will have all the time (I hope) to learn and get it right! Thanks, hope I haven't disturbed the usual discussions here!

[taylorlambert]

I have grown up on a hobby farm around all sorts of tractors, I wouldnt wish a Chinese tractor on my worst enemy. I have had one in my shop Im fixing for a friend and it has been a night mare. I would suggest maybe a Yanmar I have a YM 3000 that weve had in the family the last 10 years. They can be had for a few thousand dollars and are reliable machines.
Next I would look into a Ford or older New Holland. I have a 1975 Ford loader tractor thats been here 12 years and never has been overhauled. Plus they have very basic components. I also have a 4000 Ford at work a 70's model and we run a 6 foot cutter and a 2 bottom breaking plow and a 6 foot disk. Its a small enough tractor for smaller work but largeenough for medium to heavy farm work.

[Mihail]

Thanks Taylor. I have found this site
http://www.tractor-export.com/mitsubishi-gallery.html#. it seems that they are specialized in reconditioning Japanese tractors Yanmar included. I can't check their prices online, I will see what I can find. Maintenance and parts will be a problem so any advice would be great. What are the parts most usual to fail in your experience? Are you a mechanic by trade or learned on your own? What kind of minimum implements in your opinion I will need?

[taylorlambert]

I yould stick with the Yanmar tractor line, Form many years they made John Deere Compacts before JD went to China. As for implements I would definatly get a tiller, most Yanmars and Japanese tractors caome with them. I would also get a middle buster or small breaking plow to loosen the soil first. It takes alot of strain off the tiller. Its can also turn under a cover crop. A disk Harrow is nice to it can help cut in a cover crop and if the soil is a bit wet you can disck it and let it air dry and disk again to speed up the drying. And a rotary cutter of some kind is nice for mowing and cutting a cover crops and an earth moving blade as well.
Im a self taught mechanic, I grew up around old tractors and in the construction business building roads and running a landfill. I maintain most of my own equipment myself. I also build alot of my equipment from larger junked implements or scrap piles.

[Mihail]

Hi Taylor:

Model Drive HP Cyl Pr. ($) Model Drive HP Cyl Pr. ($)
YM1401 2 18 3 2750 F16 2 20 3 3400
YM1401D 4x4 18 3 3300 F16D 4x4 20 3 4150
YM1500 2 18 2 2600 FX18* 2 22 3 3800
YM1500D 4x4 18 2 3300 FX18D* 4x4 22 3 4800
YM1610* 2 20 3 3250 F20 2 24 3 4100
YM1610D*4x4 20 3 4100 F20D 4x4 24 3 5050
YM1810* 2 22 3 3650 FX20* 2 24 3 4300
YM1810D* 4x4 22 3 4600 FX20D* 4x4 24 3 5200
YM2000 2 24 2 3200 F24 2 29 3 4700
YM2000D 4x4 24 2 4100 F24D 4x4 29 3 5700
YM2210* 2 27 2 3600 FX24* 2 29 3 4800
YM2210D* 4x4 27 2 4500 FX26*^ 2 31 3 5200
YM2310* 2 28 3 4300 FX26D*^ 4x4 31 3 6100
YM2310D* 4x4 28 3 5200 FX28*^ 2 34 3 5400
YM2610* 2 31 3 4800 FX28D*^ 4x4 34 3 6400
YM2610D* 4x4 31 3 5700 FX32D*^ 4x4 38 4 6700
YM3000 2 36 3 5000 FX335*^ 4x4 40 4 7000
YM3110D* 4x4 37 3 6200 FX42*^turbo 2 51 4 6300
YM3810D*^ 4x4 46 3 7000 FX42D*^ turbo 4x4 51 4 7600
YM4220D*^ 4x4 51 4 7700 FX435D*^ turbo 4x4 52 4 7800

Prices and models that I found on their site. * = power shift, ^ = power steer.
Definitely I will go with 4x4 question are:
1. HP, I wouldn't have to little or too much for my acreage and work I will do so I am not exactly sure - 30+ or 40+.
2. What is the difference between Y and F? F is running a bit more; you can get an Y 46 HP 4x4 at the same price with an F 4x4 40 HP.
3. # of cylinders - is there a major advantage of 4 vs. 3?
Sorry, kind of hard to see the list without spaces.
Thanks!

[taylorlambert]

THe y series are a bit older. My YM3000 was made in 1979. It only had 850 hours on it when dad bought it 10 years ago. They dont get alot of hours on them there. Its now got around 1500. The 3110 is a good tractor to. I plan on adding powersteering to my 3000 later.
My list of equipment i use on my YM3000 is. Middle buster, Ferguson 14 inch 2 bottom breaking plow, 5 foot disk, 5 foot tiller, boom pole, 2 foot Dirt scoop, box blade, 6 foot rotary mower, 6 foot finish mower, tool bar with disk hillers, spring tine cultivator, 75 gallon sprayer, 5 foot grader. 300 liter cone spreader, 10 foot drop spreader, homemade rotary trencher and a round bale spear, and a homemade set of pallet forks.
A Yanmar also has a super strong lift system. When you raise the lift either the implement raises or the front wheels will lift up. As for the 3VS4 I cant comment because Ive only been around the 2 and 3 cylinder tractors. The 3 cylinders run very smooth while the 2 cylinders hammer. They also have a spare fuel bowl that preheats a cup of fuel and sends it to the cylinders on cold mornings to aid in starting as well as a compression rease system the lets it start very easy. They also have multi speed PTO settings. 540 and I dont know the others but I use them on other applications.
They sont have as many safety devices as a US market tractor which I find not a problem. Mine is the equivalent of a 950 JD the castings are the same but it lacks alot of the bells and whistles as the JD model. And they are pretty straight forward to work on.
The 3000 I mow around 12 to 20 acres every week and a half, Move 1800 pound round bales of straw mulch, tote mulch and compost with the rear scoop, maintain my roads, break 5 acres of ground formyself and, also prep ground for others for side work. I also spread my own lime, and log with the same tractor. I can post a picture or 2 later of some of the farm jobs that I do here.

[Mihail]

Pictures will be great!! Appreciate your replies!

[taylorlambert]

No problems the replies, I love tractors and equipment. I have 3 tractors and my dad has 5 right now. Im still learning to post some pictures here. Tractorbynet.com has a whole forum dedicated to Yanmar tractors and other Japanese machines as well. [/img]

[Mihail]

Yep, I have red all your postings there (and others) - good information, thanks!