Deere reliability?

[F350Lawman]

As others have said...

Ahh... don't get all wrapped around the axle about the use of plastic.

It is pretty tough stuff and is prevalent (sp) everywhere today. Cars, trucks, tractors, you name it.

The saving grace is that it is durable and easy to replace.

I have Ford F350 dually and the rear wheel wells are made out of a plastic/rubberlike compound that doesn't break(withn reason), dent ,crack or rust. I wish the entire body was like that!
Then I would have zero dings.

I was loading shavings on my truck when a very strong wind blew the the door from the 18 wheeler trailer closed striking the rear wheel well...nothing but a minor scratch. The thing flexed like mad and bounced back, if it were steel the body shop guy would have had me over the coals. /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif

Kinda like the Saturn cars I guess.

 

[Dahammer]

<font color="blue">When I first got my 4300 I loved it but now things on it seem so cheap. I think all the people who have the 4000 TEN series will grow to hate all the plastic on there tractors. </font>

I bought a JD 4600 w/backhoe and loader brand new in 1999. Sold it Memorial day weekend /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif to the first person that called on it. All the plastic, especially around the hood looked brand new. Fenders were perfect, not even a scratch. Sat outside for two of the four years I had it. The only ugly rust spots were of course on the metal. I wish there was a way to make plastic loader arms and buckets that are colored through, then even those would have looked new. Plastic (like metal) has some advantages. The great thing is that if you like the old school, yesterday's tractor style with chunky, blocky metal edges you can still by a Kubota /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif or even a 70 or 90 series Deere to satisfy that urge for an olde tyme tractor style.... /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[F350Lawman]

The great thing is that if you like the old school, yesterday's tractor style with chunky, blocky metal edges you can still by a Kubota or even a 70 or 90 series Deere to satisfy that urge for an olde tyme tractor style....

Exactly...my wife made a strong pitch for the 790's "classic' /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif styling. That gave it the edge on the competition.

 

[5string]

GreenMtnMan - It was not my intent to insinuate that you were hypersensitive; perhaps, it is me that owes you a apology.

As far as the plastic thing goes on the fenders and hood, I kind of like it. It certainly appears to be forgiving. Also, it is lighter which lowers the center of gravity on the tractor.

 

[CountryBoy]

<font color="blue"> Kubota will Fedex anything from a seal to a fender for a flat $5 charge, directly to you. </font>

John Deere will do the same without the $5.00 fee,if my dealer does not have the part I need they order it from the warehouse and usually the next day UPS has it on my front porch.

 

[yellowsocks93]

Sorry guys did not mean for this whole plastic thing to get out of hand and make people upset. I just hate when I see the quality of JD going downhill by the use of cheap plastic. Some plastic is good I'll admit that and I am not saying to use up all of the Earth's resources but I just think some of the plastic on the new deeres is cheap like the hood and dash. The fenders are nice composite and they should make the hood out of that then it would be nice. I just like the 70/90 series cause they are reliable and built very well. And not to mention the classic styling! But the JD dealer I work for we get a lot of damaged plastic pieces on front mowers, gators hoods scratch real easily and we use compressed air to dry them off after we wash them. Plastic is good and so is metal. JD should offer plastic or metal on the 4000 TEN series then all of us would be happy! LOL. /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif

Nick
990 4x4 turf, 430 FEL, 272 RFM, 25A flail

 

[cowboydoc]

Just FYI. According to deere the plastic costs more than the metal. If you look at deere's lower end tractors they all have metal fenders. It is the higher end tractors that have the plastic fenders. I talked to one of the engineers about that last week. He said it costs them more to produce a plastic fender than a metal fender. He said most people want the plastic fenders in the surverys they've done as they don't dent, rust, or have to be painted. Talk that for what it's worth.

 

[yellowsocks93]

Hi Coyboydoc I also talked to a deere rep. online and he told me that same thing. I just like metal not trying to pic a fight or nothin. /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif

 

[frankv]

Not to add insult to injury but I visited my Deere dealer today to give the 4210 a second look and drive it around again. And sitting underneath the left side of the loader was a nice puddle of hydraulic fluid. I tested out the loader a little and could see it was coming out pretty good from the left side half way down the upper arm of a brand new 4210.

Probably an easy repair, but, adds alot of confidence for a would be buyer to plunk down $20k. 0% or not it's still alot of money. The dealer should really fix this before showing it to customers.

Other than that it was a nice machine...but my gut says no, not yet.

 

[bigpete]

To the poster's original question, it would be unscientific to form any conclusions about reliability based on the number of discussions about problems with one brand or the other. I suppose the only reliable information would come from reports of dealer warranty service, and then you would have to drill down to tractor class and size. All this info just isn't available here.

As with countless other such discussions on TBN in the past, it alway seems to level off with a general acknowledgement that:

1) all brands have their problems and idiosyncrasies;

2) all tractors will have some form of debilitating failure at some point in their life;

3) most new models--or design changes to new models--will result in a high incidence of vocalized problems;

4) and chaos theory applies on any given day, week, or month, if you are looking for trends in brand problems on TBN.

I, for one, have always subscribed to the theory that people who are not posting at TBN are either out working on fixing their tractors, or just working with their tractors for too long because they didn't buy the right one, or a big enough model, in the first place.

In other words, there's quite a lot to be learned from the posts that are not made on TBN. /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif