YM1610: A small workhorse for daily tasks around the yard

[TractorGuy]

Decided to do a write-up of my first YM tractor (also a very first tractor actually) since there aren't too much of the information available for these machines out there or if it is it's not in Metric system, so I think some might find the writings useful. I will add in information regarding different item sizings that I've found out etc. for an easier lookup for different spare parts for example.
This site and Hoyes webshop for parts has been priceless as an information source and think without them a major part of the old Yanmars wouldn't be running anymore!


The journey started in October 2021 when came up with this information of a Zen-Noh 1500 tractor for sale. I had just bought a Chinese Linhai 4x4 UTV in the spring and was going to add a front snowplow on it and use it to clear the yard from the snow buildup during winter months, plus it had a rear bed so it would've been a nice tool to carry and move various stuff around the yard. Only it had few weaknesses: since being a 4x4 the turn-radius was quite big for a small driveway so the snowplowing would've been kind of difficult and the tires always ripped the surface of the ground, the engine was only 300cc in a vehicle with 600kgs of weight and the clutch was centrifugal, so I suspected it wouldn't last very long in heavy work, plus it was a PITA to get running once it got below 5-10 degrees Celsius. Already got in situations where the thing wouldn't start and had to reach for the spark plug sockets and dry it out with a blowtorch, then she would fire right up with a hot spark plug... So the idea of swapping over to a small tractor arised with it maybe being a more versatile tool, plus having a proper (diesel) engine with a real clutch.


This was the 1500 that was on sale and went checking it out. It was in pretty bad shape - as you can see from the pic the bench has rotted and it had plenty of rust here and there so the general condition wasn't that great and didn't really think this would be the one for me.
However the same seller had different options in his yard (found out he's importing these tractors from Baltics) and we checked out few different models that just came in and wasn't listed on sale yet. A Hinomoto was one but the design of that brick didn't appeal me so skipped that over, then a 1610 stood out, which actually immediately caught my eye when drove to the yard, and though this is it. The tractor was equipped with a brand-new (Chinese/Baltics -made, but robust looking) rear blade and the pricetag that the seller asked was 3100€, which was of course a bit more than I was expecting to use since the 1500 was listed for 2500€ and had to think about the extra investment. The seller wasn't negotiating on the price to agree on 3000€ deal, but I got an original tiller as an extra so we closed the deal.
Afterwards I'm very happy of the model selection, since I didn't have any idea of these small tractors (which I though was Chinese in the first hand) and found out the differences between the 1500 not having a water pump and the 1610 with its PowerShift transmission for example!

This is how she looked when first arrived at the home, ready to do some work:





Overall condition quite nice, some scratches and bumbs and a little bit of rust but nothing too bad, front tires were completely worn out and found out the radiator had a small leak in it. All the gears, PTO, diff lock, PowerShift and gauges seemed to work, left side flash was the only thing that did not work

[TractorGuy]

November 2021

Some basic maintenance and playing around the yard with the new toy.


Changed the fan belt and replaced the original hose clamps with proper ones (sorry for you all OE-look enthustiastics )
Had to purchase the fan belt twice since some information on the internet was that the width would've been 1/2" or something like that (can't remember anymore how the belt size were informed) anyway indicated that it would use a 12,5 mm belt. (stupid 'Mericans with their odd sizing ) Nope, didn't fit. The correct size for the fan belt is 10x835mm. The original fan belt was slipping due to its stretch and I believe also having not enough grip, no rubbery feel on it anymore. You can see it was severely cracked already so was in need of the replacement.

Simultaneously changed the engine oil + oil filter and swapped the fuel filter for a new one. Here I have 2 different models to test out, a cheaper Hifi-filter and a bit expensive Donaldson, which atleast a major group of tractor-users was keeping as a high quality manufacturer. The cheaper Hifi-filter didn't come with the fuel bowl O-ring, in the Donaldson it was within the package. I think I will stick with the Donaldson if it fits OK to the fuel filter, haven't changed that in yet. Had a 3rd filter which brand I cannot remember but it was double the price compared to these 2, just bought it quickly with the information that it will fit in because the original filter was in bad shape and I could get accurate measurements from the filter I ordered in the first place. The oil I used was regular mineral 10W-30 agricultural oil for tractors etc.


