004 - New Yanmar SA425 Tractor with Backhoe and Loader First Impressions

[@donaldstrishock3923]

Every Tractor is NICE when its NEW. The "USEFULLNESS" is Not Understood untill TWO hundred hours of Use ! The "Reliability " Can-not be Talked About UNTILL a THOUSAND HOURS Are "Logged on' the meter. You will never "know" your Tractor Untill its 5 years old & PAID For......they do make kool vidios & sure make "Life Easyer". Thank you Sir for the Excelent vidio and happy safe tractoring. Best wishes with all your endeavours.

[@outbuildinginfo]

Donald, so true. Thanks for watching and commenting. I am now past 60 hours and feel like I have only scratched the surface. We have better weather coming and I look forward to getting more familiar, learning the quirks, and getting better at operation. Safe fracturing to you as well!

[@TreeCraftbyAndrew]

Hey, sorry if you figured this out already, but you can mount the 3 point arms without removing either of the rear wheels. Pull the catch pin at the end of that rod and slide it from one side to the other - this creates just enough space to insert the 3 point arm ends one at a time. Also, there should be a spacer to add to that rod to prevent the 3 point arms from moving around on that rod. These are fantastic machines! Mine is older (2017 SA 424) and way more beat up looking than yours! I spend about 80% of the time working with tree clearing and logging. The additional clearance from the larger wheels & tires makes a huge difference! So far I've only had to replace 1 hydraulic hose on the front loader, and the new replacement hoses seem to be more robust and better made than the originals. Great video, and thanks for showing the pallet forks; I'm going to buy a set this week!

[@outbuildinginfo]

Hey, thanks for the comment and for watching. I did figure out the 3-point adding/removing without removing wheels. My issue was that the pin you slide back-and-forth was not installed when I got it so I needed to remove one wheel to get that pin slid in and set up. Now that it is there, I don't remove the wheel for 3-point setup but instead slide it back and forth as you suggest. These are great machines. I am about 70 hours into the same stuff (tree/brush clearing and general forest maintenance). It is a game changer in terms of what I can get done. Good luck with the pallet forks. I primarily use them for shuffling implements around but they are super handy.

[@Angrycanuck01]

In my opinion, dealer service is more important than brand. They will all break and have issues. Having a dealership that you can build a good relationship ship and has good customers service is key

[@outbuildinginfo]

I agree. So far my dealership has been awesome. Nice to know they can support these tractors after the purchase.

[@chrisj.3507]

It looks like you’re going to get some good use out of that tractor. I have a Deere so I don’t know much about the Yanmar. Love my Deere but looks like a nice tractor you have, and you’ll get a lot done with it I’m sure! Happy for ya. Good video

[@outbuildinginfo]

Chris, Thanks for watching and the comment. Yes, in the 10 hours I have racked up so far, I am amazed at what you can get done with these tractors. Glad your Deere is working for you. I did consider them but just couldn't find the model that fit my constraints. My sense is that many of these manufacturers make great products and you need to stick with the one that is best supported/available in your local area. All the best in your tractor adventures.

[@Dundertaker1]

Look at the “Buckateer” forks videos. I have them on my 425 and they're great. You don’t need a grapple for most things with the Bucketeer or even a pallet forks in my experience. Like the backhoe….(I'd love to have) but most won't use it enough to justify the cost. I'm a Sa A425 owner…following.

[@outbuildinginfo]

Dan, thanks for the comment and for watching. When I took ownership of the Yanmar, they didn't have grapples available. Several months later I did end up getting a Yanmar brand one (separate video of that on my channel). Time will tell how/when I use it and the forks. So far, the forks have mostly been to move the other implements around. I'm still only 50 hours in on the tractor so the use pattern I have isn't completely set.

[@orion3267]

Interesting. I have the exact tractor and backhoe setup. What pin are you talking about and having to remove a wheel to get the 3pt arm on? Sorry. I’m just not understanding.

[@orion3267]

Also, do you have to take the tire off every time you switch from backhoe to a 3pt attachment?

[@outbuildinginfo]

Thanks for watching and your comment. There is a long shaft with a pin on the end that captivates the 3-point lower arms. I needed to remove a wheel only the first time as that shaft wasn't installed at the factory/dealer. Once it is in place, I am now able to push it to once side to allow one lower arm to be installed, move it to the other side for the other arm, and then back to the middle to pin the shaft and retain the arms. It was a one-time deal and with a bit of grease on the shaft, I am now able to put them on-and-off very quickly. Sorry for any confusion my explanation may have caused. Yours is a great question. I'm just wrapping up a video on the first 50 hours which will publish later this week. You may want to check it out for my early impressions of both the tractor and the attachments I am using. Nice to hear from another Yanmar owner!

