satoh bison (650G)

   / satoh bison (650G) #1  

phmezz

New member
Joined
Dec 16, 2004
Messages
10
I just bought a house that came with a satoh bison. I will be using it to mow the lawn (3 acres). Anyway I noticed that in the garage the former owner left a large bottle of lead substitute. I think he was putting this in the tractor. I would appreciate any opinions on whether I should continue using lead substitute in my new tractor. Thanks in advance for any advice.
 
   / satoh bison (650G) #2  
I don't put any in mine. It may not be necessary and I don't remember the manual saying anything about it. Since the engines on these are aluminum, the valve seats have to be pressed in and may already be hardened. I don't know if that info would be in my owners or repair manuals. If no-one else chimes in and you're really concerned about it I can check them.
Now on to general S650G ownership. If you don't already have at least an owners manual for it, a couple of members on here can supply them, vppinc and lens12. They can also help you out with parts. Read through the threads on the S650 on this site. There is lots of good info on here. Check all your fluids and lubricants, including the governor. I just got done re-building mine b/c apparently previous owners had neglected it. So far my S650 been a good little tractor. Hope you enjoy yours.
 
   / satoh bison (650G) #3  
There will not be any mention of using lead substitutes in the manuals since lead was in all gas when the manuals were published. It would probably be a good idea to use a lead substitute.
 
   / satoh bison (650G) #4  
IIRC the S650G was sold in the US for somewhere around a decade. I believe it was from the late '60s to at least the late '70s. Unleaded gas was definitely around for a majority of that time. I've even owned a '72 Mercury that was unleaded only. I have 1 complete operators manual from a later year, part of an older manual, and a repair manual that is new enough to have quite a few variations listed. Both manuals simply list the fuel as gasoline and the newer manual does not appear to just be a reprint of the old. The repair manual was definitely not written in the late '60s and just re-printed. There is too much info in it about the various changes made to be a re-print.

Besides, the chances of you damaging anything is probably pretty slim unless you are using it everyday. I know I don't bother putting lead substitute in my '66 Mustang (I've had it for 15 yrs), my '74 F350 (I know the previous owner had it for at least 10 yrs and never added anything), or the '59 801(at least 10 yrs). They all run fine and I've had the engine apart on the Mustang and I know I specifically checked for valve seat damage and didn't find any. I also know lots of other guys with classic cars/trucks who don't, haven't had hardened seats put in, and drive them quite often and some of them pretty hard. Most of these guys built these cars/engines and know what they're doing. Most of the engines in these cars are worth more than an entire perfect S650 so I'm not going to sweat it.
 
   / satoh bison (650G) #5  
I'd watch for engine knock, if you don't use a substitute. Besides the added lubrication, lead boosted the octane. If you don't use a substitute, you may wish to use 89 rather than 87 octane.
 

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