TYM 353HST - mini review The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

fla45fan

Member
Holy crap bc! I been living in Melbourne for 15 years!! Near the Wickham Rd/ Lake Washington Rd area. We moved there when my wife finally gave up on WNY winters. Now that I have retired (early - not exactly when I expected) and got my old home, we are doing the snowbird thing. When we drive back we go right through Pittsburgh. We are usually here until mid Nov and come back mid May, with trips in between. This place was always labor intensive for a residence (not a farm) but it's beautiful. Last night we had a light SW wind blowing, which brought a combination of smells - grapes from the vineyards and cookies baking in town at Petrie's. They have an outlet in their offices and you can get bags of broken ones for a buck or two. Festival of Grapes is this weekend too.
 

bczoom

Senior Member
Staff member
Gold Site Supporter
OK, looking at google maps, you're about 11 miles N of where my BIL/SIL live. They live off of Palm Bay Rd (Just east of I-95).

I think our niece/nephew live a bit closer. There phone starts with (321) 917- which I think is Melbourne. They just moved there but I'm thinking they lived towards Rockledge.
 

Joeyd

Member
Fla45fan -

The 353HST does not have a clutch. On the left side of the floor board are the left and right brakes with the lock. On the right side of the floor board we have the brake pedal, forward and reverse.
 

shvl73

Member
I like the electric pto clutch. It allows the split brakes on the left where they are easy to use, even if I only use them <10 time/year. it's been reliable for me.
 

Joeyd

Member
So dual brake pedals?

The left side pedals control the individual right and left side brakes for making tight turns when actually plowing I have been told. The brake pedal on the right side is used as the parking brake and does a good job at braking in most instances.
 

fla45fan

Member
It's back! (from the dealer) and ready to roll! Ok a couple of things - First, the price I got from the dealer was a screaming deal. He was looking to move this particular unit because of an overstock situation> normally this rig w/ FEL would go for more than $15500 but he gave me $1k off to bring it to 14500 plus the 6 foot york rake. Still a good deal compared to the other brands at $15500, but happy to get my deal.
More Good
Ergonomics are still a high point on this rig. Looking over the hood is amazing compared to my neighbors rigs. With the sloping hood I can, without any trouble, see the bucket - not to mention the bucket indicator makes a huge difference (dealer adjusted this for me during the pre-delivery set-up). This is a clutchless rig as well, as others have indicated, simple for a newbie (like me) and fast for a pro when doing FEL work.

Now at the dealer set up I had him install a couple of things. First bucket hooks - 3 grab and 2 slip hooks welded and painted - great job, looks almost factory installed. I also needed lights on the ROPS. After giving him a picture from this website (thinks PBinWA) and some driving lights from WallyWorld and a question about the hook-up, the dealer took in upon himself and his crew to fashion a bar that attached to an existing bracket on the ROPS. He felt the switch was inadaquate and installed a water resistant, rubber armored switch instead. (If I knew he was going to do all this I probably would have found a amber strobe for winter plowing duties as well.) Next after straightening the bracket I bent with the 3pt and york rake, he readjusted the settings and added a SMV sign and quick release bracket, in case I need to roll down the highway or need to use the bracket for something else. Total time from Pick-up to redelivery - one week. Once again, happy as a pig in poo. Now for more seat time! I may have more on the interesting Korean to English translations in the Owners manual after I stop laughing! Once again, High recommendations for this tractor and my dealer, Rammelt's in Westfield NY!
 

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Doc

Admin
Staff member
Gold Site Supporter
Good pics!!!! Very nice add on with the lights and all. :thumb: I figure you could add an amber one in the mix without to much trouble (maybe even off the same switch since you'd probably want all of them on at the same time anyway.
That sloped hood does indeed make for a better view of things right out front and where exactly your bucket is. :thumb: Very nice!!!!!
 

bczoom

Senior Member
Staff member
Gold Site Supporter
Glad to hear everything (except the owners manual) is going nicely for you.

A couple things I've found on the bucket.
When using the hooks, particularly the outside ones, try to make sure you're always pulling straight down. If you grab something in the middle from the 2 outside hooks (so it makes a V) will bend your hooks and the top of your bucket inward.

Personally, I could never get used to the rod type bucket level indicators. When using the loader, I want to be looking at the bucket and the ground in front of it. What I've found worse is that when you have the bucket pointing down, the rod disappears. It's then much more difficult to determine your digging angle.

What I'd propose if this bothers you as well, is to weld a piece of steel onto the top of your bucket that's:
A) Parallel with the bottom of the bucket.
B) In sight from the drivers seat
C) Consider putting one on each side so you can see it when looking at either side.

You can then use that as your gauge for determining level as well as degree of angle whether curling upwards or digging. Your eyes then don't have to look away from the bucket and you have an indicator after your rod disappears when you have the bucket turned downward.
 

fla45fan

Member
bczoom
Thanks again for the great points on the bucket - it makes sense that with really heavy objects (logs for me) that could cause problems. Dealer spoke of using the center hook so that I didn't put too much pressure on one side of the hydralics/boom arms. I figured the outside ones might come in handy for attaching a platform or other light duty chores. Never thought about an angle gauge - gotta think on how exactly I would attach one. Sounds like a great idea. Before the bucket indicator rod was adjusted I found myself jumping up to get an idea of the angle and then quickly sitting down before the engine cut-off engaged! I'm sure that first day I looked like a jackalope, or jack*$$, up and down, up and down, . . . :confused::blob_blue:
 

RollTide1

New member
Very helpful forum for a newbie

I've been reading everyone's post about the TYM tractors and it helped me decide the TYM T353HST would be the best fit for my needs. Thanks for all the great info.
 

Doc

Admin
Staff member
Gold Site Supporter
Glad to be of help RollTide. Welcome to Net Tractor Talk! :tiphat:

Please let us know how it works out for you, and post pics if you don't mind. :thumb:
 

Joeyd

Member
Glad to hear it I really enjoy mine. Keep posting your thoughts on it and any modifications you might do to it. I thiink I will add lights on the ROPS like Fla45Fan did to his. I will try to find lights I can swivel 360 so I can use it blowing snow (3 pt) or using the FEL.
 

fla45fan

Member
Good to hear Roll Tide and welcome! I think you have made a good decision. As I said before, if this tractor is half as good as my dealer, this will be great!

By the way, I have now officially named it - The Red Bull
Now I'm going to have to find some horns for the front and those bull b@lls that hang from a trailer hitch to finish the Job!
 

RollTide1

New member
I like the ROPS light idea also. Has anyone had any experience with a Worksaver grapple rake attachment? This is the package I have put together.....TYM T353HST w/ LT353H loader, Worksaver FLGR-4062S grapple rake and Modern 5' Competitor galvanized cutter to start with and hopefully add a backhoe down the road.
 

Joeyd

Member
Hey fla45fan -

I just noticed something missing in one of your pictures. You show the light switch near your lever for the 3pt hydraulics. My 353 has two locks so I can set a high and low stop for the hydraulics. They slide forward and back and have a knob on them to tighten them in place. You might want to check with the dealer.
 

fla45fan

Member
Joeyd
got pix? that may be a perfect fix for the crunching of my smv sign bar! I have to see him later this week about a sleeve for the rear pto - I won't be using it for now and I'd like to keep the sand out of the gear.
 
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