[@orion3267]

@@outbuildinginfo oh ok. I’ve never even looked. I’m still running the backhoe on mine but am thinking of getting a flail mower to use around the woods. So I’m not even sure mine was either. Thanks for the heads up if so. I’ve just completed my first round of maintenance myself. Good luck. 👍

[@orion3267]

@@outbuildinginfo Yeah. If it’s the one I think you’re talking about, mine is installed. The silver shaft with a small plate and hole for each turnbuckle rod? Had me worried there for a minute. The dealer should do all of that. That’s really inconvenient and unfortunate.

[@outbuildinginfo]

@@orion3267 Don't be worried. It wasn't a big deal in the end. Just a struggle with some overtightened lug nuts. If you care to watch, in my "006" video about the chipper, I go though the details of removing the backhoe and installing the 3-point hitch. When/if you go to do that, this may be helpful.

[@DougAlesUSA]

I find your choice of Yanmar interesting. For the benefit of viewers who might read my comment, this class of tractor known as “Compact Utility Tractor” has a dozen or so brands to choose from within North America. Most tractors in this market niche are made in Asian countries where manufacturing volume trumps the USA demand by a lot as these little tractors are ideal for rice farming. When combining the compact utility tractor fit for Asian rice farming and their comparatively low labor costs, these small, simple tractors are an ideal agricultural tool for their market, but not the North American agricultural market. In North America, farming has gotten large to take advantage of economies of scale. Automation is needed to mitigate our comparatively high cost of labor. In North America, these compact utility tractors are aimed at the rural lifestyle individual. A small volume of them may go to small landscape / lawn-care business owners as a lower cost but capability limited and fragile alternative to a skid-steer, but it’s the hobbyist who is the target market buyer in North America. Thats why Asian volume is much higher then North America within the compact utility tractor space. I say “a dozen or so” compact utility brands because brands continue to pop into and out of this market within North America. For example Bobcat, known for skid steers, has private labeled from other Asian based manufactures, then jumped out, then jumped back in like a Yo-Yo. Branson is the most recent example of a “buy from someone else, slap a sticker on it and call it yours” list of compact utility tractor brands that has disappeared. Cub Cadet, Montana, and Cabelas store brand are just three more examples of tractor brands that have vanished. Although this sub-50 horsepower utility tractor market had a peak volume of 215,000 tractors sold in USA in 2021, it’s looking like 2023 will end the year closer to 177,000 new compact utility tractors sold in the North American market. Thats a big drop in demand and there is little hope for a volume turnaround in 2024. These numbers come from AEM - the Association of Equipment Manufacturers. Of the North American compact utility tractor brands who engineer, manufacturer, and sell under their own name brand, Kubota and John Deere are at the top of the market share with similar volume. This market dominance results in both brands demanding and getting a price premium. Ballpark, these two brands represent 75% of the compact utility tractor sales volume in North America. Next up comes Kioti and TYM. Both companies are clearly a value relative to John Deere and Kubota. Both are aggressively marketing, active at trade shows, social media, adding dealers, etc. Both are pricing themselves aggressively when compared to John Deere and Kubota. Using anecdotal data, between TYM and Kioti, this is about an additional 20% of the compact utility tractor market in North America. Then there is Yanmar plus eleven (11) more brands , all fighting for that remaining 5% of the market. Yanmar is clearly in transition from making their own tractors to outsourcing, and now under contract to source tractors from TYM. They have literally stopped involvement in any North American trade shows, Ag days, social media activity, etc. The number of Yanmar dealers across the USA is dropping and dropping fast. Some entire states now lack a single Yanmar tractor dealer. The Yanmar tractors themselves are fine. Overall they are well engineered and built. The motors in particular are robust, often being selected for other applications such as comercial marine, not for propulsion but perhaps for a generator, bow thruster, davits, or anchor chain retrieval. They even provide motors to other tractor manufacturers, including John Deere. To be honest, I don’t understand whats going on with Yanmar tractors in the North American market. They are better than who they have become over the most recent 6 to 12 months. There are a few brands remaining that engineer, build, and sell under their own name to the North American market. LS who sells under LS plus private labels for New Holland and Case IH. Solis (ITL) comes next. Finally, Massey Fergsuson technically sources via private label but it’s been that way for so long I need to make mention of them. Thats it. The other brands of compact utility tractors in North America such as Bad Boy, RK, Summit, Mahindra and Bobcat are simply outsourcing and offering someone else’s tractor with minor cosmetic changes to conceal the true tractor manufacturer to the general public but not to any of us who follow these things. If you know whats going on with Yanmar tractors within the North American tractor market, please comment. It’s clear to me something is going on and I fear it’s not good. If there is one thing that is certain, its this; with the cost of engineering, production, transportation, dealer training, warranty work, parts inventory, marketing, and more, the North American compact utility tractor market is far too small to support fifteen brands of compact utility tractors. Perhaps half of these brands need to go away for this market to be sustainable. With the total North American market being 177,000 and these 12 remaining brands (after removing Kubota, John Deere, Kioti, and TYM) fighting for that last 5% of the market, (177,000 total market x 5% market share) / 12 tractor brands = just 737 average tractors sold per brand in North America per year. It’s possible Yanmar has decided they are better off supplying motors to other manufactures than building complete tractors and what we are seeing is a transition to that goal. Thats just my opinion. When a brand goes away, so does your warranty, availability to parts, technical resources, and local dealer support. When rebranding occurs, it’s the rebrand that takes the responsibility of parts and warranty. Often, the original manufacturer is contractually obligated to not supply parts through their dealers to rebranded tractor owners. When a tractor brand vanishes, so does your source for parts. The more I analyze this, the more I conclude all 12 micro brands are loosing money in the North American compact utility tractor market. There is no way all these 12 small volume tractor brands with so few sales can survive. It’s just a question of when the financial backers of these small volume brands tire of hearing about their North American financial losses.

