satoh beaver

josolar · Dec 4, 2006

I have the opportunity to purchase a 1978 satoh beaver. It has been gargaed its whole life and looks to be in great condition. It comes with a Johnson frt loader and a mower. Here is the problem. The owner tried to put the tractor into low gear and it didn't want to go, so he forced it in. After he did that the tractor has not been running. He said it sounds like the tractor is operating with the brake engaged, or when you try to lift to much with it and it stalls out. The engine turns over, but it will not run. It shifts into gears 1-4, but it is back in high gear and it won't go into low. Anyone have ideas of what the problems is? cheap or expensive fix? thanks.
Josh

BRUSHTAMERS · Dec 4, 2006

Think I'd look in the transmission gearbox and see how much oil is in there. Does it have many hours on it?Best case scenario, just gunked up, probably still have to split the case though. Is it cheap enough to play around with for awhile, or do you want the use of it right away?

oliver28472 · Dec 5, 2006

Also, ask the owner which way the pto turns. That one may be one that has the counter clockwise rotation which should influence your decision along with other potential repairs.

lens12 · Dec 5, 2006

Since the original problem was that it wouldn't go into gear, I'd look at a problem with the shift forks. Possibly 2 gears are engaged at the same time.

josolar · Dec 9, 2006

Would the problem with the transmission affect the starting?

The enging turns over pretty good, but just short of having the engine kick of and run. While trying to start the engine spits out black smoke, but it will not start.

I have the battery charged, pluged in the block heater, glow plug works. (it is only about 30f outside, and it hasn't been started in awhile.)

I was thinking of bleeding the fuel line. Any suggestions.

josolar · Dec 9, 2006

Got it started. Hooked battery up to charger, put throttle at full, and a bit of starter fluid in the carb. The tractor just had not been run in so long that it was hard to get going. Only problem now is it that it is stuck in high gear. 1-3 and reverse all work fine.

The pto is counter clockwise, but it comes with a mower that is on its way.

Why is countert clockwise bad? no attachments made for it? the tractor is a 1978 satoh beaver s-370.

A family friend gave it to me because he could not get it running and decided to buy a new tractor. Not a bad deal now that it is running.

oliver28472 · Dec 10, 2006

The counter clockwise pto is not bad, its just that most everything else turns clockwise as do most pto driven implements. If you need to buy a tiller for example, it may be hard to find one that will run backwards. Sounds like you got a good deal but do not ever, ever use starting fluid on this tractor. The piston tops are very thin and although many diesels were designed to be assisted by ether, this is not one of them. Go to the satohparts.com website and look at photos of what happens when ether is used. If your engine won't start using the glow plugs you may have a compression issue.

diyDave · Feb 6, 2007

Dont sweat the backwards Pto rotation. I have a little Beaver with the backwards pto(and the odd sized shaft), and I fixed it pretty quick and cheap. Want to know how?

jsgwoodsman · May 22, 2007

I would be interested in knowing how the PTO can be reversed on my Beaver for cheap.

I have already purchased the tractor and now I seem to be in a little bit of a bind.

Thanks!!!