My Meandering Path of 1964 John Deere 4020 Ownership

[nlastovi]

There are days we will look back upon when everything seemed ideal. The sun rises and sets with spectacular color, the breeze is soft, the air is warm, and nothing will dare impede our quest. Every tool is where we left it. Sockets fall between our feet. Difficult tasks become simple. Challenges quietly resolve themselves before we arrive, clearly for nothing beyond respect. Wire does not puncture our thumbs, and hammer blows always miss them. Words of encouragement flow freely, though they’re scarcely needed.

Today turned out to be one of those days. The cosmos reviewed the request and provided for all.

Three guys with sufficient enthusiasm and colorful vocabulary accomplished all in less than an hour. A bit of fiddling required on the first but we’d gained enough experience for the second one to be straight forward. Tires-n-rims deinstalled and installed with little more than playful bickering among friends.

 

[Scott 730]

Make sure you check the torque again on the rim clamps after you drive it a bit.

 

[nlastovi]

Current state of affairs. Tires/rims installed. Loader to tractor frame bolts replaced and torqued. Many of the leaks reduced to seeps if not eliminated. Plenty accomplished as the to-do list is slowly eroding. Next up will be getting electricity all the way to the lights. Maybe start to replace the worst of the seeping hoses. Need to get one lift link to rotate. Something is up with the right front knuckle that will require closer inspection. Maybe ought to raise the fenders a notch.

We've been treated to awesome weather and working outside has been very pleasant. Dunno how long it'll last but I'll take it while it remains.

 

[Scott 730]

Holy wheel weights, Batman!! I have never seen Z weights that big.

 

[GermantownGreen]

Current state of affairs. Tires/rims installed. Loader to tractor frame bolts replaced and torqued. Many of the leaks reduced to seeps if not eliminated. Plenty accomplished as the to-do list is slowly eroding. Next up will be getting electricity all the way to the lights. Maybe start to replace the worst of the seeping hoses. Need to get one lift link to rotate. Something is up with the right front knuckle that will require closer inspection. Maybe ought to raise the fenders a notch.

We've been treated to awesome weather and working outside has been very pleasant. Dunno how long it'll last but I'll take it while it remains.

That 158 loader is the beast! I grew up with one on a late model 4320, factory cab, AC , dualed up.
Others had the 148, but the 158 would lift higher.
GG Wes

 

[Ray,IN]

IMO the 4020 was the best tractor of its size during production years. For heavy FEL work you'll need a 3-pt weight box. The weighted rears work great for field work, but you need the weight box to counteract FEL weight, and transfer some of its weight to the rear axle.

 

[nlastovi]

The rear wheel weights. No obvious casting/part numbers. Roughly 8" thick, 25" diameter, ~11.5" center hole. A lift point on the inner and the outer sides. Assuming cast iron, these may well be in the range of 700 pounds each (a ring 8" thick x 12" ID x 25" OD would be ~850 pounds).

 

[nlastovi]

<Minor update with no pictures>

Moved the fenders up to the top set of holes for a little more clearance over the top. I hope to get some chains for the winter and likewise hope they'll clear everything.

Wiring to lights now nearly complete. I expect less than an hour tomorrow to finish the last couple of connections and get the wires dressed a little bit. I over did it with 14ga wire to the LED lights for sure and it made routing a little bit more difficult than it ought to have been. The factoring wiring made it 60 years. The new wiring doesn't need to last forever but I hope it lasts longer than I do.

I built a box for a battery tender along with a thermostat switch to run the block and oil heaters. Much like the equipment up at work, it'll be plugged in at night such that in the morning the engine ought to be easier to start and the batteries up to snuff.

 

[Scott 730]

Does your oil heater screw into the bung in the oil pan?

 

[Oakridgewelding]

The rear wheel weights. No obvious casting/part numbers. Roughly 8" thick, 25" diameter, ~11.5" center hole. A lift point on the inner and the outer sides. Assuming cast iron, these may well be in the range of 700 pounds each (a ring 8" thick x 12" ID x 25" OD would be ~850 pounds).