With a little bit of investigation I found out that the oil filter suitable for the engine is WL7200/51358 WIX code. Thread Size: 20X1.5 mm and a gasket size of I.D. 55mm O.D. 63 mm. Height depends if you're running with the engine covers or not, and I cannot figure out why you would anyway use a filter like 150mm in length in an engine size like this, so I would anyway stick with the 71mm or so like in the filter mentioned above. Wix lists it to be found from different Japanese-made motorcycles, industrial engines and even cars like Mazda and Nissan so the filter is really easily available out there.


The bench was dry and brittle maybe because it was stored in direct sunlight in its previous life in the Baltics, so it teared apart within the first usages. I ended up purchasing a bench with a suspension in it, not this old-stylish bench. Have to apply it into place at some point, and will move the bench few centimeres more to rear and upwards since these are designed for a small Japanese-men, and being nearly 190cm tall, some extra space doesn't harm while you can adjust the location for the bench during the changeup

[TractorGuy]

November-December 2021

The tractor was equipped with 100% condition agricultural "rice" tires, which works out well, but rips the ground and that's not ideal since my main usage is around the house, on grass and gravel so the next thing needed was turf tires. Additionally, turf tires would be better during the winter's snowplowing, since they will handle tire chains better.
The original tires were a bit over 90 centimeter in diameter and would've need approx. the same diameter in the new tires to fit well in place. However the original rims are quite narrow and a tire that would fit the original rim would leave trails and submerge into wet and soft soil, so had to lookup for wider rims the same time.

Because trucks have snowchains that would fit straight onto truck tires, I chose to find and use ones as the turf tire kit. Little bit of exploring the sales listing and came up with some truck/trailer axle with tires and bought them. The tires on the axle were brand new but maybe a little too narrow to really distribute the weight of the tractor on grass... Few days later found a set of trucks' studded winter tires and closed the deal for them. Only needed a pair but got a few extra in the purchase


The tire size of these is 265/70 R19.5, which ultimately was within 2 centimeters range of the original rice tires.


Tires in the garage, great condition and almost all of the studs are in their place. Proper studs, not any new aluminium/alloy studs, but with a nice spike that greatly adds friction on ice.



I also purchased a set of 4x4 ATV snow chains, which I would extend with eachother and adapt into 2 snow chains to fit into the new tires.


Used, but the contidion is like new. Diameter of the chain is 6mm, perfect for a tractor this size.

OK, I got the tires + rims and the snowchains already, but they wouldn't mount onto the tractor yet. The wheel bolt pattern for the tractor is measured somewhat 6x140 which can be found on some heavyweight cars, and eventually found a set of wheels originated from a Mitsubisti L200 I believe, with a bolt pattern of 6x139,7 (think it's the same for Yanmar also, as it seems to be quite popular in Japanese cars) with a centre hole of 110 mm.
Firstly, had to get the truck wheels cut apart to change the centre part with the correct bolt pattern. Also the new wheels were cut and the plan is to use only the front part of them with the bolt pattern.


With the use of some wooden blocks as a depth gauge managed to find out where the centre plate should be placed and got to measure what kind of mountings would be needed to join these two together. (Beforehand had to measure from the tractor how much offset the rims would need/how far in the rims and tires could be without touching anything)


Mounting plates going into place, made from 60x6mm structural steel flat bar, spread evenly across the gap following the same pattern than in the inner rims.


Little bit of gluing some metal together, and a finished rim was done and painted quickly with some spraycan to prevent the most rust appearing.


The centre ring on the Yanmar is 95mm, but with the speed achieved on this vehicle I don't think it's too much of an issue. Also the rim is bolted evenly with 6 bolts onto the hub so that should be more than enough...


Might not be road-legal but who cares?

[TractorGuy]

November-December 2021

The rear tires got finalized and converted the ATV snowchains to mount onto the new tires just finished. Luckily the width was excactly spot on and didn't need any changes to be made. The length had to be extended and by adding 2 snowchains in a row and cut to length they were completed quite easily.

Simultaneosly managed to pay some attention into the front end also and took the worn tires out of the rims and sandblasted them. I also took the engine cover plates off and sandblasted them the same time since they were starting to lose paint and rust. The final color would be the same for the rims and the covers so it was useful to refurbish them the same time. I also pulled the leaking radiator off the tractor and tried to locate the leak(s) but couldn't even I filled the rad with water overnight. I ended up just cleaning it and spray painted the radiator and its fan tunnel with some black spraycans.

