John Deere 1010

I am looking at a JD 1010 gas can anyone tell me much about them? It will be my first crawler. I've got 2 A/C tractors

the engines are EXTREMELY expensive to do a major rebuild .

made before 1965.

Engine expensive to overhaul and 55 plus years old as noted by others. These crawlers were only produced for about 5 years before the 350s came on the market. You are looking at gas but as a side note; the diesels were hard to start, needed glow plugs even in the summer to start good.

Some parts are available at JD and on the aftermarket. Some parts are NLA, unless you can find "good" used ones in a salvage yard.

You need to look at the condition of the entire undercarriage (track frames, chains, pads, idlers, sprockets, rolls, adjusters, etc.). Repairs in that area can quickly get costly.

In general the dry steering clutches and brakes have a history of problems if the machines set a lot, especially if setting outside.

They can be good machines, given their age. Many machines older than these are still in use. It depends what you want to use it for, daily runner or occasional tasks. If needed daily it might not be the best choice. For occasion tasks, used right, it may work well for you, if you can handle maintenance and repairs yourself. A good crawler is a lot of fun.

I have had that machine years ago. with the reverser its not a bad little machine as long as you use it whats it made for. there is a flaw in the motor. the cylinder walls come in one piece. so basically you have 4 cylinders you just put in there. so if you have a problem with one cylinder you have to find the set and there extremely hard to find. where the cylinder walls hit the bottom there is a seal. lot of times it starts leaking witch means you will get antifreeze in the oil and if not detected will cause cylinder damage. really a poor design. as far as the tracks, rollers, etc you can find them but they wont be cheap. My best advice is really check it over for any oil leaks especially around the rear sprockets. if it does run good and been taken care of and the price is right and it will suit your need then buy it. also make sure the reverser works properly cause if I remember right those parts are extremely rare. when the reverser goes out it still will operate but its in the hi side so you really lose a lot of digging power. go on the net and do a search. good luck in what ever you decide. norm

I have a 1010 crawler, gas. I did a rebuild some years back and did a JD40c and 800 Ford at the same time. The cost difference was minimal. Yes, the sleeve deck was relatively expensive, but so was the crank, sleeves and pistons for the Ford. It really wasn't much more to rebuild the 1010 than the Ford, couple hundred maybe. And if the previous owner handn't removed the air cleaner on the 1010, run filthy oil in it and then gone gorilla and busted the old sleeve deck trying to take it out for some reason he couldn't recall, it wouldn't have been that much at all.

As far as use, as long as you have the right coil and plugs in the 1010 gas they run fine. They are lightly built compared to later, larger machines, but they can do a great amount of work.

And for the record- there isn't ANY crawler anywhere that has CHEAP undercarriage parts. Not one! Undercarriage is the most important and most overlooked part for the novice looking at a crawler. If the owner says it's 80%, it's probably 25% and if they say 50%, chances are it's totally shot.

A friend had one for a few years when he built his home. I did a bunch of work with it around his place, and just recall it's not very powerful for earthwork. The motor was a little tired, so he rebuilt it and even after that, not a lot of difference when trying to get a blade full. More or less a small lightweight grading tractor, surface work, etc. probably handy in the woods, but with no R.O.P.S., you will want to use care. Given what is out there for under 20K, I would not pay much for one of these. It's been 20 years, and parts seemed to be available from the dealer then, not sure how it is now. Given the age and obsolescence, it is a consideration.

Undercarriages have to be physically measured to determine actual wear, don't be fooled. My friends had already worn through the pins/bushings on the track chains, and I am sure at some point soon, those tracks would be a problem. If well worn, but you can still keep adequate tension to them, part time use will go a long way. I was never much of a fan of the later 350 and or 450's either, but did a fair amount of grading with them just the same, low on power, slower to work than more modern tractors. Now if you're talking like something from the 90's and up from JD, not bad at all, one of the last late model 450's I ran and a 650 were pretty nice machines with lots of power. They've all progressed like this anyway and is why I would just not pay a lot for one.

Billy, they aren't real powerful, this is true. But for a DIY kinda guy that just wants to work around the farm they are pretty decent. No, I wouldn't give a lot for one, especially a crawler with iffy tracks. But, like with the 40/420 crawlers, you can do a whole lot more with one than you can with a shovel and pick! For that matter, a neighbor down the road ditched his place with a an old cable shovel he got for $800.00. Guys like you that ran bigger, newer equipment laugh at the stuff those of us that don't know any better think is the greatest thing since sliced bread. :lol:

I would agree, thinking about the work this 1010 did, finishing up around his new house, it just took a lot longer, but the results are the same. Another friend has one of the earlier series 40/420 tractors for many years, same kinds of use, very handy for a variety of tasks. It's just good to know not to expect more than they are in regards to power and performance. Lots of times these small crawlers can work in places others can't.

When I did this for a living, I used to run the oldest machines they had, but some of these fancy operators would be too good for that. Heck I grew up on an old worn out WWII era Caterpillar D7. It shaped some of the landscape here, dug a foundation for a friend, and did more of the same for another before it sat for years. It still pulled our farmer friends tractor out of the mud the same as a new one would.

One outfit I spent a lot of time on old D6D's which were great, reliable tractors, very desirable well into old age too, still command a good buck today. Then they brought in 2 new tractors, one a CAT, the other a Komatsu, D6 size, performance was night and day, but when fuel ran low for the day, I'd jump back on one of the D6D's for the overtime. Some operators just thought too much of themselves, none of those guys could run and grade with a direct drive cable operated tractor, I could as I learned on one when I was young.