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Forgive me I am a tractor guy and could not resist!!! LOL

J

JD Seller

Well-known Member
Well I am once again the "proud" owner of that JD 4020 GAS tractor I had last fall/winter. After I posted about sending it to the happy tractor salvage yard, a friend called me and wanted to buy it as-is. He needed some thing to move snow with and liked playing around with carbureted motors.

He made "new" jets for the carburetor with smaller orifices. He did the ones that the accelerator pump used. So it did not effect full power just the amount of fuel it gets at throttle up. It helped some but it is still a crap shoot if it will take throttle smoothly.

How I ended up with it again is he unexpectedly passed away a month ago at the age of 58. His widow called me wanting me to help her sell his equipment. I gave her a little more than he gave me and bought the other stuff at market price. The way she does not have any worries trying to sell the few items. He was a good fellow.

SO the problem child is back in the shed. I have a motor out of a JD 6620 combine that has a spun rod bearing I am thinking about rebuilding it and transplanting it into the gas tractor..
 
JD some people are glutten for punishment lol. It s great that you could help his widow. RB
 
There might be a fix for it. At the Half Century of Progress there was a fellow set up who was changing 3020-4020 gas tractors to electronic fuel injection. The problem is you can rebuild your 404 combine engine cheaper. He has a good idea (other than parts that stick out wide beside the engine) but it is not cost efective as you can put a diesel in cheaper. Tom
 
I think a fuel injection from a 300 ford six would be practically a bolt on. Along with the crank trigger ignition would really change the 4010. I had a 4010 lp. Sorryest tractor engine I ever had. Changed it to gasoline. And a hot ignition. Helped it.
 
Just like a bad penny!! Ever think you might be being punished? I would have done the same thing as you. Helped a friends son sell his dad's equipment and think I ended up buying most of it only to see him lose a fully paid for farm. There is a special place for people like you JD.
 
SO silly and you are looking for so much drama! A gas 4020 (especially with the cast iron carb) is no better or worse than any other gasser tractor of that era.

I've posted photos of my gasser 4020 "Ingrid" before, successfully blowing snow in sub-zero temps but thanks to Fumblebucket holding my photos for $400 ransom I can't easily do that right now!

A friend of mine has a gasser 3020, which I service for him, and no drama there, either.
 
Bob the tractor is useable it just is not a dependable tractor IF you need to restart it hot or want it to throttle up smoothly. It starts just about any time it is cool. It will pull OK if you increase the RPMs slowly. It burns HUGE amounts of gas doing light work. 10 gallons of gas will grade the lane maybe twice.

The JD gas motors of that era are worse than the other brands of that era. I have ran IH, Oliver and AC gas tractors of the same age an they just simply run better. Plus they do it with much less maintenance.

This tractor has had money spent on it. Electronic ignition, rebuilt cast carburetor, two 12 volt batteries, heavier starter, charging system updated to higher amperage alternator, and good heavy cables. Compression is good and valves are set correctly. It just will not start when hot and stumbles the majority of the time when given throttle.
 
If the 6620 engine is a non turbo 466, they work really nice in a 4020. Not the easiest on fuel, but lots of good low end power.
 
I had one gasser.....a well worn out LP 4020. After learning what those little holes were for....the ones on the side of the block that had radiator fluid leaking out, and a $1k inframe later where I did most of the work, plus a new LP regulator and a constant supply of this and that......a real problem trying to find one at the time, and the heat, and poor fuel economy and all that...I said never again.
 
They tell me if you can find a carb off a 930/970 case gas they make those 4020s run pretty good. One of Jeff's neighbors has one and likes it, says it made a tractor out of scap.
 
Bob: I agree. Our 4020 gas has been nothing short of a good reliable machine. Capable of doing most anything asked of it in any weather. Got it back around 1992 ? went over it with a fine tooth comb. Did not need any major repairs luckily. I think we have put maybe 600 hours on it since then ? I did learn a few things you MUST do to them. You must put a Zenith carb. on them. You must have the heat exchanger in the manifold working so you can set it for cold or hot weather.
Adding EFI would just take a simple machine and make it complicated and more expensive to keep going.
 
