New (to me) YM240D

[woolyAcres]

Anyone interested in my saga "Finding a Yanmar of My Own" can read the backstory in this thread. Since I've now found, and own, one now, I thought I should start a new thread.

The fellow I bought this from seemed honest. He admitted to not using it all the much and not being diligent about maintenance the last year since he replaced it with a skid steer. Nonetheless, things generally look good fluid wise. One of the FEL front cylinders has a pretty good leak and that explains why it was low on hydraulic fluid. I'm in the process of changing the fluid but I'll need to address that leak soon or I'll be constantly buying 'JD303' fluid!

In previous photos there was a 'white' appearance, which turns out to be fine sawdust. It's pretty prevalent (especially in the screen protecting the radiator and the radiator itself) and caked on in places. How do folks feel about pressure washing? I was considering that or some 'bubbly engine scrubber' to get things cleaned up. Though they really don't look bad at all.

This machine appears to have been a giant mobile hydraulic pump/hose monster. In addition to internal 3PT hitch/loader hydraulic pump, there is the PTO mounted hydraulic pump and reservoir, and an additional pump on the front buried below the battery. This 3rd pump doesn't appear to be connected since there's a 2" gap between it and a shafting coming forward from the engine.

My goals today are to get the fluids and filters changed (oil and hydraulic), reverse the front wheels to avoid trouble with the front-end, and get that PTO pump removed. Some of it's finished but lots of work remains.

Here are some photos.

 

[clemsonfor]

Congradulations. Thats a great tractor. Bet your glad you didnt already buy that plane ticket and go out to california!!!

I would remove that 3pt pump and hoses and put it in the shed. You may want it down the road or you could always sell it. I bet that setup is worth $400+?

Repack that cylinder or new boring or whatever it needs a d replace all fluids and filters including the screen (well just wash this in diesel unless its destroyed).

I would put new violent in radiator at 50/50. And clean the engine if you like. If the saw dust is oily in radiator I would spray some purple power or simple green on it then hose it off. If you use pressure washer on radiator use a light fan spray and or lower engine speed and spray from the front to not fold the fins over. If you want to clean the engine with the PW do so I just wouldnt go crazy with it.

Put a new fuel filter in it also. And if you have an axillary hydro filter do it as well.

 

[woolyAcres]

I changed the oil and hydro fluids and filters today. That went reasonably well, especially considering it was my first time doing it. I still need to flush and replace the coolant- should there be an overflow reservoir on these YM240s? I need to spray off the screen and radiator to get the saw dust out of it. I'd also like to drain and replace the oil in the front axle. What type of fluid should it be?

The bucket on this loader is enormous. It's nearly 6' wide and close to 24" deep. I suppose for dry sawdust it may have been fine, but the loader can't even get close to lifting it with dirt. I'm concerned there might be more to it than simply too heavy. Anyone care to guess what the lift capacity should be at the pins? The metal on the bucket isn't all that thick (probably 1/4" or less) but it could easily weigh 300lbs. The loader can lift me (150#) and the bucket but it doesn't seem to be able to lift any amount of dirt.

Where should I begin diagnosing the hydraulics? This tractor is going to be an education but I think she's going to be a good work-horse once I get a few kinks worked out.

Thanks.

 

[California]

You did good!!!

I have still more advice, hope some (any?) of it is useful to you.

Take photos of the hydraulic setup that will be suitable for a Cragslist ad, before you remove it. That will be easier to sell compared the jumble of rusty and maybe incomplete mystery junk that stuff is sure to look like after you get it off.

That OEM Yanmar front pto hydraulic system is sure to be worth some money. If I were you, I would try to run the loader from it. That would make it faster than powering the loader from the tractor's hydraulics.

