Buying Advice John Deere 2240 4wd

   / John Deere 2240 4wd #21  
I bought a used JD 1840 (2440 in the USA) row crop tractor from 1981 a year ago which had a completely rebuilt engine, new rubber, paint, etc with 6600 hours and in using it to blow snow discovered the PTO was slipping. Turns out this machine had a known issue with the internal hydraulic lines and a wearing clamp had chaffed the hydraulic line to the PTO clutch resulting in insufficient pressure on the PTO clutch. Long story short, replaced the PTO clutch, hydraulic line, and a few worn shift components and the machine operates like a new machine. This machine is a solid tractor that will outlast me and was much cheaper than anything new.
 
   / John Deere 2240 4wd
  • Thread Starter
#22  
I went back and forth on it a lot, but in the end i like to think im a good judge of character and despite all of the incorrect information i started out with i trust the guy who is selling it. He swears that it is a good solid tractor, it ran like a good solid tractor, and he has my deposit and will be delivering it on Wednesday so it better be a good solid tractor!
 
   / John Deere 2240 4wd #23  
I went back and forth on it a lot, but in the end i like to think im a good judge of character and despite all of the incorrect information i started out with i trust the guy who is selling it. He swears that it is a good solid tractor, it ran like a good solid tractor, and he has my deposit and will be delivering it on Wednesday so it better be a good solid tractor!

Congratulations !!!! Pictures when you get it please, we like pictures.
 
   / John Deere 2240 4wd
  • Thread Starter
#24  
Roger that, will do!
 
   / John Deere 2240 4wd #25  
I went back and forth on it a lot, but in the end i like to think im a good judge of character and despite all of the incorrect information i started out with i trust the guy who is selling it. He swears that it is a good solid tractor, it ran like a good solid tractor, and he has my deposit and will be delivering it on Wednesday so it better be a good solid tractor!

That's great! And in the end, I like to think that good character shows through. I've bought used equipment all my life and enjoyed good deals throughout. I don't think I've ever bought a lemon from a private party, and if I do tomorrow, well....I'll still be ahead.

Now that owner sounds forgetful, so you be sure to tell him that you want everything that goes with that tractor. Especially any books or manuals that he has as well as cans of nuts & bolts, chains, special wrenches, hitch pins, old repair receipts... you name it.

One of the great things about JDs is the factory put a lot of effort into their original operator and service manuals. They were designed to instruct a person while they explained how to fix it. Plus there are specialized booklets for many models on subsystems like the electrics, power steering, and hydraulics. In fact, JD OEM publications are a world in themselves.... There's an active market in JD literature on eBay and some on AbeBooks.com. Don't be surprised to find that the manuals are surprisingly expensive. Get the original OEM booklets when you can. Search by model number.

You had mentioned that you'll be doing your own maintenance. I know that when I'm wrenching on our own JDs I'm always being pleasantly surprised by the extra effort that JD put into making maintenance and upkeep easy. BTW, I bought both of mine with way more hours on them than you have, and they've been good to us.

Looking forward to some photos. Here's one from 30 years ago....
rScotty
 

Attachments

  • rScotty 530 JD1 .jpg
    rScotty 530 JD1 .jpg
    127.2 KB · Views: 397
   / John Deere 2240 4wd
  • Thread Starter
#26  
I think that a lot of the confusion and misinformation came from so many hands in the cookie jar. This tractor belonged to an old guy in his late 70's that manages a remote office of a tractor dealership. The main office is in another part of the state and the owner of the company put this tractor on Craigslist, as well as his own website. The information that was put on the CL ad was given from the owner of the tractor, to the secretary gal in the remote office, to the owner of the dealership and I think that information got scrambled a bit in being passed along.
I've been talking with the owner of the tractor and he seems to know the tractor really well. I did get what appears to be a factory service manual from him. It looks like it goes in depth into everything from changing the oil and checking fluids to splitting the tractor and performing a major overhaul. I didn't get the chance to actually meet the owner of the tractor because he had to take his wife down to Arizona for chemotherapy. He will be back in about a month and I will be able to get any other paperwork he has on the tractor as well as a set of tire chains he has for it.
 
   / John Deere 2240 4wd #27  
Looking forward to seeing it. That is a nice series of Deere tractor and a nice size. Classic looks in my opinion.
 