That is the best way to fix a 4020 gas...I have a 3020 gas in here now,, I fiddled with it yesterday and had it to where I thought it was good...started it this morning and it runs like crapp again...
 
My experience is similar to Mike and Bob's. My uncle's 3020 gas (Grandpa bought new in '70) has served faithfully ever since new. It's done everything it's been asked to and starts easy even in -15F weather. The problems started almost two years ago when the fuel supplier switched the gas from no ethanol to gas all. At first I thought it was misfiring because it's been burning more oil, but I think the root cause is the gas switch. As a matter of fact none of the gas engines have run the same since the switch....
 
Gas has not been an issue for me. We run the cheapest stuff we can buy. 87 octane with 10% ethanol added. Been that way in Ohio for years and years. Some other states may sell lower octane ?
From chainsaws mix which also gets ran in the lawnboy mower to weed whackers to our cars to the 4020 and the 2 cyls. Put stabil in for sitting over winter. Ones that have been stored away a sitting forever got drained and some kerosene in them to keep from rusting and drying out the gaskets and such. Any running problems that do crop up have not been linked to gas type as other issues were always found and repaired.
 
One night the BTO I worked for had all his 4020's/4320 tied up on other jobs. Said I could plow with the new to him 4020 gas. So when I was done with my Day job, ran home for a bite to eat, when I got back to work Boss had the 4020 gas hooked to the F-145 5-14 plow. Gassed up, pleenty of oil, headed out to the land started in the 80 acre field. 4th gear was fast enough to make the exh manifold glow red in places, bottom of muffler dull red. Tried 5th and it lugged down so ran in 4th. 16 half mile rounds, about 4 hours first tank of gas gone. Back to yard, gassed up checked oil and back out to plow. 16 more rounds, another 4 hours, just enough gas to get back to the yard. I got the tank about half full, Boss comes out to start chores, we talk for 5-10 minutes, car pulls in the driveway, pulls up under the yardlight. Was Dad looking for me. He was just home from work and Mom was upset I wasn't home yet. When I turned on the north headland I was 5/8ths mile from our house, she could see my headlights! Went home, slept about 2 hours and went back and hauled manure again.

ANY HOW, Any 4020 diesel would have pulled that plow in 5th, not 4th, and I could have run all night on 1 tank of fuel, not two. diesel 5 gal per hour, gas 7 gal per hour and less work.
 
Sad to hear about your neighbor passing, your a good guy for helping his wife out.
I have heard it yet so Some one say it yet so here it is.
Nothing Runs Like a Deere.
Ha
 
Sad to hear about your neighbor passing, your a good guy for helping his wife out.
I have heard it yet so Some one say it yet so here it is.
Nothing Runs Like a Deere.
Ha
 
(quoted from post at 08:28:58 11/02/17) Gas has not been an issue for me. We run the cheapest stuff we can buy. 87 octane with 10% ethanol added. Been that way in Ohio for years and years. Some other states may sell lower octane ?
From chainsaws mix which also gets ran in the lawnboy mower to weed whackers to our cars to the 4020 and the 2 cyls. Put stabil in for sitting over winter. Ones that have been stored away a sitting forever got drained and some kerosene in them to keep from rusting and drying out the gaskets and such. Any running problems that do crop up have not been linked to gas type as other issues were always found and repaired.
Click to expand...


I'm not sure what the octane rating was/is now. If the octane changed I wonder if that's a contributing factor also. The gas we used to get had a red dye in it. Early last year I noticed the color changed to the same as pump gas. Right after that change the 3020 started acting up and has never ran the same since. I told my uncle the gas was different but he wasn't sure until he read the invoice for the gas later that year.
 
yes supposedly all gas is supposed to have 10% ethanol in it now. You can buy real gas but you will pay for it.
 
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