018 - tractor - 50hr Review of Yanmar SA425 and Attachments

[@markdanford7714]

Mark from Olympia, Wa enjoying your content and will be watching all of it. I am considering a Yanmar tractor on my 5.20 plot. Also wondering about the outbuilding on your site. I need a shop.

[@outbuildinginfo]

Mark, thanks for watching and your question. The Yanmar has been really a huge lever for managing our property. I figured it would be helpful but with no experience going in, I have been even more impressed as I gain experience. You may be working with Brim Tractor in Olympia as they are big in the Northwest. That has been nothing but a good experience on my end. The shed was in place when we purchased the property. I do see similar ones advertised for reasonable rates and they essentially bolt together. Ours is just place on the dirt which means plenty of field mice and more moisture than I would like.. but it is still great to have. I put in some super inexpensive LED lights from Vevor and a solar fan (I did a video on that one) that has really helped with condensation in a climate likely very similar to yours. If I was starting from scratch, I would probably consider the effort/cost of a simple concrete pad and then bolt the same structure to it. I think that would really help and work well. I may even lift ours at some point and tuck a pad under it... so many building projects!

[@paulg1827]

You can swap the check valve on your top link so the hoses are toward the rear of the top link so they will not hit your power beyond.

[@outbuildinginfo]

That's a great idea. I hadn't thought of doing that. Flipping the whole thing the other way would then stretch the hoses when articulating but your solution doesn't. Thanks!

[@paulg1827]

@@outbuildinginfo Not the whole cylinder, you want the fixed end of the cylinder against the tractor, just the check valve parts, they are designed to be removed and swapped end for end.

[@paulg1827]

The little fuel filter behind the fuel water separator was not fun, did not realize there is no shutoff to it, next time I will clamp the hose. That smaller hst filter up under the sheild was not fun either, I too had hoped to remove the little door panel, but no way, sheild had to come off.

[@outbuildinginfo]

I still have the small fuel filter to do (I didn't have clamps for the hoses handy). Oddly that wasn't mentioned in the service manual, but came with the maintenance kit. Others have said the filters are tight (as you and I found) from the factory. Could be the factory paint. We will find out after the next service interval. Thanks for watching and commenting.

[@paulg1827]

@@outbuildinginfo The manual actually describes removing the cowling under the dash to access it.......way too much work that way. The supply line is gravity fed straight from the tank, so make sure you clamp it or plug it on removal........ask me how I know..........

[@orion3267]

Nice. I did mine a few months ago. Only problem I had was the hydraulic filters were super tight to get off. I reckon because of all of the paint underneath?

[@outbuildinginfo]

Same here. They were a bit tight but not impossible. I wondered too if the paint impacted that. Otherwise, not too bad.

[@josephryan1576]

How much were the wheel weights vs having the tires filled?

[@outbuildinginfo]

That answer for me was a bit more complicated than the cost of weight. I could have had the tires filled when purchasing the tractor for a couple hundred dollars. That would put my tractor over my trailer/tow vehicle capacity so I would then need to pay for any future transport or have any servicing I can't do myself done on-site in a remote location. My weights cost about $600 but can be removed. This lets me pull the tires, add/remove spacers, and perhaps fix a flat down the road without any special equipment. The weights cost $400 more, but the flexibility was worth it for my circumstance. It is a bit of a "loaded" question, depending on circumstance. Thanks for your comment and for watching.

[@ffghtr356]

How does your PTO sound?

[@outbuildinginfo]

Thanks for your comment. I'm not sure what you mean as the PTO doesn't (mine at least) make much sound compared to what it is hooked up to. The Yanmar SA425 has an electric clutch activated by the yellow button and mine seems to sort of "soft start" when engaged with an attachment with mass like my chipper/shredder. That takes place over a handful of seconds when engaged. The flail (my other main PTO gadget) has less mass and spins up more quickly. In either case, when these attachments are spinning, they themselves make a racket substantially louder than the rest of the tractor. Hopefully this at least partially answers your question.

[@ronaldnoble4986]

Why does your tractor blow smoke upon start up?

[@outbuildinginfo]

Ronald, thanks for watching and for commenting. This is pretty common for diesel engines when cold. There is a small amount of fuel that doesn't combust when first cranking the engine and it burns when the engine does crank resulting in that initial smoke. It only happens on a cold start and only for the first couple of seconds. When I was researching tractors before purchasing, this came up on message boards, etc. with some people panicking about this behavior. As I said, it turns out to be common to many diesels. Perhaps different injection systems and types behave differently with different cold-start results. Hope this helps. I tend to let my tractor warm up a few minutes after just moving it outside the shop before tearing off to do work. Restarting after that initial one doesn't smoke at all.