2010 deere

[Anonymous-0]

looking at buying a 2010, a friend of mine has.seems to run o.k., no smoke, hyd. all work, tires are in fair cond. he wants 2000. for it. normally i"m a red guy so i don"t know much about these green ones. is a 2010 a good machine. i realize you get what you pay for, but he needs the money. any thing to look for or watch out for. thanks for your time and patience.

 

[RobMD]

well, a 2010 is considered one of deere's worst tractors. If it is gasoline, 50% of the problems are gone. I say get him down to 1600. Probably be worth that in OK shape.

 

[Ron Newell]

Have one in the family. Grandpa bought it new in the spring of '65 w/ an all hyd. front end loader. Gas Utility version. Very dependable overall up to about the 3500 hr. mark. Required a major at that point and another deckplate at 4500hrs when a compression ring broke. Pretty much 'retired' it from any sustained field work at that point. I'm thinking about 1980? Chores, spraying amd spoting wagons was about it from then on. Any hard pulling aggravated the trans issues anyway.

Shift linkage/selector cage got really sloppy over the years. Shifting and popping out of gear became an issue and still is even after replacing some linkage and some internals. Having a reverse 6 th gear was ridiculously unsafe even with the low stance of the utility model.

As the other gentleman eluded to...the diesel version of the 2010(and the 45 combine)was basically a disaster for Deere and never should have made it into production. They ended up replacing scads of 'em. Be advised that the 2010 gas engine is an odd-ball unto itself. NOT simply a down scaled model of the 3010/3020. All 4 sleeves are factory assembled into a deckplate. You can't just replace 1 sleeve. You have to replace the entire deck plate assy. Problem is that the assy. is apparently no longer available. Oversize pistons are available, but to bore out the sleeves, they have to remain assembled in the block for support. The entire block has to go to the machine shop as a unit. And it is not a particulary 'enjoyable' machine to work on, either.

They can turn into a problem child real fast. If it's got fairly low hours, get it for a day, run a compression test, work it real good for a few hours(note the amount of blowby exiting the breather tube) and then decide. No power assist w/ the brakes, so it wasn't the most maneuverable thing in the world...and if they have a loader with no chloride or weights...be prepared to become very frustrated.

There was an odd issue with the distributor also, it's just been too long to remember the details. Seems like it was designed to start and run on 6 volts even though it had a 12 volt elec. system. Never liked to start very well in the cold.

A little on the heavy side for 48 hp and rather 'poochy' in the torque dept. It was definately not a 'mudder'. With the proper weights our Ford 961 would work circles around it on less fuel. But the 2010 was more comfortable to use all day. Better seat, better power steering and stronger hydraulics. Sometimes too strong. Pulled a mounted 3-16 plow. If the loader wasn't on, you had better be ready to hit the clutch FAST when lifting the plows in heavy ground. The hood usually came up before the plow did.

On the plus side, it worked well for planting, cultivating(it's weight helped keep it on the row), spotting wagons, cutting/raking hay and could even handle the baler fairly well with straw(as long as you didn't get too carried away with stacking the wagon to the sky). The old 25 pull type combine or the 2 row pull type picker were out of the question if the ground was even the slightest bit soft of hilly.

If the compression checks out decent and you don't abuse it, $2000 or thereabouts seems reasonable? Can't buy much of anything useable for that price these days. Unfortunately, it isn't a matter of 'if' that engine will become a headache, it's a matter of 'when'.

In the end, it is still a 45+ year old machine. If it's going to be a 'toy', you probably won't get hurt to bad if the worst happens. If you will have to depend on it for daily use, my advice might be to pass?

It is my understanding that the 45 combine used the same engine(with a possible variation involving the flywheel or the thickness of the flywheel flange on the crank requiring some minor machining to interchange?). No guarantee on that one.

Good luck.

 

[buickanddeere]

You will be better friends in the future if he does not sell the 2010 to you.

 

[Anonymous-0]

thanks for the info gentleman. i'm thinking that i'll probably pass on buying the tractor. i don't want to be working on it all the time. don't want the hassle or the money spent. thanks again scott