Help re: 1020

This 1020 has the console shifter on the dash. How the heck is this thing supposed to shift? The sticker is wore down to the point you cannot see it, and the sales guy really didn't know anything about JD's.

The brakes are really bad, and would need to be replaced. Are pads very high, for the 1020? I have a decent mechanical aptitude, and figured I could change them myself.

The pedal comes way out before the clutch takes hold. The dealer (not the same guy who knew nothing about the shift pattern) said that is typical of a JD. Is this true?

A few notes -- some of which might be helpful.

1. Check the year. They didn't start making 1020's until '65, I think. The S/N is located on the right side, below the seat and above the foot ledge. Mine is a '66, and from the first year of real volume production.

2. The shift lever on the dash could be either a hi-lo shift or a forward-reverse lever. Both were optional. The basic shift H pattern for the two gear shifters below is:
Left Shifter: Park I range II range Reverse

Right Shifter: 1-5 4-8 2-6 3-7

If the dash control shifter is a forward - reverse, you won't find Reverse on the bottom right of the H of the left shifter. 1-5, etc. on the right is 1 for I range or 5 for II range.

3. You need to pull the rear axles to get to the brakes. Not a whole lot of fun. I'd try bleeding them first. Sorry, no idea on parts cost.

4. The clutch is two stage. The PTO engages at the bottom, and the drive engages close to the end of travel of the clutch pedal. Mine's been like this for over 20 years. No repairs needed.

Steve

It sounds like this one is likely a 1010, and not a 1020.

Welcome...and I think you're right about the model.

If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck... it must be a 1010. In any event, if it's really a '64, it isn't a 1020.

I checked my owners manual. All three flavors of the 1020 had shifters below the steering wheel, and on the tranny. They had optional gizmo shifters on the left side of the dash, the throttle being on the right side. None of them had 6 speeds on a console.

As you say in your other post, you might want to stay away from a 1010.

On the other hand, my 1020 walks on water. Seriously, it's been a really good little tractor for a whole lot of years. Leave her sit in the barn for a few months in the dead of winter in Indiana, and she still starts up. I don't have any other machines around here that will do that.

There was a 1020 on ebay a week or two ago from Georgia. I only saw it get to 3 or 4 thousand. Sort of surprised me. I've seen 1020's here in state go for nearly twice that much -- with loaders.

Prices -- for farm equipment, anyway --in New England seem to be fairly inflated compared to us hicks out here in the Midwest (more power to us hicks.. ha ha). I suppose that has something to do with supply of dirt farmers versus the demands of the rock soil of New England, and John Deere being born in Vermont, and the People's Republic of Taxachussets, et cetera. Whatever it is, I'd seriously compare local prices versus midwest or southern prices plus the freight of hauling it there.

In any event, best of luck in finding a good tractor.

Steve

But, if I drive it across the street and out on the lake in November, I can come back several VERY COLD months later and it will start in the first two seconds! Just like Steve said, "it starts right up"... and this is a diesel 1020!

Guys, I couldn't miss this chance to praise the JD 1020. I just got done pulling a NH 492 Haybine around the 4 foot high hayfield all day with the JD 1020. I was thinking the whole time what a marvelous piece of machinery JD created.

kb. From what I have heard the JD 1010 and 2010 should put on top of my lake any of the other seven months (April - October) out of the year.

HA! I like that frozen water trick you're doing!

It dawns on me now that NH is New Holland, and not New Hampshire. So apologies for the New England joshing I was doing.

My 1020 has spent a lot of years pulling a baler that has MF in big letters on the front. But we ain't gonna go there about what those initials could mean.

Now if I could only get my 1020 to run on two instead of three cylinders so it would sound like my 60, I'd have the best of all worlds.

Steve

Come to think of it, it doesn't have the big Deere emblem in the middle of the grill either.

Thanks for the info, sounds like this tractor is one to avoid. From what I have read by many here the 1010 would get the most votes for worst Deere ever built.

Take a look at the brakes. Mine are in separate housings in front of each axle. I just went through the process of locating discs for it and I can comment with some intelligence on that process -- IT IS PAINFUL! You can find a lot of J-D brake discs on the internet for something in the area of $25 each (It takes four). Unfortunately none of them would fit my 1010 which has a five inch disc with a 21 point spline. Check that carefully before buying any discs. With a serial number your J-D dealer should be able to give you the correct part number and a price. If they are like mine, sit down before he gives you the price. They were $60 each.

As far as the 1010 being the worst tractor J-D ever built, I haven't owned other J-D's so can't comment on that. There are some things I like well and others I don't like so well. One thing for sure, they didn't build a lot of them so parts are expensive and expertise is pretty low. My local dealer told me he won't work on the hydraulic system on mine because they are too hard to diagnose and repair.