4010/4020 Tractor Purchase dilema

JD4010 D NF synchro, used to have Turbo now does not. $4.5K

JD 4020 G WFE, powershift $6K

or for $1200 more

JD 4020 G WFE , synchro with Loader($7.2K)

I cut about 20 acres of hay with 14 Ft JD1600 and use 327 baler. I am a flat grounder(no hills) in Indiana(Thus NF won't hurt me though would rather have WFE).

If it makes a difference I have a fuel(diesel) tank. Could that be emptied and switched to gas? I currently have 3010D.

$7200 is about as much as I want to swing right now. My preference is 4020D WFE Powershift, but funds are limiting factor. Load is always handy for moving snow and in the future get an accumulator system.....

Furthermore, if I didn't scrap out each 4020, I might just sell it ten years later for more than I paid for it, INCLUDING repairs. That new tractor probably won't run for 40 years or appreciate in price after 30 years.

Yah, a gas 4020 will need a tuneup occasionally. $40 bucks for everything. Diesel tune up $80 an injector $500 for the injection pump, buys a lifetime of plugs, points, condensers, rotors, and wires.

Gerald J.

The 4010 may have a smaller engine and drive train, and never was available with power shift. The side console 4020 is the most prized and will often bring a price more than double the price for a working 4010.

I also am sure I know how to tune a gas engine and while a diesel doesn't need tuning nearly as often, injectors and a pump rebuild build will buy lots of gasoline. And the pumps in vintage 4010 and 4020, if they haven't been rebuilt, will probably start shedding parts of the plastic governor ring which stops up the fuel return line and when the ring fails completely the engine may overspeed seriously.

I also keep a MF-135 for lighter tasks around the place and it runs all day planting or mowing on 1/4 the fuel the 4020 takes.

Now there are good and there are bad 4010/4020. Its a popular tractor, been popular ever since it came out and the serial numbers pass 250,000 which may hint at that many made. So there are parts all over, both new and used. But there are tractors that are worn way down and those can be a money sink keeping them running. There are also tractors with similar time ages that have never been worked hard and will keep on working for another 40 years. You have to judge the individual.

The later 4020 with side console also doesn't have the sometimes troublesome crankcase ventilation pump and the left hand operated hydraulic remotes with the cables that can rust fast (three point the same way) and there possibly can be three remotes on the side console 4020 and those remote designs stayed the same for decades.

The PTO stub shaft on the 4010 is not as strong or as stable as the PTO stub shaft on the 4020 and when changing the stub shaft on the 4010 if some finesse is not appied its possible to tear up the PTO speed shifting requiring a tranmission split to be fixed.

Gerald

Gerald J.