Careful with the pressure washer. I ruined my non-sealed old school mechanical regulator, trying to wash the mud-dauber nest out from under it. That soon took down the alternator too. Just a dumb beginner mistake, they had worked fine. The good news was it was a $29 alternator and $18 regulator ('72 Datsun) from Autozone to give me 30 amps replacing I think 5 amps. Damaging the radiator fins is obvious. One thing I found on my latest Yanmar is the pressure washer blew the crusty insulation off the wires that go forward to the headlights. I think there had been diesel dripping on them from the injector return lines and the insulation was rotten. Easy to replace, but unexpected. I like Clemson's advice to just start with detergent and a garden hose and see if that is sufficient. You need the radiator fins clean but the rest of the tractor will soon be covered with dust, making it immaculate doesn't accomplish much.

If all that hydraulic stuff was on it since new then it may have very few hours tractoring, pulling anything. The front axle in particular might be in better condition than something used 35 years on a farm.

Replacing the seals in a loader cylinder is simpler than I expected. First one, the hydraulic shop got me for $165. Next one I bought $10 of seals from them and did it myself. Tip - leave the cylinder attached to the tractor to hold it down while you unscrew the end cap off the cylinder, then leave the rod end attached to support it while you take the big nut off the end of the rod to replace the piston rings and end cap seal. After I saw the hydraulic shop use a giant pipe wrench to get the end caps loose, I went out and bought a 48" iron pipe wrench from HF to do mine. That still needed a cheater pipe on it.

Thanks for posting the photos!

 

[winston1]

She is going to look a lot better with all the excess hydraulics removed. That bucket is much to large for dirt work. No idea whether it would work or not but might advertise for a bucket trade on Craig's list.

Fredricks puts some koyker 120 loaders on the ym2000d tractors. Just thinking your loader might be comparable but don't know for sure. Something to ponder anyway. 120 Koyker loader loaders specifications

 

[woolyAcres]

Fredricks puts some koyker 120 loaders on the ym2000d tractors. Just thinking your loader might be comparable but don't know for sure. Something to ponder anyway.

Good point. I'll look and see what the specs are on those.

I have still more advise, hope some (any?) of it is useful to you.

Advice from this forum, and you in particular, has been invaluable!

Take photos of the hydraulic setup that will be suitable for a Cragslist ad, before you remove it. That will be easier to sell compared the jumble of rusty and maybe incomplete mystery junk that stuff is sure to look like after you get it off.

Good idea

That OEM Yanmar front pto hydraulic system is sure to be worth some money. If I were you, I would try to run the loader from it. That would make it faster than powering the loader from the tractor's hydraulics.

I like this idea. I need to figure out how to get that plumbed. Behind the front pump, sticking toward the engine, is a small shaft with a flange on it. Sticking forward from the engine there is also a shaft with a similar flange on it. The two look like they could mate together but there is currently about a 2" air gap separating them. So the front pump isn't actually running at the moment. It's a tricky place to take pictures but I'll try to get a photo of it tomorrow.

The front pump has two large lines that run over to a reservoir mounted on the righthand side of the loader. One enters the top through some disk shaped structure, the other exits the bottom of the reservoir. As far as I can tell that's all the plumbing there is for this. I don't see how/where it was actually being used. Maybe it never was? The loader control valve is fed by two lines that run along the center of the tractor beside the gear shift and end up in a small metal box with a metal line that runs into the top portion of the 'transmission' for lack of a better word. I should add that the hoses on the front pump are significant- 3/4" or maybe 1" OD. The lines that run from the rear-end are much smaller- 1/2" or 3/8". I only mention this because breaking into the that line and hooking it to the loader control valve would involve stepping down the pipe diameter, if I wanted to keep that controller. If I were to undertake this I might also try to get it setup so that the loader could be removed from the machine. Right now there are no quick couplers so removing the loader isn't really feasible without deconstructing the loader setup.

Careful with the pressure washer. You need the radiator fins clean but the rest of the tractor will soon be covered with dust, making it immaculate doesn't accomplish much.

Important to keep in mind:thumbsup:

Replacing the seals in a loader cylinder is simpler than I expected. First one, the hydraulic shop got me for $165. Next one I bought $10 of seals from them and did it myself. Tip - leave the cylinder attached to the tractor to hold it down while you unscrew the end cap off the cylinder, then leave the rod end attached to support it while you take the big nut off the end of the rod to replace the piston rings and end cap seal. After I saw the hydraulic shop use a giant pipe wrench to get the end caps loose, I went out and bought a 48" iron pipe wrench from HF to do mine. That still needed a cheater pipe on it.

