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JD 4020 GAS is going to go !!!!

J

JD Seller

Well-known Member
I am officially done with this tractor!!!!! I have tried everything I know to do and just about anything anyone has suggested to try. It just will not run dependably. I had it running real good. It would start and take throttle. Even when hot it would start IF you did not touch the choke.

So I decided to leave the loader on it and put a rear blade on the back. I had tire chains for it so I kept it to push light snows here at the house. Two and three inch snows just do not work very well with the blowers. I also thought it would be nice to start in the middle temperatures without plugging it in. This it has been doing. If it is above 15 or so it will take right off.

Well we had some snow over the weekend but it was deep enough I used the blower to clean the lane. Well we had a south wind last night that drifted snow back into the lane in a few places and across the highway entrance. So when I got home from doing afternoon chores I started cleaning the lane. All was going well. My lane comes out onto a four lane divided highway. The state does not usually clean the median crossing. So at about 5 PM I am cleaning the median crossing out. There is light traffic. Nothing much but steady cars. When I am cleaning the median crossing I always stay out of the lanes of traffic. Unless the snow has gotten real deep I can just drag it into the median and spread it over a short distance. So I got the crossing all cleaned out.

There where some cars about 3/4 of a mile down the road. So I just shifted up into 6 th gear to get across the highway faster and avoid any issue with the cars coming. When I let out on the clutch the tractor took off fine. When the governor opened up it started doing it's farting and stumbling act. Even when I clutched the tractor it would not smooth out and finally died. So here I am setting cross ways blocking the south bound lanes of traffic right at dark. The darn tractor would not start. The neutral starter switch is working on this tractor so I could not even crank it off the road. I have cars coming at me at 65 MPH. They can't see my flashing lights since I am cross ways to them. I have two cars dart around the front of the tractor just about hitting the loader. I finally get the side panel thrown off into the ditch.I take my pocket knife an jump across the starter and crank the tractor in gear to get it off the road. Just as I cleared the yellow line two semis barreled by side by side not even slowing a bit.

Scarred the crap out of me!!!!!

That POS is in the shop right now. The loader is off and the brackets will be off by morning. I will take the wide front end off and the factory roll guard/canopy. Then this POS is going to the bone yard. I am not selling it to anyone that might get hurt running this POS. It is going to Colfax Thursday!!!!!

I have a good late model Diesel JD 4020 that I will put the loader, blade and tire chains on. I will sell the roll guard and Wide frontend. I might have to plug it in to get it started in real cold weather but this tractor will RUN after that without the farting/stumbling act.

I will NOT own another NEW Generation JD gas farm TRACTOR!!!!!! I gave up on the JD 3020 gas I fed with when it started doing these tricks 15 year ago.

I came as close as I have in years to being seriously hurt while operating a tractor. Someone else could have been easily hurt too.

So THAT POS is GONE!!!!!
 
I have To Guys Next to US That Have 4020 Gas They like Them Easy starting in The Winter,The one all so has a 4010 Gas Had MS Carb= Ran like Crap Got a Zenith Carb =Took Half the Gas And Runs a whole Lot Better /We have Several Case Gas Tractors530's/930 And 970 /These all have Zenith Carb's /We use Dry Gas in the Main Tank /= E85 Carp Just Garbage = when there not run for long times it Rust's Up the Carburator & that Suck's you have all kind's of truble, starting & keeping them running.
 
Lucky you weren't injured (or anyone else).Me, I'd take the parts off, then burn the sucker !, then take it for scrap !!
 
Is it a power shift? I have a 404 sitting here waiting for a powershift with diff lock and a narrow front. I'd be interested in buying it. I'm only an hour and a half away.
 
I have a 4020 that was gas, I put in a 4430 engine and made a great tractor out of it. I had a couple of 3020 gassers and never could get them to run right, same with the 4020, I have a 2510 gas and it sis a really good tractor.
 
I don't blame you one bit! Maybe shoot some holes in the block just to make you feel better too.

I bought a JD 2440D shortly after my dad's MM 4Star ( that he bought new but was badly worn out ) died while going up a hill with the 3pt shredder on it. Only the right brake worked, and only a little. A pucker moment for sure.

That JD 2440 sure has been expensive to keep going but it sure is handy when it runs!
 
Glad you didn't get hit or hurt.
Now was there ever a good gas engine? I have never found one worth owning. Yes I have owned a few and then were gone soon after buying or parked for lack of running.
 
