Is a Hinomoto a good first tractor

[cda]

Hey all, I've been looking to purchase my first tractor for the past couple of months. I finally found one nearby that meets my requirements. Compact, 4x4, loader, 3pt, and within my budget. It's a Hinomoto N359.

My main concern is it's a Hinomoto. I've never heard of that brand, but know a little about it now after some research on this site. Any insight into my questions below would be much appreciated.

Will I be able to find parts?
Will I be able to get a service manual in English?
Was this model sold under an American brand?
It appears to be in good shape, is $5000 a good price?

 

[jonyyuma]

Lots of good info on the web. They built a lot of Fords and others, but some models do have slight problems with parts? Why not buy orange? JY.

 

[Yandaddy1110]

My first tractor was a Hino 1804 simular to Massey 1020. great tractor, very well built. Im not sure if the newer N series crosses over to any american sold models, I would say no. From what Ive read, parts out of Japan are in limited supply, harder to get, but there are always salvage yards. Parts like filters,glow plugs,..ect. are available. Starters, generators,radiators, and be rebuilt.
5k sounds like a really good price for a 35hp N series Hino with loader. Any pics?

 

[Kays Supply]

It has been a while since I sold a Hinomoto, but the N series was newer. That wasn't a plus. The parts were harder to get because there are fewer around the US. I would suggest a Yanmar or Iseki if you want parts easier. The Yanmars have been around long enough that there are even aftermarket parts now.

 

[whodat526]

hinomoto is a gray market tractor and parts can get hard to find and they never built any tractors for ford and if they did which models would that be i would like to know

 

[Soundguy]

does it have enough hp to do jobs you may want to do later on?

try to scare up some parts sources.. see if it is easy to find parts for that model.

soundguy

Hey all, I've been looking to purchase my first tractor for the past couple of months. I finally found one nearby that meets my requirements. Compact, 4x4, loader, 3pt, and within my budget. It's a Hinomoto N359.

My main concern is it's a Hinomoto. I've never heard of that brand, but know a little about it now after some research on this site. Any insight into my questions below would be much appreciated.

Will I be able to find parts?
Will I be able to get a service manual in English?
Was this model sold under an American brand?
It appears to be in good shape, is $5000 a good price?

 

[cda]

Thanks for the responses guys. I went ahead and bought it.

It sounds like parts are the major concern. Someone on this forum reccomended Southern Global Tractor.

I'll be contacting them this week to see if I can get a cable for the fwd/reverse lever. The guy who previously owned it jerry-rigged a lever with direct linkage because the cable broke. It actually works very well but this should be a good exercise in locating parts.

 

[Yandaddy1110]

Glad you bought it. Many compacts were rebadged Hinomotos, White,Massey Ferguson,Allis Chalmers, Duetz. Fords were made by Shibaura.

 

[gent695]

I was in the same position you were. Found a Hinomoto C144 w/loader, 48" tiller, 48" bush hog, 5ft blade, MoldBoard Plow, and furrow plow for $5500. Was sceptical since I had never heard of them. I bought it but I'm curious if it has enough power to operate the tiller, busg hog and plows. I guess this spring I'll find out. It only has 186 hrs on it but look new. Hope it was a good buy.

 

[Soundguy]

alot of the lil jap scut tractors have some incredibly slow low range gears. and with that small of a tiller and mower.. I bet it does fine if the thing runs good.

soundguy