The lust for john deere??

If you are really serious about a good solid rotary cutter, hold your pocketbook, cry a bunch and buy a Schulte.  The quality will be remembered long, long after the higher price is forgiven.

bigal121892 wrote: Lon, if you read my original post, I said the the 4020 had the original bearings in the engine. Yes the top end had been overhauled. Since this tractor was used so much, we changed oil in the engine every 75 hours, and the rest of the oils every year. You have to remember, for most of this tractors life, it was never worked hard. We also had a 7010 that had 17,000 hours on it. This tractor had one overhaul, and that was due to electrolysis in the lower part of the block. Also on the 7010, every year we would pull the top off the differential, and replace the shaft that went through the spider gears. Over the years, we have found that this was the weak spot of the rear end of these tractors, especially if used during the winter as yard tractors.

4020 is one of the only john deeres that i like.

JD engineers designed the 4020 and 3020 in isolation over about a four year period. The only constraint they had was to fit the size of the 720/730. They looked at V and flat engines. The transmission gets the effect of two separate gear boxes all in one short transmission with three shafts (plus a reverse shaft). Its confusing to shift until you learn it. The shifter is set up as three gears synchronized (two forward, one reverse) and four ranges unsynchronized. The dry clutch is fairly hefty and lasts pretty good. Its not messy to replace.

When I went shopping for a taller tractor to suppliment my MF-135 on my farm but to allow more crop clearance for cultivating and spraying, I looked at AC and others, but for EACH AC I found for sale, I found 2 dozen 65 to 90 HP JD new generation tractors and when a dealer had an AC, he wanted more than the JDs brought. I bought a gas 4020 because the green paint premium wasn't nearly so much and I know how to tune a gas tractor. Its needed ignition work twice in the last decade, once when I got it and once last year partly from not being run for a year. At this age a diesel 4020 is on its first injection pump rebuild for about $500 (same pump was used on some AC diesels that shells out the plastic governor ring wiith age) that would have bought 15 or 20 sets of plugs and points for the gas 4020. Yes the gas 4020 is one of the poorest tractors for fuel economy, but with steering by power and brakes by power, its one of the tractors that takes the least effort to drive. No one ever looks for aftermarket power steering to add because it didn't come any other way. And for the $4k premium price of a diesel ten years ago, I figured I could buy all my gasoline for the 4020 for about 14 years. Turned out it needed a bit of tuning and I was able to improve on that considerably. Cut the consumption from 400 gallons the first year to 250 after that. Doing the same work that the MF-135 did on 110 gallons in three times as many days of field work. The AC 2000 monobeam plow was a good load for the 4020. And covered a lot more ground per day than the 2 bottom Case plow did with the MF-135.

The selection of the used JD was much greater in that size tractor than any AC. So I went green. I pulled implements of all colors.

Gerald J.

The isolation Gerald talks about was a building I remember as a Super Valu grocery store on Falls ave just up from Ansborough ave in Waterloo.

JD bought the patent rights to Ford's select O Speed transmission and then proceeded to remove two speeds from it.  I do think linkage is better then cables for shifting transmissions but which is cheaper to rebuild/replace.  Sometimes my 7580 is a mystery shift. 

I don't know about lusting for a Deere tractor, I'm not a Deere hater but the tractors aren't high on my preferences, though a old 60 might be tempting if was cheap and nice LOL.

The books on the design of the JD new generation tractors puts the engine design purely on the crew in isolation. They apparently didn't consider out side sources. All they knew was that the 2 cylinder production machinery was about worn out so it was all going to be replaced. Though it was shipped to South America and two cylinder tractors were built there for several years more after the new generation tractors came  out in 1960.

Gerald J.

also....what did JD ever really invent themselves...the 1 bottom plow pulled behing an oxen or horse? everything else they copied from other brands! and they still try to do it!  JD have lost so many patent infringement court cases than anyone else!

i still have my 7010, still a good tractor, has never been apart for anything. i did have a new valve cover gasket put on once, and a new turbo this year, 1 new window glass that a neighbor kid shot out, other that tires/batteries/and the usual up keep, it still runs great and everything still works...oh yeah, i did replace the AC compressor last year. the neighbor i was talking about in the previous post, has replaced his JD tractors about 7-8 times since 1980.....whose pockets has he padded?? i just keep putting all that money in my pockets. that where all the resale money is! i think if i would just give that tractor away to someone, i would still be money ahead!

My dad bought an almost new 4020 with power shift at a farm auction back in the 60's for $5000.00.  A few years back he and his friend were at a farm auction and one sold for almost $10,000.  His buddy that was with him at the first auction looked at him and said didn't you pay $ 5000 for yours 35 years ago? Dad is retired now in NE SD but still has his 4020 and 620.  He and his friend did have reversed AC wc or wd's in the 70's.  

Edited by Terry G - 02 Jan 2011 at 10:59am

At the present time I have (2) 185's..A 6060..7045 and a 8070.I just sold my 7020 and 7060.On the JD side I have a 4640..2640....2630 and a 2030.I have always like the AC's and still do.BUT the JD's have been good tractors and theres no comparison when it comes to dealers,parts, or resale value.I have heard of how more economical the AC's are compared to the JD's in fuel consumption but I can't see that much difference.When pulling hard the 8070 and 7045 both use the fuel,I have heard that switching to Bosh injectors would really help but haven't changed any yet.I love the AC's and have heard how much better the 8000 series were than the 40 series JD but I'll have to say that the JD 4640 can stay up with the AC 8070 fwa in dry ground.If a younger man is planning on staying in business for the long term he needs to be running green tractors.I know some will totally disagree with me and I don't plan on selling any of my AC's (still love them) but thats the way I see it.BStone

Yah you have to look at the teeth to know a 4020's work history. Particularly the steering wheel, the pedals, and the generator pulley. I suspect mine has been around a while, the sides of the generator pulley were worn parallel. Didn't pull the generator very good. The water pump pulley was worn but not as much. Many a tachometer hasn't lasted the life of the tractor, whether JD or any other make. If it wasn't the tach it was the tach cable. But will any tractor made in 2011 still be running in2061? Likely the electronic parts will have been forgotten by then and can't be replicated one at a time for restoration.

Gerald J.

Your right Lonn.The AC's are a good investment for the money.I bought the 8070 fwa with 6675 hrs from the original owner in sept. of 09 for $10.650 55 miles from my place.He was a farmer who had been on AC tractors since the 60's but has gone to green.The JD dealer called me to come to the field and try it out....

Gerald J. wrote: 4020 had independent PTO always. Didn't need a 6' long operator's deck to fit over two transmissions one behind the other, did it all in one short transmission box. 4020 went to dry air cleaner about 1965 at SN 91000. And unlike the 190 XT, the 4020 had enough pinions in the differential it didn't self destruct when worked. Had differential lock as an option also. Power steering and power brakes. JD made 193,852 4020 and 4000 (stripped version) after 57,572 4010. Plus 87,993 3020 (four cylinder version) after 45,222 3010. AC only wished such production numbers. Gerald J.

Edited by Lonn - 02 Jan 2011 at 5:37pm