Sounds like I better start watching youtube videos on repairing these.

Thanks for posting the photos!

My pleasure. Here are a few more showing the tractor with the front wheels flipped so they aren't so wide anymore, the hydro-frankenstien and tertiary hydro reservoir (the second was mounted on the 3PT hitch which I removed). The upper, dual valve is the one that operates the loader. You can sorta see the difference in hose diameters in this photo. And finally, a not-so-great shot of the pump that's out front, below the battery.

 

[Todd8665]

Koyker 120 loader on my 2210 is 49" wide, about 18" deep on the back of the bucket, i wish it was a but bigger/wider. Great for digging a hole, but it doesn't hold that much. Easily lifts a full load of sand. I believe that the max lift at the pins is 1,200 lbs.

Would taking yours to a welding shop and having it chopped be a cost effective fix? Keep the depth and loose the some of the width?

I suppose that before taking the gas ax to yours you should first make sure everything's on the up and up hydraulically. Bucket should lift with you in it just like it was empty. Do you get any sense (sound or vibration) that fluid is struggling to get through the valve bank? Dose that tank on the back have any fluids in it? If it does...how well/fast does the 3Pt lift it. It's the same source of power(will with all your rigging I guess it's hard to tell) so if the 3Pt lifts like a champ you can be assured your primary hydro pump is OK and you problems are elsewhere - valve bank or rams.

That PTO pump looks in decent enough shape - no fluids seeping out of it anyway.

Bottom line is your probably going to have to run it a bit to see what pops up.

 

[California]

Wooly, a couple more resources you might like, that I came across looking through photos I've posted in the past:

Discussion of the OEM front hydraulic pump option. I asked some dumb questions; the thread eventually evolved into some useful answers including the diagram in the Optional Parts List showing the front pump and its mounting kit.

Photos (at the top of the thread) of a restored YM240D then this post with photos of one in clean original condition. Mine and probably yours will never look that good!

A photo of my YM240 and loader lifting a water tank that has a spec plate saying 650 lbs empty. The weight here bears on the front of the loader bucket, not at the pins where a loader is rated. It felt like I was at the limit of safe operation lifting 650 lbs up that high.

 

[woolyAcres]

A photo of my YM240 and loader lifting a water tank that has a spec plate saying 650 lbs empty. The weight here bears on the front of the loader bucket, not at the pins where a loader is rated. It felt like I was at the limit of safe operation lifting 650 lbs up that high.

Would you mind posting a few photos showing how your loader arms connect to your bucket? I'd like to see what it 'should' look like.

Todd8665 made a good suggestion about testing the pump by putting a load on the rear 3PT hitch. I'll do that today and confirm that the pump is working correctly. The next step in getting the FEL sorted out will be repairing the dripping cylinder and possibly any others that are leaking internally. Once I'm convinced that the hydraulics are operating correctly, I'll have to address that bucket. It's ridiculous really! But if I can get it to lift 1/3 or 1/4 of a full bucket I can at least use it while I figure out how I'd like to get it setup.

Ideally, and if money and time were no object, I'd get that front pump going and plumb it with some quick-connect hoses for simpler removal and put a skid-steer quick attach plate on the front with a 48" bucket. Is that absurd? My PTO hydraulic pump, reservoir, and filter are officially up for trade!

 

[woolyAcres]

@California,

I found this post buried on the site in another thread. Makes me want to get some green paint for mine. She's no spring chicken anymore but that doesn't mean she couldn't polish up nicely.

 

[Todd8665]

Would you mind posting a few photos showing how your loader arms connect to your bucket? I'd like to see what it 'should' look like.

Todd8665 made a good suggestion about testing the pump by putting a load on the rear 3PT hitch. I'll do that today and confirm that the pump is working correctly. The next step in getting the FEL sorted out will be repairing the dripping cylinder and possibly any others that are leaking internally. Once I'm convinced that the hydraulics are operating correctly, I'll have to address that bucket. It's ridiculous really! But if I can get it to lift 1/3 or 1/4 of a full bucket I can at least use it while I figure out how I'd like to get it setup.