Glad you made it out of the way OK! It is a helpless feeling on such a big machine - knowing you ain't going to push it or the guy with the Jeep or 1/2 ton truck might not be able to physically pull it out of the road.

I've been very mindful of where I take our new to us IH 756 gasser on the farm as we run it and see what we've got. I can't imagine what we'd do if the tractor died in the middle the road going by our farm.

It would be great if you could repower with a diesel.

BTW - there were a few 4020 gassers (and I really like the 4020 tractors) for sale within striking distance over the past several months for not an extreme price. I passed on them based on some of your experiences posted here. Fingers crossed we'll have a good experience with the IH 756 gasser.

Bill
 
Gosh, I'd miss my gasser 4020 snowblowing tractor "Ingrid"! She's not perfect but she does a pretty good job, even at -30? here on the tundra.

Wish I was closer, I'd take the one you hate off your hands and give her a good home!
 
Their you go, Temper , Temper , Temper.
Only our millionaire farmers, can afford to throw away a good old tractor just because they can not fix it.
 
Tell you what buddy!!! I bought this tractor right. I have invested over $2000 in parts on it to make it right since then.. It has solid state ignition. It has a new Zenith carburetor, I even pulled the head and replaced the valve guides and valves as they were a little lose. Someone had replaced the sleeves and pistons already. I have even checked for vacuum leaks. I have done everything anyone could do and it just will not take throttle all of the time without stumbling. When it does it with the carb set rich to run in cold weather is floods itself as it dies. It is the internal accelerator pump system fouling up. It is a design issue with JD gas engines. There are a lot of good mechanics on this site that can not make a JD gas 3020 or 4020 run right.

As for your "Millionaire" farmer comment. I bought and paid for this tractor with hard earned money!!! With what the loader, Wide front end and the factory canopy brings plus the "salvage" yard payment for the rest of the tractor I will make about $2000 over what I gave for it even adding the parts I have put on it. So what is wrong with making lemonade out of a batch of lemons!!!!

The reason I will not sell this as a running tractor is because whomever I sell it to will more than likely not be able to make it run either. Then they will either want me to take it back or run me down for selling them a POS gas tractor. Been there done that before and I am not doing it again.

I may not sell it to Colfax. I might just part it out right here. I have two other donor diesel tractors that have bad hydraulics/transmissions/sheet metal that I may just use the good parts off this tractor and build one of them up.

My tractor my choice!!! I will not risk anyone taking this tractor out and having it strand them in a dangerous spot/hill/load again. That just is not going to happen!!!

Here is a picture of the tractor. I am not running junk!!! I will make it work out for me and that is all that matters!!!
a245900.jpg
 
jd ,,. I don't blame you ,,. now you know you are gonna catch some ribbin from a few guys , but that's hoew grade school is ,.. ok ,.. lol .. Gassers Just get to ornery azz fits at the worse possible time ,,. I keep seafoam handy ,, lucas fuel stabilizer and about 6 bottles of heet on hand at all times ,,,ESPECIALLY IN THE WINTER. One of my DCs came here barely running , after using a whole can of carb cleaner , I cleaned the oil bath breather and filed it with diesel fuel to the mark . started the ornery olfartup I poured a little brake fluid in the air breather and some diesel fuel while holding the throttle open as it chortled that witches brew thru ,, then chokt him to nearly death and adjusted the fuel screw on the zenith carb,. . it smoked . belched , farted , and snarled and smoked to hi heaven,.. but by golly it got over it . and started running like The Old Gent is supposed to.. that 4020 gasser ought to run , perhaps as another fella suggested putting electronic ignition would help . ,, my best DC CASe has electronic ignition , and I can crank the motor on a 20 degree morning with ignition switch off ,, , walk around the tractor twice and climb aboard and only flip the switch to on and the DC will fire up just from the piston on compression stroke and loaded with fuel ... NO CRANKING ,. JUST Spark !//.the best thing I ever done for this DC Case was put a 12 volt alternator and electronic ignition ,.. It Is Without a doubt the most dependable starting tractor on my place,.. my 3010 I had 30 yrs ago was ornery too ,.. and I was just learning the hard way about the evils of unleaded and alcohol laced gasoline ,.. we finally got that 3010 running great and I slappt a wedding dress paint job on it and sold it...
 
Why anyone on earth would want a gas anything, let alone a tractor is beyond me, yup scrap that pos.
 
Sounds like a good candidate for a repower from one of your donor tractors. I do understand from the incident of not wanting to look at it again, too.
 