Basecoat done on the rims and engine covers, for the base I used Tikkurilas Temacoat which is a 2-component epoxy paint intented to use on metal with anti-corrosion features. Also makes a great adhesion layer for the topcoat.



Topcoat done and drying, the weather weren't the greatest for painting (below freezing point and snowing ) which gave some twist in the paintjob. Paint for the top were Tikkurilas Temadur 90, a 2-component polyurethane extremely durable paint with a gloss finish. Doesn't need a clear coat (atleast on these kinds of parts)


The color isn't clear white, it has a slight tone in beige/cream, like the original paint as new

The front wheel bolts had some jacuzzi time in the ultrasonic cleaner with citric acid and they came out clean as a whistle. Note: if you're using citric acid to clean rust, be aware that its very strong and will easily ruin the threads of bolts and nuts if left submerged into the solution for too long.


Trac back together, new wheels and tire chains in place plus the front wheels with brand new tires. I also flushed the engine coolant lines and topped off with new coolant. Used regular green coolant as the fluid.

Already started to get the first layer of permanent snow for this winter... Rear blade in place and ready to plow some snow...
Tip: The cover in the pic is actually designed for jet skis. Only needed to cut a hole for the exhaust pipe and fits like a glove. I think a snowmobile cover would also work the same.
Have to sew some kind of rubber mat around the hole cut to prevent it from starting to tear. Eventually planning to build a shed or a canopy but this will have to do for now.

[TractorGuy]

January 2022

The weather started to get cold and eventually it was quite hard to get the tractor running 15 degrees below zero Celsius. The first aid was to use a car interior heater for some time under the cover but already knew I have to add a block heater of some sort.
Had to decide if wether I'm going to use a hose heater for coolant or a block heater directly on the engine.
The original coolant hoses are very short and in confined spaces making the installation of a hose heater rather awkward so I had to check if a block heater could be used or do you have to stick with the newer radiant heaters... Luckily online you could find a heater element for the block from Zerostart but since it would (originally, might be interchangeable) use 120V of electricity and needed to be ordered from the States or Canada it wasn't an option for now. Anyhow they had some threading information about the plug and located the correct plug from the engine for the heater element.

Here lies the plug, and yes, it was cold already


Tried opening the plug with the tools available at home but it wouldn't budge a millimeter. Tried to find a proper heater element for that inlet but faced some challenges regarding the correct threading on the block and the element, all of this tapered, straight pipe threads, whether it would follow US/UK/NPT or some else threading standard and there were too much uncertainty so I had to figure out something else. Between the different threading standards are almost no visible differences to eye and they will actually fit into eachother in some way but wouldn't ever be leakproof and you could even end up destroying the original threads so it was just too much of a gamble.
Luckily some information knew to tell that on the opposite side of the block lies freezing plugs you could use for an alternative mounting point. Tip: Many Kubotas/John Deeres share a similar engine or are built nearly the same and can be used for some kind of reference information and for which you find the heaters from Defa/Calix easier for example.

Found the freeze plug from the engine, located just in front of the starter. There is another freeze plug behind the starter motor in which you cannot mount the heater easily. Having two freeze plugs means you won't lose the freezing plug's fuse properties if the other is replaced with a heater.


The plug size is 30mm, for which Defa and Calix both manufactures heater elements. I had some Defa cables laying around from previous car projects so I ended up using the Defa element in the tractor. The product code for the heater element is 411122 / Defa and it's rated for 600W / 230V. Note: if using anything else make sure the heater coils won't stick out too far to fit into the block. This model's coils are just slightly pointing out from the housing and works well.


Removing the old freeze plug and installing the new heater element was an easy job, just drain the coolant and try to pry the freeze plug out of the block. I had to carefully drill a small hole onto the freeze plug to gain enough leverage to get it out. The new heater element is then just tapped carefully onto place at proper depth. The fitment is tight enough to be waterproof and will not leak.

The heater element in place, I routed the wiring between the "firewall" and engine to the other side of the tractor. You can see that the engine has started to be gunky from oil, it was clean enough to eat on when I purchased it (it was thoroughly cleaned and pressure washed with hot water)


I mounted the plug on the front frame next to the bumber/bar for additional front weights with some flat iron bar and long bolts so didn't have to drill or modificate the frame any way. Turned out that it isn't the best solution as the flat iron bends quite easily and gets loose, so I will have to weld the mounting onto the frame at some point.


The proper winter was ongoing and the tractor had already been doing some serious work with the snow. Works like a charm in this sized yard.