Ideally, and if money and time were no object, I'd get that front pump going and plumb it with some quick-connect hoses for simpler removal and put a skid-steer quick attach plate on the front with a 48" bucket. Is that absurd? My PTO hydraulic pump, reservoir, and filter are officially up for trade!

I've got a 48" 3Pt snowblower that I trade you for that PTO pump. Was assembled from spare parts and blows snow about as well as a a lawnmower...

 

[California]

I found this post buried on the site in another thread. Makes me want to get some green paint for mine.

That's my second link in post #8 above. I thought you would like it.

Would you mind posting a few photos showing how your loader arms connect to your bucket? I'd like to see what it 'should' look like.

Here's detail cropped out of a different photo, taken moving lumber last Saturday.

Incidentally the 'chain hooks' along the top of the bucket are simply Cold Shuts, chain repair links, that I bolted to existing holes. I intended to weld on proper chain hooks some day but these work fine, for chain and also to wrap rope or bungees around.

View attachment 440152

 

[clemsonfor]

Would you mind posting a few photos showing how your loader arms connect to your bucket? I'd like to see what it 'should' look like.

Todd8665 made a good suggestion about testing the pump by putting a load on the rear 3PT hitch. I'll do that today and confirm that the pump is working correctly. The next step in getting the FEL sorted out will be repairing the dripping cylinder and possibly any others that are leaking internally. Once I'm convinced that the hydraulics are operating correctly, I'll have to address that bucket. It's ridiculous really! But if I can get it to lift 1/3 or 1/4 of a full bucket I can at least use it while I figure out how I'd like to get it setup.

Ideally, and if money and time were no object, I'd get that front pump going and plumb it with some quick-connect hoses for simpler removal and put a skid-steer quick attach plate on the front with a 48" bucket. Is that absurd? My PTO hydraulic pump, reservoir, and filter are officially up for trade!

if that resivoir is full of fluid and the tractor could lift it on the 3pt then your main pump is fine . the weight of that tank and the fluid would be enough to see if its connected and not just barely working from a sheared key with just the wirling motion moveing the pump.

You can stand on your lift arms and pull the 3pt lever to see if its working . It wont lift you if its bad.

 

[clemsonfor]

i would also just torch off the current bucket to a reasonable size. i doubt that you will find someone with a yanmar bucket just laying around. Maybe one for a similar sized tractor that you could adapt or if you went to a tractor junkyard but those are not common and they usually just sit in peoples yards wehn they die.

 

[woolyAcres]

I've got a 48" 3Pt snowblower that I trade you for that PTO pump. Was assembled from spare parts and blows snow about as well as a a lawnmower...

Thanks. I'm still trying to figure out what I've got in this current setup and I want to test it somehow to confirm it works. From the sound of it the fellow I bought the tractor from didn't use it, only kept it on as ballast.

RE: snowblower. I've got a front-mount blower for my other 'tractor', a Wheel Horse 520. Between that and my box blade I hope I'm covered for winter; and also hoping we don't have another winter like this last one! If I ever get this bucket sorted out I could also move snow with that.

 

[woolyAcres]

Here's detail cropped out of a different photo, taken moving lumber last Saturday.
View attachment 440152

Thanks. That's slightly different from mine. Your loader appears to pin directly onto the bucket. Mine pins onto a plate to which that bathtub of a bucket is bolted.

When you rebuilt your cylinder, how did you know what size o-rings, etc to get? Did you dismantle it first or were you able to get part numbers for the cylinders before pulling them apart? I can see why repaing it for $10 is a good deal, but for $165 why not just replace it?

 

[woolyAcres]

As per Todd8686 and clemsonfor's suggestion I went ahead and got something heavy on the back. See photo. Best I can figure that rotary cutter weighs more than 500lbs. The tractor did pick it up before running out of throw on the lift. The rear wheel of the brush hog would only ever get a few inches off the ground. I took that cutter for a spin as well and although it worked, my gut feeling is that was a bit much for the tractor. That's a pretty solid 5' cutter. I switched that cutter out for a box blade at lunch and left the 3PT hitch in the raised position. The loader was also left in the 'up' position. I'll check on it later today to see how far things have slipped. I'm sure the FEL will drop because I could actually see it falling just standing there. That's not hard to believe given the state of the lift arms.

