New Guy JD 855

[redvettemike]

Hello. I'm a new guy in Madison, Ms. I just bought a 1987 John Deere 855 tractor. I knew well the guy that I bought it from. It has had good care all its life and shows 800 hours on the tach. I have a couple of JD 345 lawn tractors but I never had a diesel unit before. I know little about these tractors. I have a classic car restoration shop and we wil use it mostly to pull these cars around the lot and do some minor box blade work (the JD came with a good box blade.) I paid $2k. I may pose a few questions. I plan to repaint it. I might ask where is the best place to get parts for a unit such as this? Thanks. Mike

 

[beenthere]

She looks like a good buy and from the looks of your shop, she is in very good hands. The looks of your shop makes me wish I were closer to you.

 

[WinterDeere]

I owned a 1986 855 MFWD for many years, and found the local Deere dealer still carried every darn part on that machine, as of when I sold it in 2019. Bonus, yours being a 1987 and later, most of the parts remain un-changed. The 1986 model suffered from some older-design parts, which caused me to have to upgrade surrounding components to 1987 or later, when making certain parts replacements.

Good luck! They're solid little machines, but being nearly 40 years old, you can expect your ownership experience might not be entirely trouble-free. Hope you're handy with a wrench!

 

[redvettemike]

I hate to admit it but I can fix little. But I have a bunch of guys that can fix everything! The car restoration biz is just a hobby run amuck. I need to stay busy and at age 77 I can tell you that this biz keeps one busy! Mama told me in 1966 to get to work. I'm still hard after it.