John Deere 444 loader pro and cons

Sekelbos · Oct 2, 2018

Looking to buy a 1978 John Deere loader. Any weaknesses? Fuel consumption? In South Africa the John Deere 3130 from Mannheim were quite popular so engine parts should not be a problem. The 444 uses the same 329 cu inch engine.

MSM · Oct 2, 2018

First thing, if possible is verify hours and previous maintenance. That is a 40 year old machine, so it could have in excess of 20,000 hours even running 500 hours a year. Center pins should have been replaced, trans and drop box should have been rebuilt along with the axles, and I'm certain the engine should have been overhauled at least with an inframe. Fuel economy should be in the 5-6 gallons an hour range loading from a pile into trucks. Look it over closely,especially at the wear areas, bucket condition,loader linkage,center pins. We rotate our loaders out at 12-15000 hours, after that, maintenance, repairs and down time make them unsuitable for production work

John Deere 444 loader pro and cons

Sekelbos

New User

MSM

Well-known Member

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