I had a 4010 lp. Same thing. Changed it to gasoline. Would start then. But still would stumble when you needed it to go. Gave it a new home. My neighbor has a 3010 gas that runs like a diesel. Here at the house use a compact jd with a cab. Easy to get into and drive.
 
I hate to see that happen as it is a 4020 and appears to be in good shape otherwise. I would repower with a 404 diesel out of another 4020 or the next gen 404 out of a 30 series tractor or a combine. I do understand that given the incident that JD would want it to be gone. I have bought other people's headaches and had them pan out. It helps when a person starts out calm and fresh and not had the misfortune of something going down at a very inopportune time. Frustration can build to a point to even where a problem is very solvable that it is best for one's mental well being to start over.
 
I have a marvel /schriebler on my 730 case gasser ,. it does OK , but when it sits the 730 gets a doseof witches brew to get rid of alcohol rust crud . the more it runs the better it performs,. , I prefer zenith carbs ,, you can adjust them to run indifferent weather conditionds ,,. no one is allowed to touch the settings on the m/s carbs , just to delicate to get rite ..
 
There were practically no 3020-4020 gas tractors in my area and I can see why...
You're lucky that you or someone else didn't get killed..
 
What would you take for it with a narrow front and no loader? Or even no front end as I have a rollomatic or two. I have a complete 4020 diesel engine here I picked up awhile back and I also have a 68 4020 diesel that has a bearing or something going bad in the rear end. Tom
 
Glad you are safe. For years I have told people Deere quit making gas engines when they quit the two bangers. The new gen gassers run well unly under Devine intervention. That 105 combine I ran for 19 years had a 4020 gasser. When it got a burr up it's tail nothing but the power of God could straighten it out.
 
Nice looking Deere. Too bad it's a lemon. Folks who never had a lemon will never understand why you're doing away with it. Been there done that and I completely agree.

When the better half and me got hitched she had a 65 fairlane. It was a lemon. Don't think it ever made it a month without something tearing up. Put up with it about a year and a half and I was done. Parked it out behind the barn over a $5 part. Woulden't sell it untill about ten years later when a scrap man came by and asked about it. $50 and it was gone. Threw the title in the trash. Wasn't no way in the world I was gonna ever let anyone put that lemon back on the road.
 
And you still have one of those junk from new JD accelerator pump carbs that never did and never will work at anything but full throttle and full load on a hot summer day..

What it needs is the smaller Marvel S carb that was used on the early 50's M Moline model U 283 engines. My 4020 has worked right for the first time in it's life since I fitted that smaller carb. I know, I know you just know in you heart that it cant possibly work, although mine has been a joy to use summer and winter for the last 25 years since I did the conversion. They need this smaller carb, they need a larger starter and a stronger than stock ignition to fix the factory made disaster JD pushed off on the public. But then it can't possibly be fixed, so haul it off for scrap.
 
I agree with you, Mr. Hagen. It's the carburetor! My old Ford car with the Autolite carb did exactly the same thing--Rebuilt it a couple times before I gave up and put on a Holley-problem solved. A smaller carb is way more responsive than a carb made for hi-revving engines.
 
1st Well given you had bad experiences in the past with gas tractors why in the world did you ever buy it ?
2 nd you should of NEVER been out on a road like that on a tractor gas or diesel even if it didn't stall you blocked both lanes of a seemingly busy road.

Sure seems like I'm the only one able to make a gas JD run good. Drop it off over at my place.
 
A lemon anything is enough to make what seems like a poor financial decision worth while for the peace of mind and simple reliability. Went through that about a year ago with a Jeep, it was only a $7000 vehicle that had about $6000 spent on repairs before I sold it because just driving it *&^%ed me off even if it was running right. Enough to make me swear off anything that came from a Chrysler production line.
 
We all press our luck sometimes. Clearing the snow out of the median of a 4 lane highway probably should have waited until daylight, but going out there twice would have been inconvenient and we want it done now, so we press our luck a little. I press my luck more often than I should too, we all do until the next time we get burned.