Some cooling off after swetting with snowplowing Decided to leave the newly painted engine covers off so far, will eventually mount them on once I finish repainting some other parts aswell.

[TractorGuy]

February 2022

The darn thing overheated while plowing some snow.
Already knew that the rad was still leaking although my previous investigations led nowhere regarding the leak(s) and had to top off the coolant level after couple times of use.
Was minding my own business and plowing some snow in a blizzard when suddenly heard the engine bubbling. A quick glance over to the instrument panel confirmed the worst as the warning light for low coolant level were on and the temp gauge was at its maximum reading. Quickly shut the engine off and let her cool down for a good 30 minutes or so before I moved it into its parking space. Had to also finish plowing the yard from snow manually

Took the radiator off the tractor once more and hooked it up with an air compressor to build pressure in the radiator.

Using some hoses and end plugs to plug the hose connectors... The cap plugs its location (bought a new cap) and prevents from building overpressure.


Put a tubeless tire valve into one of the end plugs so could use a tyre inflator with pressure gauge. With the radiator pressurized you could easily hear the hissing sound and with the help of some soapy water managed to locate 2 small leaks in the cells.
Cleaned around the leaks thoroughly with some steel wool (caryfully, it's very easily damaged, atleast the fins) and prepared the bare metal with some flux and tried to braze the leaks with soldering tin and a blowtorch.

Hooked up the tyre inflator again and set the pressure around 0,9-1,0 bar and let it sit for an hour or so to see if it would maintain the pressure in it.
No drop on the pressure during the test so seems like the issue got fixed.


Will have to monitor if the head gasket already blew or anything else happened during the overheating, fingers crossed...

[TractorGuy]

March-April 2022

The front crankshaft seal was leaking a bit and making a mess in the "engine bay" so removed the pulley from the crankshaft and replaced the axle shaft seal. The old seal was very brittle, and I suspect it might even be original so no wonder it had lost its properties in 4 decades...
Found out that the size for the seal is 25x40x8mm with a right-hand twist, and with a little bit of research found that it's been used in some Japanese cars (Nissan and Toyota) as an axle seal. I found a proper seal from a local dealer, almost end up in a bankrupcy from the expense of the seal of 3,20€. The product codes for the seal is Corteco 19016665B / Payen 090-NJ635 etc.


The battery on my trac was loose so I decided to add a mounting to secure the battery in place. I purchased a premade battery holder but to me, it was way too lightweight and I would've needed to extend it to mount lengthwise on the battery, so I ended up only using the J-hooks and wingnuts from the package and DIY'd the mount from proper steel that would take some abuse and load and I can trust on...


Here is the finished battery mount in place, I have to cut the other side shorter and paint it later on because as you can see from the pic, right now there is a small chance that the + side of the battery cable shoe can touch the battery mount, which is metal and directly connected to the frame, eventually causing a short directly from the battery terminals and thick battery cables, not ideal... I think it will hold just fine if cut next to the crossmember on the positive side of the battery.

[TractorGuy]

May 2022


Found a plough on sale online during the winter and purchased it to plow our vegetable patch with the tractor.
It was used but in OK condition, has some rust on it and the adjustable depth support wheel is quite stiff so will have to do some minor service on it at some point.

The winter was quite long this year and it took forever to melt the ice and snow in the spring. Usually at this time of the year the garden is starting to have everything planted...

First passes of plowing done, however in the end the tires didn't have enough grip so ended up removing one of the blades from the plough. Could even change to the rice tires for plowing but don't bother doing that... Planning to make some kind of ploughing tire chains from angle iron at some point, should gain a lot more traction with those. The soil was quite moist also so maybe eventually it will work OK when ploughing during the fall, we'll find out later...

A week or two later the soil was dry enough to try tilling it with the tiller that I got negotiated within the deal.


The tiller was sitting on the tractor in a very strange angle if mounted directly onto the 3pt hitch making the PTO shaft run in a too angular position plus the length between the PTO and the tiller were too small to fit any PTO shaft so needed to make some kind of extensions to the lower lift arms. Had some structural U-steel laying around which was a snug fit onto the lift arms. Only needed to drill few holes into the extension arms and you could bolt it onto the lift arms and secure in place with the pins. Even with the extensions in place had to shorten the PTO shaft to fit in place.