[@outbuildinginfo]

Doug, thanks for your extensive comment. All good stuff. I wrestled with these issues but also had specific experience with Yanmar support as I made this choice. Ultimately, it comes down to what is in your local area. For instance, there are almost no manufacturers of implements in the West compared to a huge number on the mid to east side of the US. In the west, we pay shipping for most every implement but providers (Everything Attachements, Good Works Tractors, etc.) often have free shipping within 1000 miles or so of those facilities. This colors a person's choices out West and makes comparisons more regional. Yanmar has a manufacturing facility in Georgia. They also just built a huge distribution (mostly parts and service) facility in the Pacific Northwest where I am located. Finally, they are messing with an all-electric model of the same platform I purchased which is of significant interest to me down the road. I started here in my tractor adventure. I'll post as I learn more and share what I learn about that choice by my experiences. Again, thanks for the comment.

[@DougAlesUSA]

@@outbuildinginfo thank you for taking time to reply to my comment. I’m looking forward to your future videos.

[@paulg1827]

Yanmars not going anywhere, they are committed to the US market, and their Georgia plant proves it. They are expanding globally, and the don't participate in trade shows to keep costs down. They offer a superior tractor at an attractive price point, with a best in class warranty all backed by an extensive global network. Google "is Yanmar committed to the US market" and you will see recent articles about their merger this year and their obvious commitment to the US utility equipment market. I'd be more concerned about the company's who are outsourcing and re-branding without the yanmar commitment to actually manufacture here in the U S. Much easier to pull the plug if all you are doing is importing and rebranding without a in house manufacturing commitment to a market. Don't forget, Yanmar built John Deeres compact tractors for almost 30 years

[@sgtfish49]

That is a very compelling analysis. Thanks. R.

[@samwoods2022]

Where did buy the fork attachment. I have the same tractor

[@outbuildinginfo]

Thanks for watching. We bought the forks from our Yanmar dealer. They fit the unique quick attach of the SA series.

[@paulg1827]

Yanmar does make a grapple

[@outbuildinginfo]

Paul, thanks for your comment and watching. I do see a grapple by Yanmar but it is tough to get right now an my dealer here (Brimm Tractor) has had really good results with a Wicked Root Grapple (55 model) with plates welded on. I'll likely go that route but that said, EA (Everything Attachements) is 4 months out on builds so regardless of what I choose, it will take some time.

[@andreiturrian7455]

One thing to think about when you are going to need repairs yanmar parts are less than half the price of JD

[@outbuildinginfo]

That is great to know. Fortunately, other than a pesky o-ring leak on an aftermarket hose fitting for my 3rd function, things are really working well so far. Your comment reminds me of my impression when shopping for the tractor and how the JD dealership was pretty fancy and salesman dressed like a golfer. Not bad things, but somehow they have to pay for that. Thanks for watching and commenting!

[@Dundertaker1]

Also...watch "Project farm" jack stand test...those are very dangerous and not strong enough for this tractor IMO...

[@outbuildinginfo]

I would agree on this. These were what I had at the time when I was unloading the trailer. They are rated at 1 ton each and the tractor weighs in at about 1800 lbs (without loader or backhoe). Now that I have the tractor and stuff set up out there, I'm not using the trailer for transport much but will likely switch to some large blocks of wood for supporting the trailer when ramping on/off the tractor. Gladly, I don't need to do that frequently. Again, thanks for watching and commenting.