I've got a lot to learn about hydraulics but my guess is that the hydro pump that currently runs the 3PT hitch and FEL is working. Will trouble with the loader cylinders cause the rear to drop as well?

 

[woolyAcres]

@California-

I see in another thread you replaced the loader control. How did you figure out what flow rates, etc you needed?

Maybe I should start an "FEL rebuild thread" over in hydraulics. I'm used to my father's New Holland 16TL loader which has a single joystick control. Something like that would be possible right?

Here's what I'd love to get my FEL to look like at the front. That would allow me to easily get a smaller bucket and use his pallet forks (for small loads of course).

 

[woolyAcres]

An issue that I noticed when running the brushhog involves the PTO engagement. When seated, below my left leg is a lever for the 540/1000RPM PTO. There doesn't seem to be much movement between the positions and when I move this lever up and down trying to go from 540-N-1000 I notice a lever under my right foot wiggling up and down. I believe this lever to be the diff-lock. Are these two related? Should movement in one be apparent in the other?

Thanks

 

[California]

For the first cylinder they told me the rod was bent so they went ahead and straightened it. They said that's why it wore out the end cap seal, and the straightening was why the bill was double what I thought was a firm price.

I hadn't noticed that but a bent rod is possible, the end cap where the rod goes in contacts the loader arm at full-dump position and the concave dings on the back side of the bucket indicate the bucket must have been turned forward and used to ram things in the past. So bending parts is possible.

Anyhow I didn't see a bend in the second cylinder's rod and its problem was leaking down, not the end seal, so I just disassembled it and took in the soft parts. They went right to the shelf and pulled what I needed without looking in a book. Apparently there is a limited range of possible choices and these cylinders are industry-standard so their first guess for seals was correct.

For the hydraulic components of your rig you might want to post questions in TBN's Hydraulics forum. I got a lot of good advice when I went to replace my loader valve. It lifted ok but dribbled on my shoe under extreme loads. It was clearly worn out and I learned there aren't replaceable parts in those. In fact somebody in the Hydraulics forum might want to buy your surplus system, that's where the specialists hang out.

=====================

Added: just noticed your latest posts.
The stock Yanmar hydraulic pumps put out 4~5 gallons per minute (I think that's gallons they are rated in) and the existing loader hoses were I think 3/8 ID. So based on advice from the hydraulics forum somebody suggested a specific control to meet these criteria. That one is rated abut 9gpm and comes preset to the 2200 psi that Yanmar uses. I think these criteria are industry-standard for a tractor hydraulic system comparable in capacity to Ford 8N etc and the valve I took off was in fact widely used on 8N's back in the day. So choice of a valve fell in a narrow range of widely used replacement parts.

Then I cheapskated two features: Saved $100 for two loader sticks instead of single joystick. Saved another $100 by choosing the variant that lacks 'recirculation' or whatever it's it called that doubles bucket dump speed. I'm not trying to set production records. Moving that lumber or water tank is more typical of my loader projects.

The valve was available several places with a few weeks lead time then I found Amazon had it on the shelf to ship immediately. If you've looked through that thread you can skip over all my know-nothing questions and get right to the solution I ended up with, after a lot of good advice.

One point - there is a specialist there who insists plumbing a loader in series ahead of the 3-point will destroy the loader valve. Mine ran fine in series for 30 years and the new valve remains in perfect condition after a couple years use. The point to remember is don't lift the bucket and the 3-point at the same time, this can double hydraulic loads momentarily and does risk damage. Thoughtful sane operation respecting the limits of the equipment will avoid problems.

==========
re that Quick Attach plate - for myself I would design for minimal weight up front, ie bucket directly linked to the arms and cylinders, to not waste lift capacity on complex and heavy connectors. These are small light tractors after all. YMMV.