Using a 80, 820 or 830 for tillage

Of those of you that use or did use an 80, 820 or 830 for main tillage tractors, what size implements did you pull and what speeds were you able to work at on average? How were they for working on them yourself as far as parts sizes and so on. If you still use one how many acres do you till or disk with it? Would they hould thier own againt a 4020 or better? Thanks

Just speaking from experience, I farmed with an 820 for about 10 years in the 60's and 70's then went to a 4020. Implements included 4x16 plow, 12' chisel plow, 12' heavy offset disk, 20' springtooth on a hydraulic carrier, 12' V-blade and 14' tandem disk. No problems with any of these implements here in wheat country. Not much difference in capability of 820 and 4020 other than the convenience factor of the 4020.

(quoted from post at 16:08:13 10/19/15) Just speaking from experience, I farmed with an 820 for about 10 years in the 60's and 70's then went to a 4020. Implements included 4x16 plow, 12' chisel plow, 12' heavy offset disk, 20' springtooth on a hydraulic carrier, 12' V-blade and 14' tandem disk. No problems with any of these implements here in wheat country. Not much difference in capability of 820 and 4020 other than the convenience factor of the 4020.

Click to expand...

David,
How many acres did you farm with the 820? Did the 820 pull the implements are the the same or similar speeds as the 4020?

Back in the day my great grandpa farmed just over 800 acres with a 830. He pulled 15ft chisel plow or 17ft depending on the the time of the year or how hard the soil was. This was with sweeps for summerfallowing. He also pulled a 21ft JD FW disc. He then traded the 830 for a 4020
diesel with a power shift in 1964 and pulled the same implements. About 15 years ago I got ahold of my uncles black dash 820, I pulled the same plow and disc since we still had both. I used 3rd gear most of the time. From my experience and what other old timers have told me, the
830/820 BD will hold their own against the 4020 and even out pull them in some conditions. It is fact you get more work out of gallon of fuel with the 830s. Plus they have much superior torque and lugging ability. 4020s are much nicer to drive though plus you can use the on the PTO
much more efficiently.

Sorry David, my reply had bad spelling and I was not able to edit it.

David,
How many acres did you farm with the 820? Did the 820 pull the implements the same or at similar speeds to the 4020?

As usual, Dual rear wheels and tires are normal in certain conditions on each..

Seen a 830 make a 4010 look pretty bad when I was in HS..

The 4010 had to stop and shift several times per round and the 830 just BULLED it's way through the tough spots..

Ron..

Probably about 300-400 acres, but in that time frame we were under the constraints of the gov't and had acre restrictions on wheat, milo, oats, beans, corn and other crops so lots of acres were in "set-aside" which meant more fallowing than today. Like another poster stated, there wasn't much difference in the amount of work an 820 or 830 could do vs. the 4020. Another feature on the 4020 was the 1000 rpm PTO which was becoming more common in those days. The 4020 makes a great loader tractor, in my opinion.

Looking back, I'm sure we abused the 2-cylinder diesels. I hated to stop and shift so I also "bulled" my way thru many a tough spot pulling it down to rpm levels that probably were not good for it. Remember using a 21' anhydrous applicator, which was the smallest the fertilizer companies had, and it was a load for the old 820.

Since 1987 I used a JD 830 with a JD 4-14 plow to plow about 30 acres a year on my hobby farm. Almost always plowed in 2nd gear, which I think was about 2 1/2 miles an hour. Occasionally would plow in low in very dry conditions, mostly to not damage the plow if I hit a stone. Last couple of years I have been using my JD 6105R cab tractor with a 4-16 plow. But on a nice day I might still use the JD 830. Biggest difference is the 830 uses about half the fuel. Maybe about 1 gal per acre while my 6105R used 2.2 gals per acre over 42 acres this fall. Al

David-

I farmed with an 830 as the main heavy work tractor for about 20 years. It comfortably handled a pull type 5-16 plow, an 18 foot tandem disc, a 15 foot digger, and a 10 foot offset disc. I never had duals for it and no liquid ballast in the tires. It would pull those 5-16's through the toughest black gumbo I have on the farm in 2nd gear at about 3 mph and rarely seemed to be pulling down or lugging. Same gear and speed with the other implements mentioned. Lots of expensive things were needing attention on it so I traded it towards a 4020 diesel about 15 years ago. I don't regret the trade since the 4020 is so much easier to drive. It has no liquid ballast in the rear tires either and it won't pull the 18ft tandem in fresh plowing very well unless I put the duals on it. I traded the 5-16 trip plow for an auto reset 4-16 which the 4020 pulls well. It had a hard time with the 5-16 in the gumbo. Now, if it was loaded with ballast it would be the equal of the 830 for traction, but w/o added weight, it isn't. The 4020 is way better for PTO work. The 830 got more work done on a gallon of fuel but the 4020 isn't a fuel hog. I sort of miss the old 830, I liked the sound of it pulling a good load.

Ted K

I have both 2 4020's and an 820. I pull 4-16 plow and a 15 ft disc in fourth gear. I just bought it in the spring and am amazed at what it will do. I love to listen to it run. It is only used part time to keep it limbered up. The 4020's are a lot nicer to use.

Here's 1/2 the reason 4020's couldn't keep up with Ol Green in the field, the other half is weight distribution.