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45 miles southeast of KC | I am looking at a JD 8450 to replace a 4840. When test driving around the dealer lot the reverse gears seemed awfully fast. Not sure how you back to an implement without ramming it. Was this normal for those tractors? It almost seemed like I was in B1 instead of A1. Also, the single quad lever worked really hard and you had to release the clutch a little to get it in gear. The rest of the tractor seemed solid with 6500 hours. I searched the archives but didn't find any comments about the transmission in these older tractors. Any opinions? |
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Michigan | run,dont walk away.those older deeres can and are a real nightmareI owned a 8650 that was a lemon from day one |
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| Since you are replacing a 4840, is a 4850 out of the question? |
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South central IL | I had a 8640. At 6500 hrs it seems everything was going bad. Look for a 8760 or 8770. Same engine but lots of improvements. My 8640 seemed to reverse fairly fast also. |
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45 miles southeast of KC | Looked at 4850 fwa's but 8450 could be bought $15,000 cheaper. Most of my research would suggest that the smaller models of the series with the 466 engine were more reliable. The tranny worries me however. Keving, what kind of trouble did you have?
Edited by westmo 7/13/2011 17:14
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Michigan | we had trans issues,(two speed went out twice)hydralic issues,(oil was getting hot all the time,seem to bypass somewhere) AC had to be on full blast in order to stomach the heat coming off the motor,I beleive the 8450 has a smaller engine(466) which would mean less hp than we had(which was never enough) I have not met anyone with that style tractor that didnt have a complaint or two,I agree with the above,spend a little more and go to a 60 series or higher,finding a good 50 series(8450 or 8650)is hard to do good luck either way |
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| We have two 8640's that we get along well with and have not had any major problems. You are correct that the reverse speed is too high! When working in the field in the "b" range I shift to the "a" range to back up with the field cultivator. |
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mw | I too wish the reverse gear was slower, makes it a real pain to push silage with. The hard shifting also sounds typical, but our 8650 with 8600 hrs has treated us well.
It should treat you well so long as you dont try to pull its guts out. |
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45 miles south spingfield il. | I don't like the single gear shift but the rest of the cab is sooo much better than 8430. We don't work ours very hard more of a cheap FWA. But I do realize the day of high dollar repair is comeing |
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Oxford County, ON | We've had good luck with our 8450 other than burning the cab off a few years ago (debris around exhaust, not electrical). They start REAL hard when it gets cold out and It's a bit of a dog on the road, but once you get going it's fine; you'll never get going unless you drop from D3/4 to D1/2 at a stop sign. One big plus in the field is that these machines are Heavy. Tractordata.com says 29,000lbs., so its pretty rare that you'll lose traction before you run out of horsepower. Ours had the motor rebuilt before we bought it and its been good. Had to rebuild the engine fan drive last year, but that wasn't too bad. The A/C is the best of all the tractors we have. |
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|  our 8640 has the best air conditioner of any piece of equipment we have. Yes reverse sucks, and A range is about all that is usefull, even A is too high at times being that we do alot backing with a tile plow.
I like operating the tractor, hate all of the bad talk that goes on about them, but I understand that it will probably need repairs in the future, ours really has'nt been that bad, 7800 hours and everything works.
Edited by Jeffery 7/13/2011 19:02
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Brazilton KS | Reverse is approximately the same speed as high side of forward in the same range, just like syncro ranges and quad ranges have always been. If you are going to push silage or something like that it would be handier to have 3-4 at the back like a syncro, instead of 1-2, so that your forward gear and reverse gear were similar speed. I've converted our 4630 which is a loader tractor.
The transmission and two speed are very similar to a 46. Nothing that should give trouble at the 84's hp rating.
The hp is pretty low for the weight. It's gonna be a bit of a dog. |
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mw | Looks noisy! |
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| WHAT?
Just kidding, it works well for our purposes and hopefully stays that way for awhile. |
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South Central Illinois | How do you switch 1-2 and 3-4 |
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| Couldn't imagine something that heavy with only a 466 in it, IMO the larger ones are bad enough with a 619. I'd look at other options if you don't need the 4x4 and weight.