Tilled the vegetable patch twice and also some flowerbed in a hill of leftover land that came from where the house is built I believe, it had very strong rooting from different weeds and bushes but the tiller survived with ease. Sold the tiller afterwards since it may be too big for the size of our garden





Original Yanmar RS1303, removed some of the parts I couldn't realize what they were for (it didn't come with the cutting blades, might be related to them) and cut the guard flaps a bit to move freely. Should've added a secure chain to prevent the flaps hitting the blades accidentally.

[TractorGuy]

May 2022

The parts I cut from the tiller were going to be used in a different place, they were almost a ready add-on for the 3 point hitch in which you could have a towing ball on.

The width cut to length, you can easily see that it really is amazingly close with a 3pt attachment.


Bolted the pins onto some 50x5mm flat iron bar and welded them on the ends of the crossmember, plus cut and welded a lip from a 60x8mm flat iron bar for the tow ball to mount on.


Finally cut the excess off of the vertical pipes and tried in place. Works well and is sturdy. The vertical pipes are hollow from the bottom also so the rainwater can freely fall through. Had to hammer the metal tabs a little wider for the top link because couldn't be arsed to grind them off and reweld into place... Later on sodablasted and spraypainted the new metal parts I welded on with some zink spraypaint to prevent rusting.

Anyone know where the lift arm connecting rods should be mounted on the lower lift arms? See the first and last picture of this post. In the first picture they're mounted to the outermost hole and in the last picture I've changed it to the inner holes next to the sway chains because of the tillers extension arms. If mounted on the outermost holes they are in a steep angle which doesn't seem right for lifting...

[TractorGuy]

July 2022

Didn't secure the block heater cable well enough during the installation in winter and eventually it got pinched between the front axle and the frame. Got some flattening in the armor cable... Don't know if the cables inside are OK or not, haven't caused a problem to this date yet... Maybe I have to change the cable just in case.

Drilled several holes in the frame and secured some zip tie anchors in place with M4 bolts and nuts. Yeah, the cable is quite deformed...


The frame has few good points premade to ziptie the cable, now it's as good as it gets. Haven't cleaned the engine since fixing the front crankshaft seal, will have to do that in the future and see if it stays clean now...

Purchased a rear transport box from a friend of mine, he got it from a house trade with a bigger David Brown tractor, I think the previous owner was cheap and had purchased this box for the David Brown. Ofcourse it is way too small for a bigger tractor so it was basically unused and also useless for my friend. For this Yanmar it is spot on. It is quite sturdy and seems to be well made although it's also Chinese or Baltic -made, only the lip is made from the sheet metal also and needs to be replaced or strenghtened by a proper Hardox wear plate in the future. It is tipping and has a removable backplate to use as an open scoop without the plate or as a box with the plate in place.

[TractorGuy]

August 2022

Replaced the hydraulic oil just in case, plus cleaned the hydraulic oil filter/screen.
The old oil was clear and the screen not dirty at all, seems like this job was done previously on the tractor not long time ago. Well, now I can count on that it's done and will serve years ahead with my use...



Some prick had used too small gasket in the hydraulic filter end cap during the previous change, I had to try to reuse it since I didn't have an O-ring of that size available, but it ended up leaking, so I had to drip the oil once again and purchase a proper size gasket.


With the end-cap loose I found a matching gasket from a local dealer, the expense was huge (2€ )
The O-ring size for the hydraulic screen end cap is 54x3,0 mm and both the drain plugs uses 16x2,5 mm O-ring seals which I had available in an assortment box. Oil capacity is around 12 litres, and I used Valtra Transmission XT60+ oil.

[TractorGuy]

September 2022

The summer's officially over and ploughed the vegetable patch. This time the tires had enough grip to plow and didn't even need to use the diff lock. Had only 1 blade in place since last time though, and still have to try how it will manage with both the blades in place sometime.


Bought some mud flap rubber sheet to make the reinforcement rings around the exhaust in the cover. Tried to sew it on but couldn't pierce the 2x5mm thick rubber even though predrilled them with 1mm drill bit. Ended up blasting them together with some staples, I think it should work and prevent most of the tears from now on.



Also got finally motivated to swap the battery cables, had the accessories laying around for the last 5 months already


No - I don't necessarily need (hopefully) the starter cables with the tractor, however the prices of 25mm² battery cables were quite high and I found these affordable starter cables that comes with the same gauge wires in a length of 3,5 metres so decided to buy them instead. The cost was rougly the same (16,90€) than just 1 meter of black and red 25mm² cable, plus with the leftovers I end up having 2,5m starter cables as well.


