found a used 4300

[Anonymous Poster]

I have been watching this site for awhile, so I think I am okay. I currently own a little 670 with FEL, rotary & rear blade. I have decided to go to a 4300 for the extra weight (for FEL work) and have cleared another acre and am looking to mow with the tractor but have bar tires on the 670. I just found (1/2 hour ago) a 1 year old 4300 hst with Turfs for sale with 65 hours, FEL, 60" belly mower, 50" tiller, 48" rotary cutter & a model 47 backhoe all for $24k. I have uses for all of these implements but cost kept me from considering them in the past. This seems like a bargain to me...Any comments or suggestions?

 

[JATO_RaT]

BM, I do not know if this is even possible to do, I have, but it might have been because I'm friends with the owner of a tractor dealership. The deal is this. John Deere has a very extensive dealership online program that allows all tractor models and serial numbers to be entered into their database and examined for any factory claims against the particular serial number. We ran many numbers on the 4300 and found many had a claim against a leaking front steering cylinder. If it were possible you might be able to get a claim history against this tractor. Remember, I'm not saying not to buy this tractor, it might just be a tool you could use to verify its history. The fact that JD even offers this service shows they are trying to better their product. Good Luck, Rat...

 

[Mike_S]

BM--many of the early 4xxx Deeres had problems of various kinds due to poor engineering, poor quality control and a lack of field testing. There were fixes (upgrades) for all of the problems. One of the problems was a poorly designed front end that, when the steering wheel was turned half way to lock, would cause the tires to literally tear turf out of the ground. These older style front ends had a single power steering cylinder with a rod coming out of each end to connect with its associated front wheel. Most or all of the linkages were also upgraded on the early 4xxx Deeres. I would take Rat's suggestion and see if you could obtain a service history on the tractor. Mike S.

 

[Anonymous Poster]

Rat & Mike, thanks for both comments, I will do a search and see what comes up. I will let you know what I find......