Check everything over in the hinge point and front axle oscilation joints.........Neither is very fun to work on and parts aren't cheap. |
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Sunburst Montana | 
Have a neighbor farm who operates 2 8640s. Both have close to 10,000 hrs and just had new engines installed about 1,000 hrs ago. Neither one has given them much trouble. The other one is off to the right of the picture hooked to a Flexi Coil sprayer. They would not be my first choice for a tractor back then and now but the way some people talk about them, they fall apart before they get to the field.
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Brazilton KS | Use a syncro range shift rail in place of the quad range one. Syncro has low then high then reverse. Quad has high then low then reverse. i have no idea why they built them that way, but they did. I am not sure that there is a syncro shift rail which will fit a 50 series 4wd, but i think a 4630 would. |
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mw | It does look sharp |
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Oregon | There seems to be a distinct difference of opinion here. I think I can explain some of it. A clean, well-maintained unit will be fine. We had a pair with over 10,000 hours on each. Reliable as hell. But they never worked very hard so the fact they survived that long is not saying much. Perhaps the guys with issues worked them hard and had a different experience. The funny thing is, the guy who hates the 8440/8450 will tell you the 4640.4650 is a great tractor. But they share all major components and were built in the same building, so that does not make much sense. True, they are dogs compared to modern tractors- but the low horsepower = long drivetrain life. If you need more power, spend more money. I hated the single-lever quad because it was a pain to use and it had few good field speeds. Take your pick, A3&4 or B1&2 and that is pretty much it. The shifting issue on the unit you are considering would worry me. I'd ask someone in your area who knows that transmission to take a look. My guess would be the linkage cables - which is easy and cheap. But if it is internal, it is neither easy nor cheep. Last, I might see if I can get the seller to warranty the transmission. Just a thought. We sold ours for $18k each. And they were ghosts by that point. -Mike
Edited by mschultz 7/14/2011 05:52
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North of Iowa | They are a great tax write off, get to deduct purchase and then all the repairs. I'd keep looking for something else, unless your into gambling. |
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ecmn | when i was at deere i had a couple that never quit coming into the shop, always something wrong, but they were loaded with big tires and weights, when the guys came and drove them away they would kill them or almost kill them getting them rolling, so then instead of shifting down they would rev the engine higher.
had more that went to high hours with normal repairs that were treated nice.
A3-4 b1-2 c1-2 are the field speeds and pto is operating rpm, if you are lugging below the pto line you need to shift down, if you are less than a3-4 then you have to big of an implement.
yes a 4850 might cost 15 grand more, but if the previous owner treated like some of the people in this post apparently then you might be spending that 15 grand difference in repairs.
check it over good and question everything to the sales person.
personally if i was shopping at a dealership i would go get a tech and have them come look at it with you. |
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45 miles southeast of KC | I appreiciate all the replies.
I did have the shop foreman out there with me but his best interest didn't match mine. Guess I'll keep looking, cause at $30,000 sounds like too much of a gamble. |
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mw | I wouldnt let these guys discourage you, keep in mind that the only people replying are people with an interest in the headline. In this case its alot of boo birds that had a bad experience.
If it looks/ drives like a reliable unit and your dealer is a guy that you trust then i say go for it. |
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Brazilton KS | What has happened with field operations anyway? I remember when 4 mph was moving and B1-2 and C1-2 were working gears, but now it seems like B3-4 and D1-2 are working gears...and there is a huge hole right there around 8 mph where you so often want to run. |
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Brazilton KS | When you throw the price in there, it's definitely not worth it in my opinion. I don't have any big problem with an 8450 if you have something that it has enough power to do, but for that kind of money I would definitely go with something else...Challenger, 4955-60, Magnum, Steiger. Lots of options. |
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45 miles southeast of KC | I think the buzz words are vertical tillage, shallow and fast. I really only would be pulling a 26' tiger mate field cultivator and 13 shank NH3 applicator. Like some one else said, more like a FWA. Price wise, I maybe could get into a CaseIH 9230. Would that be a good choice? |
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Sunburst Montana | Versatile had only 2 good field speeds so I always thought the JD tranny was a step up. |
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mw | Case 9230 would make an excellent tractor, we had a 9110 that actually got traded for the 8650 (needed more power). Both of them were and have been really good tractors, however the ps transmission in the case is much handier. |
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ecmn | for 30 grand that thing better have new rubber, be very low hour and shine like new, there better not be a clunk or bump in it for that price. |
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Oregon | X2 - Mike |
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JD 8450