Had a set of 4 BIG steel weights like that on a MM G900. No casting numbers or anything. Suckers weighed over 800 a piece. I found out thru Welters farm supply that their called Texas weights. Some foundry in the TX, CO KS area poured solid weights. That's all the info I could find.

 

[nlastovi]

Does your oil heater screw into the bung in the oil pan?

Anticipating sluggish winter starting, I procured the factory (or at least factory style) screw in one. Foolishly I didn't have it when I changed the oil shortly after gaining ownership. Before it gets too cold, I'll planto run the tractor for another hour or two. Having a short oil change may well shake out some old crud as a bonus.

 

[Scott 730]

I have thought about adding the factory style oil heater to my 71 to work in conjunction with the core plug coolant heater.

 

[nlastovi]

Today I tidied up the remainder of the wiring. Lights work as one would desire, which remains a surprise when I’ve been responsible for the motion of electrons. Connections for heaters and battery tender are complete and working, too. With the gift of fortune, these efforts will make winter less of a struggle, although I remain staunchly capable of inducing additional difficulties as required.

I did, of course, forget the dash light. After a brief, yet valiant, struggle, the cover came free and revealed a bulb that had expired some time ago. In a brief and uncharacteristic burst of aesthetic enthusiasm, I touched up the paint on the rusty cover.

That cover now looks entirely presentable. Alas, with this detail, the remainder of the tractor looks just a bit shabbier by comparison. I appear to have improved one small part while lowering the overall impression—a level of efficacy I hadn’t intended.

I used a decidedly inexpensive tool box and a bit of scrap angle iron for the 120V equipment. There is a male socket on the left side to accept an extension cord. Inside is the battery tender and the connections for the heaters along with a thermostat switch. This'll be plugged in on winter nights when snow predicted. Presumably by morning the engine will be warm and the batteries up to the task. I'll add an LED indicator light on the box next to the plug for a visual confirmation that it is connected to live power.

 

[nlastovi]

I have thought about adding the factory style oil heater to my 71 to work in conjunction with the core plug coolant heater.

I'm all for it.

The cold weather large diesel machinery at the ski area use 0w40 synthetic diesel oil. We plug the oil and block heaters in when they're not running. Neglecting to do so results in the next operator becoming a disgruntled coworker.

My 4020 is old and weak so I figure the relatively small cost of the oil heater can only make things better.

 

[Scott 730]

If it were up to me your battery cables would be replaced with some HD ones such as the ones I got from Brillman's. Those bolt on parts store cable ends are notorious for causing all sorts of starting and charging issues.

 

[Jim.ME]

Agree with Scott 730. Replace those clamp-on battery cable ends with crimped on or soldered on ends, which may require replacing the cables.

 

[GermantownGreen]

Agree with Scott 730. Replace those clamp-on battery cable ends with crimped on or soldered on ends, which may require replacing the cables.

Bailey my 21 yr old has become a cable master builder, just as you share, his new cables are awesome, make sure you set your ends right. They'll last a long time. Sorry for crossed photo...

Fyi... I don't ever have trouble posting photos on the Trapshooter forum.. for @NormanSavesTractors
GG Wes

 

[nlastovi]

Turns out that I've updated my task list. The new first item is updated battery cables

 

[nlastovi]

Replaced the three most enthusiastically leaking hoses on the loader. First two came free so easily. The third, not so much.

One end had apparently been installed by the largest fellow at the factory, shortly after someone said something unkind about his mother. Getting it loose required considerably more effort than I’d budgeted, along with a few words unlikely to appear in the service manual. The other end, by contrast, seemed to have been tightened just enough to keep the foreman from spinning it off by hand. Apparently, those two fellows didn't compared notes.

I expect this will help keep the hydraulic fluid inside the hoses, where it earns its keep, rather than outside, where it mostly collects dirt and advertises my maintenance backlog.