The trac didn't have a main switch yet so installed one while replacing the battery cables. Here's the bracket I made from some scrap aluminium angle iron I had laying around, the switch will directly mount on the bracket from it's another pole so I only need 1 negative side battery cable. Cleaned the frame where it's direcly bolted on so it should make a good contact. The aluminium bracket is good since it wont corrode like an iron one would and is great material to conduct electricity.


New battery cables forming, Tip: If you don't own the right tools to make the proper crimps to these large connectors you can use a spanner and a flat head screwdriver to make the crimp. Place the connector on a spanner snug on it and fix it in place in a vise. Then just set the cable in the connector and tap the center part of the connector tightly with the flat head screwdriver. This will form the connector in M-shape and will secure the cable in place. Lastly you can crimp the connector from it's sides to really pinch the cable in place.


One end finished, with double layer shrink-wrap in place... Clean hands


Negative side in place with the new main switch


Positive side in place from battery to the starter, nice red coloured cable compared to the old one. Plus it's a bit thicker so it will theoretically help with the current flow during starting. I also cut the battery clamp so it won't accidentally touch the positive side battery shoe/cable causing a short. Also had covers for the battery shoes but forgot to add them in place for now, will have to take the cables off once more to slide the covers onto the battery cables.

[TractorGuy]

October 2022

Not that much use for the trac this time of the year, have only been towing the trailer around few times with lumber to do some firewood for the winter.


Did some research to replace the air filter for the trac, as I cleaned the old one few months back and it was filled with gunk. I believe it hasn't been replaced nor maintenanced for the last few years. I really think the airflow will be much different with a new filter, the amount of dirt I was able to get off the old filter while cleaning it was just ridiculous. A replacement filter from WIX would be 46270, the measurements are the right even though some may say WIX doesn't have the right filter for these tractors. That part was however very difficult to get around here so I found with a little bit of fiddling around a Hengst E750L filter which was ordered & put into place. The Hengst package had some cross-reference numbers on it (which is very exceptional) and they state a Mann C 934 X would be equivalent for example. Just make sure that the filter will bottom out before the top part will start to prevent the filter fully to seal properly at the base.

Replaced the current mounting point for the heating element cable and welded the mount on the front beam directly.



Next thing on the list was adding some lighting to the tractor because it is getting pitch black during the evenings already and during the wintertime some proper work lights are pretty damn nice to have while snowplowing.

I had the lights purchased last November already but wasn't too keen to mount them onto place until now... The right hand side had mounting holes premade for the original round-halogen light, which wasn't in my tractor anyways, it had been broken or removed before my ownership already. For the left fender I just copied what was on the right side. 1 hole for the mounting bolt and 1 hole for the cable and a rubber grommet.

Certainly the new lights wouldn't work without electricity, so I had to fiddle around with the wiring. Inspired by the fuse-convert-kit available I decided to change the fusebox on my tractor as well, though I haven't had any issues with the original fuses yet, but it will be beneficial to have few spare fuse slots available for future needs as well.



This is how my original fuse box looked like. It isn't the same that uses the metal slats, this is for glass tube fuses. I think Yanmar have had different fuse boxes they used, or it might have changed during some manufacturing year. This makes things more straightforward since the original box already used the quick connectors which would fit into new fuse boxes.
This is my foundings regarding the wiring, from top to bottom (use with own discretion):
- White/Black wire: 12V feed from ignition switch. Powered only when the key is in "ON" position. It currently feeds all the electrics from this fuse box.
- 5A fuse, Red+Red wires: Warning lights in the dash
- 10A fuse, Green/Black wire: Blinkers/turn signal lights
- 10A fuse, Green wire: Horn
- 10A fuse, Red+Red/Black wires: Original driving lights (front), instrument cluster lights (backlighting) and original rear light

I didn't check if the Thermostart is run by any of these fuses, but I think besides it there are no other electric components in the tractor, so it is very simplified in terms of electronics.


The new fuse box will be slightly larger and will be using side-feed wires instead of back-feed like the original one, so I did have to drill an extra hole for the wire feed-in and a new hole for one mounting bolt since the original holes wouldn't match up with the fuse box model I chose.


