John Deere 1026 regular maintence questions

denverdave66 · May 24, 2012

Sorry for so many questions but I have never owned a tractor before. Do you change the oil for the 1st time in my JD 1026 at 10 hours or wait till I get 50 hours on it? What kind of oil do you recommend regular oil or synthetic? Should I stick with John Deere oil? Is there any special things I should do or not do when I first get it, for the break in period. I asked my salesman a bunch of question but if I would have asked him all the questions I have we might still be there talking! I asked this question on the trailer forum and I still have no idea what to buy. With loader and box scrapper on my 1026 what size trailer should I get? 12', 14', or 16'? I have a 4x4 Jeep Cherokee Sport but I also have a 1987 F150 2 wheel drive but I will have to put a receiver hitch on it or could I just use the ball that is on the bumper? Plus I need to do some work to it the transmission is hesitant in kicking in when you go to take off. I want to thank everyone on here that responds to my posts just trying to learn all I can about my 1026.

k0ua · May 24, 2012

denverdave66 said:
Sorry for so many questions but I have never owned a tractor before. Do you change the oil for the 1st time in my JD 1026 at 10 hours or wait till I get 50 hours on it? What kind of oil do you recommend regular oil or synthetic? Should I stick with John Deere oil? Is there any special things I should do or not do when I first get it, for the break in period. I asked my salesman a bunch of question but if I would have asked him all the questions I have we might still be there talking! I asked this question on the trailer forum and I still have no idea what to buy. With loader and box scrapper on my 1026 what size trailer should I get? 12', 14', or 16'? I have a 4x4 Jeep Cherokee Sport but I also have a 1987 F150 2 wheel drive but I will have to put a receiver hitch on it or could I just use the ball that is on the bumper? Plus I need to do some work to it the transmission is hesitant in kicking in when you go to take off. I want to thank everyone on here that responds to my posts just trying to learn all I can about my 1026.

Hi Dave, questions are cool. We all have questions from time to time. I would advise you reading the owners manual from cover to cover, If you don't have a paper or CD one you can usually download JD manuals from their website. Normally most tractors will call for oil change at 50 hours, I am not sure on the hydro fluid change. On my tractor it calls for it to be changed at 50 also, but some tractors push that out to as far as 400 hours. Again your manual will help there. As for which oil to use, well it seems everyone has their own ideas on that, but you could not go wrong using the JD oil and lubricants, especially during the warranty period. If you have a Front End Loader (FEL) you need to grease it every 10 hours. As for the break in period, again the manual, but generally most break in periods up to 50 hours, ask not to be operated wide open for long periods, but to vary the operating speed some. The trailers I am no expert on, as I don't even have one, but basicly you add up the total weights of the tractor and any implements you have on it, and the trailer weight itself and this will be the total weight you will need to pull. Then consult your trucks manual as to what it can safely handle. I would think you would not want anything less than a 16 foot trailer even for this smaller tractor, as you often need to position the tractor to adjust the tongue weight. and don't forget you may have an implement on the 3pt. Keep asking questions, and use the search facility here and keep learning. Tractor on:thumbsup:

James K0UA

TripleR · May 24, 2012

k0ua said:
Hi Dave, questions are cool. We all have questions from time to time. I would advise you reading the owners manual from cover to cover, If you don't have a paper or CD one you can usually download JD manuals from their website. Normally most tractors will call for oil change at 50 hours, I am not sure on the hydro fluid change. On my tractor it calls for it to be changed at 50 also, but some tractors push that out to as far as 400 hours. Again your manual will help there. As for which oil to use, well it seems everyone has their own ideas on that, but you could not go wrong using the JD oil and lubricants, especially during the warranty period. If you have a Front End Loader (FEL) you need to grease it every 10 hours. As for the break in period, again the manual, but generally most break in periods up to 50 hours, ask not to be operated wide open for long periods, but to vary the operating speed some. The trailers I am no expert on, as I don't even have one, but basicly you add up the total weights of the tractor and any implements you have on it, and the trailer weight itself and this will be the total weight you will need to pull. Then consult your trucks manual as to what it can safely handle. I would think you would not want anything less than a 16 foot trailer even for this smaller tractor, as you often need to position the tractor to adjust the tongue weight. and don't forget you may have an implement on the 3pt. Keep asking questions, and use the search facility here and keep learning. Tractor on:thumbsup:

James K0UA

+1:thumbsup:

ejb69 · May 24, 2012

Have you read your owners manual ? It will tell you when to change the oil and what to use. The engine oil needs to be changed at a 100 hours, some do it sooner. The hydo oil/filter needs to be changed at 50 hours.

denverdave66 · May 25, 2012

I read the owners manual and it says to change the oil at 200 hours, that is crazy! When I was at the John Deere dealer today and asked him he said "Don't pay attention to that manual, we change tell people 50 hours" Why does John Deere say 200 hours?

rsewill · May 25, 2012

It is important to use the break-in oil for the manufacturer's interval. Then I suggest using a fully synthetic oil like Mobil 1 Turbo Diesel Truck oil. It costs more but you won't be using much.

s219 · May 25, 2012

I'd trust the manual. People are famous for going overkill with oil/fluid changes in all vehicles (Remember the 3000 mile oil change myth that was popular years ago? What a waste.)

Generally, the engineers who wrote the manual know best. That's not always true, but they probably know more than we do. Some shop mechanics are good, others are out of touch with modern developments and know even less than we do!