4000 Hours on John Deere 4720

chim · Nov 12, 2018

Torn on this. Looking at a used tractor. On one hand that is twice as many hours as I would to see. On the other hand I have seen the same model for sale with up to 8000 hours. Whether the latter got there with the original engine and hydro pump is not known.

Good (or poor) maintenance can make a huge difference of course. Price is not bad and it would suit my needs since a loader on this one is not desired. Life has no certainties, so I am not sure whether to gamble on putting another 2000 hours on it without running into something major. Thoughts?

cathy liebchen · Nov 13, 2018

too many hours unless it is almost free. That model is easy to find used- So many different brands at that HP level- Personally I would look for anything with far fewer hours

Wagtail · Nov 13, 2018

Is it the post-'09 version (66hp)?

The tractor will be Tier III, which is a bonus.

TSO · Nov 13, 2018

What's the price and what are you using it for?

RickB · Nov 13, 2018

Unless you know where it came from, how it was used and how it was maintained, I would pass. Free is too costly if it shells out the hydro.

CADplans · Nov 13, 2018

My brother-in-law got rid of EVERY tractor at 4,000 hours,,,

We ran every tractor at full throttle all the time,,
when they started using tractors for tasks that needed less than full throttle,, the tractors lasted proportionally longer,,

The 4630 was the ultimate story,, he traded it at 4,010 hours,, it blew before 4,050 hours,,
NOTHING in the engine was left that was usable,, even the turbo was destroyed,,,

chim · Nov 13, 2018

Gentlemen, I thank you for confirming what I know in my heart. There are a couple different ways it could go. The L3200 with a home brew cab is good for most weather. It has a great heater but no A/C. One goal is to replace it with a tractor that has A/C with somewhere around 38 or so horses. The old Ford keeps on going, and it's nice to have a pair of tractors. It can be handy to have different implements on them when doing projects.

One plan would be to replace the Kubota with a factory-cabbed tractor with loader and keep the old Ford (no loader on it). The Ford is in decent shape, but it isn't getting an younger.

Another plan would be a much less expensive cabbed tractor without a loader (higher hours, and a lot more risk), sell the Ford and keep the Kubota.

Plan C would be get a new tractor, or absolute creampuff pre-2014 and sell off both the Kubota and the Ford. The one thing with this plan is I really want to avoid DEF and DPF. At present that narrows the selection of new tractors to Mahindra. I did have a Massey Ferguson salesman tell me that MF is coming out with a CRD engine that uses only a catalytic converter like the Mahindra.

The majority of the hours (100 or so per year) will be mowing with some loader work, snow removal and misc small projects.

EDIT TO ADD: Here's the JD that was the subject of discussion:

http://www.cpequipmentsales.com/inv...43979/2007-john-deere-3720?dlr=1&pcid=3259193