Satoh Beaver with loader/backhoe

brassua · Oct 12, 2008

Hi,

New to forum and need some advice. Found a 1978 Satoh Beaver with a loader and backhoe. All original. 2250hours. Owned by elderly man and now owned 2 years by a woman who used it gently around the house. Never had the backhoe off it. It is frame mounted backhoe. Comes with 3 point hitch arms and smaller backhoe bucket for water lines/electrical etc. Comes with manuals for tractor and backhoe. She wants 5400.00 for it. Looks like it was never abused, tires are excellent and sheet metal good. Should I pass on this due to problems with part availability, etc. I live in Maine and don't know of anyone around here that sells parts for this. I did try it out and everything including rear and front lights works as it should. Thanks for any advice.
Bryan

PILOON · Oct 12, 2008

Sounds like a reasonable price to me considering loader and BH.
A BH alone (new) fetches in the $4k range.

On this forum there are a couple of guys that sell just about all the parts you could need.

In my opinion the Mitsu/Sotah line is quality wise at par with Kubota but Mitsu just plain decided they did noy wish to market to the retail trade and opted instead to supply their engines to others as well as rebrand to major existing manufactures such as Bolens and Ford etc.

I have really worked mine quite hard at times and have needed parts such as ring and pinion gear set and rims etc and have always found what I needed.
Service parts such as filters etc are generally available from auto parts.
Most bearings and seals can be cross referanced.
Costly are hydraulic pumps and wheel rims by most standards.

Good luck, and you are in the right web site for all your needs.

brassua · Oct 13, 2008

Thanks for the reply regarding the Satoh purchase. I quess I will go ahead with it. I've been reading about the reverse rotation pto. Looking down where the pto connectes to the backhoe it appears there is a quite large circular item that is attached to the pto. Maybe it has the reverser already on it in order to run the backhoe. Would a backhoe need the pto to run clockwise to operate? Thanks again for the advice.
Bryan

Mundy · Oct 13, 2008

I also think that sounds fair considering the backhoe and loader.
If you plan on keeping the backhoe attached the direction of the PTO should not be an issue. The device atached to the PTO could be a reverser but I bet it is a HYD pump for the backhoe.

PILOON · Oct 13, 2008

The 'quite large circular item' is most probably a PTO mounted hydraulic pump for the backhoe as the factory engine pumps do not provide adaquate GPM's for a backhoe.
One clue to PTO rotation is shaft size.
Large 1 1/4 inch shaft is probably first (but not positive) indication of desired rotation and the smaller shaft with fine pitch splines would generally indicate reverse rotation.
The PTO pumps are designed to provide high GPM's at 550 RPMs that the hoe requires.

PTO pump alone is a $500 item and it is always the large shaft size however a sleeve type adaptor could always have been used (and not easily visible).
Also I think the PTO pumps might be bi directional as after all they are merly a gear pump.
Either way the pump could merely be flipped over to rotate properly should the pto shaft rotated in reverse.

On the other hand 'reverse' PTO is not all that major an issue unless your main requirement was to use a bush hog or a rear tiller. (and snow blower)

As it is with a loader and 'hoe makes for a very desirable unit at that price range.
Sure wish I had a 'hoe on mine.

You mentioned 'frame mounted' hoe.
Deffinately a plus as 3-point is just asking for trouble and being frame mounted I doubt that you will be remouving it frequantly for equipment changes anyway.

Probably as a work machine your first modification would be a tooth bar for the FEL.
Now that makes a loader into a real work horse!

Again, good luck!

brassua · Oct 13, 2008

I want to thank everyone for their help regarding the info of the Satoh. I did pass on the tractor. I decided on something with more horsepower. I did go look at it again and it was a pump on the pto as someone mentioned. I told the lady I would mention it here that it was still for sale at 5500.00. I can get you her number if your interested. It is a nice machine but I don't want to mess with trying to find a reverser as I do want to use a mower and rototiller. I believe the backhoe was a Blackhawk or a name familiar with that.
Thanks again.
Bryan