JD 790 and 419 loader

[RyanL]

Hi, I went and looked at a John Deere 790 4x4 with the newer 419 loader it has AG tires on it but they have two other 790's with R-4's ( I want the R-4's) . I E-mailed him about the price of the tractor and loader and R-4's, so i was wanting to know if anyone could give me the price they paid for theres.
I like the way the tractor controls and everything else is setup but the one thing i am not sure about is the Gear trans. Is the transmission reliable as far as back and forth mower work. What else has went wrong with these tractors besides the Cheap battery cable ends. And was there a transmission flaw with the 790's? Any advice would be appreciated!!

P.S. I got a 1965 Ford Mustang convertiable for sale in the Classified section under "other" in the tractor part of the forum.

Thanks
Ryan

 

[John Weaver]

RyanL, I have a 790 4wd, bought in 2000. It came with the hydraulic controls for a FEL (but not the FEL) and R4's. Paid 12,000. Just bought # 70 FEL for 2,800. I don't know of any problems with the gear transmission, but you may not like it for many changes in direction. PS, TV just said it's 2003. John.

 

[RobS]

Ryan, I've got a 790 w/ 70 loader. About 125 hours and it's been great. No problems other than the battery cable issue you noted. The trans is fine but you pretty much have to be at a dead stop to shift between gears. While mowing, you'll be relying heavily on the two stage clutch to keep the PTO running while you shift. Make sure you try that out at the dealer. It works fine, but does require a bit of finesse to get the correct clutch engagement point. You didn't mention if your mowing was finish work or brush hogging. The PTO clutch is a bigger deal for the brush hog as it has more momentum to deal with.

Overall, it's a great little tractor and a tremendous value /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

 

[RyanL]

RobS, I will be using the tractor for running a 5' finish mower and a 5' bush hog. another ting i wanted to ask is are the king kutter brand mowers good cutting and long lasting mower.

Ryan

 

[John Weaver]

I have heard there is a #419 FEL for the JD790. How is it different from the #70 FEL? Anybody seen one? John.

 

[RobS]

Ryan, I've got a King Kutter box blade, rake and scraper blade. I'm happy with all, and like the 790 they are good value. I've got a Deere 513 rotary cutter and it's a piece of junk. The King Kutter cutters I've seen are much heavier duty than the 513.

As I mentioned before, check out the clutch action before you buy. It's not difficult, but does take some getting used to. Part way down disengages the transmission and all the way down also disengages the PTO. When brush hogging you'll want to keep the cutter spinning when you change tractor direction otherwise you risk shear pins when you re-engage. So to change direction you push the clutch down partway, come to a stop, shift and release the clutch to resume travel. Not difficult, but if you have a lot of direction changing to do while cutting it could become a nuisance.

Good luck /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

 

[RyanL]

John Weaver, The 419 loader is like the loaders for the 4000 series tractors and the 990 tractor it has a different way of unhooking off of the tractor and the bucket is removable. I will post some pics out of some brochures. The first pic is the way the loader detach's from the tractor. The second pic is a close up view of the way the bucket detach's.

Ryan

 

[RyanL]

John Weaver, The 419 loader is like the loaders for the 4000 series tractors and the 990 tractor it has a different way of unhooking off of the tractor and the bucket is removable. I will post some pics out of some brochures. The first pic is the way the loader detach's from the tractor. Ryan

 

[RoyJackson]

So to change direction you push the clutch down partway, come to a stop, shift and release the clutch to resume travel.

Rob, does your 790 have a stop to indicate the limit of the "first" stage travel (that is, when you can shift gears but not stop the PTO)?

I read this (but not about the 790) on a post somewhere...think it was referring to a Kubota though.

Also read the new operator's manual (there's two 790 manuals on the Deere website now) for the 790 (newer models). Seems like the horse power rating was dropped a bit (23.6 @ the PTO vs. 25.0 PTO HP on the older 790's). Probably just a more honest rating since it doesn't appear anything else changed.

I'm going to look very seriously into buying a 790 this Spring...still one of the best values on the market, IMHO.

 

[RobS]

Roy, the two stage clutch is pretty subtle. No positive stop at the first stage, only a slight increase in effort required to push on through to release the PTO.

The only time I've ever had a problem with it was early on in my learning curve. I had been brush hogging and came to a stop for some reason (direction change, assessment, who knows?). I must have been stopped for a while and inadvertently had the clutch all the way down. When I resumed I let the clutch out (PTO speed on the engine) and sheared a cutter pin. That's when I began paying more attention to the clutch. Of course, for a very brief interuption it's no biggie, but in my case the cutter had a chance to slow down considerably.

Still love the tractor and I'm sure you'll be happy if you upgrade /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

 

[pfoxy]

I'm in the intial stages of considering trading up from a 750. My dealer quoted me $14,600 for 790 4x4 with 419 loader and rear remotes, no mid-pto.

I'm looking for other prices, as this dealer is not exactly known for good deals.

My 750 is still good, but power steering and a full synchro trans is awful tempting...

Also, I THINK the two-stage clutch is only available on the 2wd's. Don't know why that would be, but I saw somewhere that it's not available on the 4wd.

 

[DK35vince]

When I was looking at the 790.
The 2 stage clutch was standard on the 4x4(not sure if it was avalable for the 2x).
And the transmission was not syncronized.(Standard sliding gear).

 

[pfoxy]

Thanks, that's good to know. Lotsa times I wish I had live PTO on the 750...

 

[DK35vince]

I know how you feel ! I have a JD 850 with no power steering, or live PTO,or syncro-tranny,or 4x4.
But it has been a good tractor !
I mostly just use it as a mower now with a 6' MMM.

 

[Anonymous Poster]

Guys

I was just quoted today 14,500 (with rebates) for a 790 4WD a 419 FEL, and an MX5 JD Bush hog. I do alot of work out at the JD plant in Augusta, and was told that the MX5 has a clutch that should solve the probelm with shearing the cutter pins. Also that it was alot better built than the cheaper JD bush hogs.

thanks
graham