   / John Deere 2240 4wd #28  
Also tractor data doesn't show 4x4 for that model

another concern- (Closed center) hydraulic system...

If it is a 4 wheel drive -have to wonder if the wrong model # has been posted?

I would consider closed center hydraulics a plus not a minus

I have not seen it in person, but the pics do show it as being a 2240.
The closed center hydraulics would make it difficult to add hydraulics to the system, correct? Any other drawbacks to a closed center system?

No not difficult to add more hydraulics, I easily added a second SCV to my 2030.

I am seeing 3 transmissions listed, which one does it have and what is the clutch condition? On some of the JDs in that vintage I also think the clutch slave cylinders were in the bell housing. Not sure.

I am thinking with 4wd it was only offered with collar shift or reverser w/collar shift. Which does it have?

Also what model loader? I am guessing 175 or 145 if JD
 
   / John Deere 2240 4wd
  • Thread Starter
#29  
Ok, so I got the tractor. It has been pretty handy so far! I was able to lift my 1600 lb. bale with the use of a ratchet strap and set it into my half-full round bale feeder. I picked up a back blade for it and that has been handy clearing the driveway...a FEL does not work as good as i would have expected for scraping packed snow and ice!
The next tool im looking at is a post pounder. Ill meet up with a guy this week to look at an older danhauser PTO driven pounder. It should work for what i need it for. Im also looking for a box blade. Ive got a large area id like to level. I found a large quonset hut that was taken apart and put up for sale and i think it would fit well in this area.
Heres some pics of the tractor...sorry, they are a bit overdue. It has a 143 loader on it and the basic 2-stick 8F, 4R transmission.
They got the one fitting that was puking fluid replaced before delivering it to my place. There are a couple of other seepages, but nothing major. All hydraulics work fine, but one thing that i didnt notice when test driving it was that there seems to be some noise that sounds like a hydraulic pump. It kinda sounds like an 80's ford truck power steering pump that is growling a bit. Nothing to compare this to, so i dont know if it a normal sound or not. It seems to be coming from the area under the shift sticks.
Also, didnt notice this before, but it is almost as if there is a tooth missing somewhere in the steering linkage. When going straight at higher speeds the wheels seem to have some freeplay side to side (think shopping cart wheels here). When turning, they lock in tight and hold solid. It is almost like a tooth in a steering gear is missing right where it would hold the wheels straight. Its barely noticable though as i have taken it on a 16 mile round trip to load some heavy steel into the back of my truck without issue.

20180121_110914.jpg20180121_110914.jpg20180121_110856.jpg
 
   / John Deere 2240 4wd #30  
Congratulations, it looks like a nice machine. It's rare to see a tractor with a windshield, but it sure makes sense. Make sure you keep the hydraulic fluid reservoir filled up with trans-hydraulic fluid - low fluid is probably the number one cause of hydraulic pump issues. The other thing to avoid is using 4wd when you don't have to. Use 2wd as your normal mode, and reserve 4wd for low speed problems and just when you need it.

As for the steering looseness, it is probably wear in the steering components that allows those aggressive front tires to wobble. That's common enough and is probably the erratic steering you are feeling through the steering wheel. The good news is that all the normal wear parts on the steering linkage are expected to wear and therefore easy to replace and don't tend to break - they just get more and more worn until you can't stand it and replace them.

Worn steering rod ends and bushings can be replaced one by one when you have the time. Typical parts are the rod ends, ball joints, and even king pin bushings. Expect to spend a few hundred dollars for each group. Of course it might be that those parts aren't worn at all and you are just feeling those aggressive front tires along with some power steering kickback. But I'd bet on worn parts as this is normal tractor wear for a machine with that many hours. Expect to do it about once every two or three decades. My advice would be to use it this winter and count on doing that job in warm weather. I gotta say that sixteen mile road trips on a tractor are a bit excessive... I bet that was no fun!

Someday when a mechanically inclined friend is over, you might draft him to help you use the loader to lift the front wheels clear of the ground, block up the axle so it doesn't fall and so both tires are just clear of the ground, and then grab one of the front tires at 3 and 9 oclock and shake it. The slop in the worn components should be obvious. Two people can identify the worst worn parts pretty quickly.

If you plan to keep it, I recommend you get the operator, shop and parts manuals. The JD manuals are very useful.
good luck, rScotty
 
 
Top