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Western Cape, South Africa | What do I need to look for when buying a John Deere 8440? I know they are not liked by a lot of people. I know about the headgasket problems they have. Is there some way to prevent it? Like plating the sides of the tractor? Do they have the problems with the water pump like the other Deere s ? How do I check how much wear is in the pivot ? Any advice will be appreciated. Thanks |
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mn | Most of the head gasket and liner failures are due to the front axle being articulated to the stops hard. The way the front end is designed, doing this will twist the block and cause problems. I've had mine for 9 years and it has been trouble free. All I have done to it is removed the radiator to wash it out. They are not bad tractors, you just need to use a little common sense. Also need to realize that they are 35 years old and naturally going to eventually have some issues.
Also check how well it engages into D rage. Put it in D and try to feel where the gears mesh. It should not be at the very end of the shifter stroke. Guys were known to shift ranges while moving which would grind off the D range gear because the ranges are not synchronized. Also turn all the way left and right while in neutral and white moving in 1st gear. Pay attention to any growling or vibration that would be caused by the u joints in the pivot. There will always be a little but not much. |
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| They are good tractors if they have been well maintained. Ours has 6200 hrs. ours was updated to a 50 series engine when we bought it 5 years ago. My uncle has 8500 hrs on his he has had his for 30 yrs. You need to make sure it shifts smoothly and that the 2 speed works good. also check the u joints in the pivot. only other issues we have had was the hydraulic pump. You don't want one that ever had a push blade on it! Trans will be shot if it did. Lots of them up here in Wis have been put on silage piles and that just destroys them. |
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Mn | no offense, but I would look for a different tractor. |
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saskatchewan | yeah I noticed there not liked by many people. we had a couple of them over the years, don't put many hours on it cause pulls the air drill and tillage tools, but never had any trouble with either of them. some stuff was done to this one, motor and quad range, trans. they are a under powered for there weigh and size, we turned up the fuel on them. one thing if you are running hyd fans make sure you got enough output, ares will come back a bit on the air drill fan when turning and lifting the markers and air drill out of the ground, use controls within reason. if you needmore power go a differnet tractor. like a comment said stay away from ones with blades, neighbour found out the hard way. |
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Semo | +1 |
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EC IL | They had their weaknesses, but the water pump wasnt one of them. As you already mentioned, the head gasket seemed to be a weak link, which really isnt that bad of a job, at all, to change occasionally |
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John Deere 8440 - What to look for?