Fuse box bolted in place with thru-bolts and nuts, for the wire feed hole I used a pass-through item used for boats (wires, steering cables etc.) to prevent any wires damaging from the sharp metal edges. I had to extend the original wires since the new route for the fuse box would be slightly longer compared to the original one. The new fuse box has 10 slots, so that's 6 extra vs. original.


Original electronics made in the new fuse box. The new fusebox has lights which tells you if you have a blown fuse (in the pic one fuse was removed acting as a "blown" fuse), neat little feature but quite useless to my mind. I used these flag-shaped connectors to make the wiring more neat, and I really like the outcome!

One stumbling block was the connectors itself, since I found out that you should have a special tool for these connectors. Obviously I didnt have one so with trial-and-error I found out that with water pump pliers you manage to get a quite decent crimp as you get pretty damn good force just next the pivot point of the pliers. Make sure you use ones with shaped jaws that has space for the connector so you won't deform the whole connector. (Shame on you all Channellock fans out there in the USA )


The rear wiring assembly got some attention next and I ran the new wires together with the original wiring into a nylon wire sleeve with heatshrinks in the end and electrical tape in the Y-branch.


Then I needed on-off switches and decided to mount them on the panel below the instrument cluster and steering wheel since it is easily available to handle the switches, has quite a lot straight surface for switches to mount on and plenty of room back of it for the wires etc.


The upper blue switch was added for a front light (might add later on) and the lower one is for the rear lights. Turned into cop vehicle simultaneously Also marked each wire with some tape and pen which components they are running.


Lights working, yippee!


That's what the outcome looks like, not that much can be seen from the fuse box with the panels in place and the fuse box mounted in the original place. Definitely a safe place and won't accidentally bind up any wires during operation.

The original coolant overflow bottle was very stained in yellow color and the sensor seal had a small leak in it, eventually emptying the overflow tank within a month or two, so I decided to replace it. The original place for the overflow bottle is quite small and I couldn't find any proper tank that would fit in (and preferably having a sensor in it) so I had to bite the bullet and order a replacement part. The replacement doesn't have a sensor in it, so will have to see if I can sort it out since I wouldn't want to remove a (working) system that has been originally in the trac...


The whole fuse box remained to be feed through the 12V supply from the ignition switch. Do you think it is OK, isn't there quite a lot load for the ignition switch to carry? The original wiring wasn't that thick either. I was thinking to replace the 12V feed directly from battery/starter motor with thicker cable, and have a relay between which would have the signal from the original feed line (from ignition switch). Any suggestions?

[winston]

Nice work. I'm not much on electrical so no recommendations from me.

[TractorGuy]

November 2022

Continuing where were left last time.
Ordered online a new level sensor that I could fit into the new expansion tank. I think it is a general (fluid) level sensor that you can use in hydroponics systems, aquariums, etc...
They are very cheap on Aliexpress and seems to be reasonable in terms of the reviews.
I post a link below, don't know how long it will work though. Just search for float level sensors in that case then.
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/33058665955.html



Once received, tested the sensor with a multimeter for open/closed contact. The function is just the opposite I wanted it to work but just have to deal with it. It is closed (connected) when the sensor is straight ahead - in which it'll light up the warning light in the dash (if you remove the original sensor ie. while replacing the expansion tank, leave the wires open and that will keep the warning light off). It has to be mounted well below the fluid level so the float will work the sensor away from the closed position to an open wiring loom state.

Next step was to drill a hole in the brand-new expansion tank... a 16 mm hole was needed for my style sensor.


Connected the original wiring loom/connector to the sensor. Mounting level for the sensor is about the same than is the Low line on the tank.
A puzzle is hidden in this picture for you Americans... There are 3 items in this picture which are more or less familiar in your continent. Can you spot them out?


That is how the sensor looks like inside the tank. Mounted the expansion tank on the tractor and filled with coolant, the sensors float started to arise and eventually shut the warning light, so it seems to work with the tractors electronics. It seemed quite sensible so will have to see if it will flash during use when the coolant level might shake a little. Also found out that the caps suction hose might be in the way for the sensor to work properly, so might have to replace the suction hose to something different that will secure the sensor to move freely... Didn't take that into account in the first place while choosing the sensor location... I think it might have just fitted 90 degrees in a different way so the pick-up-hose wouldn't affect the sensor in that case (really close if it would fit in or not - thus I decided to mount longitudinally) There's also longer and shorter sensors available in the link also, so maybe choosing the shorter one would ensure the fitment if fitted onto the side of the expansion tank.