Those 4020 gas engines were definitely over-carbureted. The one dad had would stumble a little off idle, but it ran well with an M-S carburetor and started well at -20F with no block heater. On a fifty plus year old machine there are probably multiple problems with the fuel pump, leaking accelerator pump diaphragm, float height, rusty distributor advance, manifold leaks, plugged manifold heat passages, worn governor and linkage, etc. that make it very hard to trouble shoot. You and the new owner will be happier if you sent the tractor to a new home or re-powered it.
 
do you have pics and what do you want also how many hours---if you want a good gas tractor get a 1850 oliver will work circles around a jd on less fel
 
we do 90% of our farming with gas and lp reason when I buy the tractor they furnish with 4 years worth of fuel in the price--next we feed a lot of cattle and I hate to loo for ether --extension cords heaters etc why would anyone think they can farm with diesels and save money
 
I never understood them gas JDs, seems if it got a little damp out it would not run worth a darn, but any other gas tractor would run just fine, we have a 3020 and a 4020 gas and the 2020 gas, that 2020 if you see a rain cloud it better get put away cause it will not run much longer. My guess is it got damp from the snow, had that happen many times on those Deeres.
 
Actually a little Liberty. But then it doesn't sound like anything with Jeep's name on it is worth a *&^%.
 
Growing up, we had a 3010, 3020, and a 4020................all gasoline powered. The 3010 was traded off for a 4320. Still have the 3020. Finally replaced the M-S carb with a Zenith, simply because it was getting tougher and tougher to keep it running well as the M-S carburetor was deformed from heat and warping. It starts and runs flawlessly, however it drinks a lot more gasoline than it had before, and I don't think it has quite the top end on horsepower. I know of other who were very frustrated with JD gas tractors. We also had IH gas tractors. One was an 806 gas tractor and it needed a zipper on the engine. The 560 gas needed the valves ground every spring before fieldwork. The 4 cylinder tractors did not and seem to still not give any grief. Sorry to read of you enduring all this grief. I think if I was going to buy a JD gas tractor, I would look into what it would take to install that EFI. I understand your frustration and it is time to "cut your losses" and get rid of a chronic pain in the butt tractor that you cannot depend upon. Our family farm has been there and done that with that 806 IH I mentioned, which was replaced with an even bigger POS, which was a 1955 Oliver. I commented on that on a post a couple days ago. Now that was a real POS!!
 
I have tried to figure out why deere gas engines run terrible when all other brands run so well. I have a 560 IH gasser that I use for everything from plowing to light loader work and it starts and runs fantastic. I have worked on several deere gassers and cannot think of one that ran decent. I have tried most every trick including the $1000 dollar Roberts carb. (that made the most improvement) but they still would not run perfect. In my opinion I think it is the head and manifold. There is not enough flow to properly atomize the fuel at low rpm's. The bottom line is do not buy a new gen gasser!! Unless you like buying plugs and enjoy cussing!
 
Can't believe the stories I'm hearing. Grandpa bought his 3020 gas new which my uncle still uses on the farm. That thing ran flawlessly and dependably for many years, up until it started burning a little more oil and fouling the plugs.
 
couple things....first off i do most all work on my own stuff. I bought a 3020 about 18 years ago gas.. It has ran flawlessly since Ive had it and i put alot of work into it after I bought it to make sure everything worked on it as it should. that being said.. I had to take it in couple years back to get seperated to repair a bearing inside. The guy I took it to is a retired long time j.d. mechanic but has started his own repair shop on his place. Whats nice about him is he shares his knowledge and will bring you in to explain whats going on or not going on. Well during the time he had it he called me in and explained what was going on then explained to me that my 3020 had a alis chalmers carb on it. Said that back in the day they couldnt keep them running, hard to adjust etc etc. Some one figured out that the alis carb from a 90 would bolt on and ran the tractor better than what was on from factory..

Ive rebuilt it once in those years since buying. and it has ran great summer and winter (once warmed up)

This past year I had a problem with it that reminds me of what JD seller was talking about.. Haying in the field it ran great then all the sudden farted, studdered, died, ran, etc etc.. Could not figure it out..
Replaced coil, plugs, plug wires, distributor tune up etc etc.. NOTHING... One evening I got fed up with it and started messing around and noticed that I could tap on the distributor with a screwdriver and could make it do the things it was doing in the field.. Even after a tune up kit it still messed up.. I found a used distributer from a 3020 same year near by and stuck it in as is and the tractor ran fine as it should.. So I took the tune up out of the "bad" and stuck it in the used one in the tractor and has been fine since..Cant really tell you what about the distributor was bad every thing seemed tight and good on it but for some reason it had a problem to which a different one solved..Anyway..

The alis carb I never heard of but was worked for me very well..if not for this old maechanic I prob would have tried to get a j.d. carb kit and would have had issues finding out why it didnt fit..

my two cents...
 
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