Old John Deere tractor sizes

JohnV2000

Member
I always see John Deere tractors for sale on Craigslist and out on farms when I am on my bicycle. I know most of the popular John Deere tractors, such as the Model A, B, D, G, R, and GP, but I am not sure about the size of those tractors compared to each other.

For Farmall, I know that the M is the biggest, then the H, then the C, etc, but I want to know the structure of the John Deere lineup.

Could anyone help me out? I really want to keep learning about old tractors because when I get my own house when I graduate college, I am going to collect many tractors.

I always thought the G was the biggest, but then I have also heard the A was the most powerful and used less gas. Then, the diesel R Model has always been one of my favorites, but how did it compare to the others in terms of power?

John
 
(quoted from post at 08:03:42 06/12/19) Check out this site.

They have info on just about every tractor made.
Tractor Data

Thank you Steve. I checked the site, it is a great resource with lots of information. They list hundreds of models of John Deere and I had a hard time just finding the common letter tractors like the A, D, etc.
 
(quoted from post at 08:03:42 06/12/19) Check out this site.

They have info on just about every tractor made.
Tractor Data

Steve, I found a way to sort by tractor Series (two cylinder letter series) on the TractorData website. It answered my question perfectly. Thank you again!

John
 
R was rated 48 PTO HP, probably the biggest. Dad had one for about 4 months, end of December 1963 to end
of April 1964. Was a big clumsy awkward tractor about the same HP as our Super M-TA Farmall but slower.
Township Road Commissioner really really wanted it and Dad let him have it. Township used it to pull road
drag and a PTO driven rototiller to chew up scarafied roads. They kept it 3 years and traded it for a 770
Oliver diesel. They knocked the PTO out of it three times, once a year! We never ever hooked anything to
the PTO, just ran it to run the hydraulics. They are a pain to start. Pony motor is too small, only
tractor with 2 cylinder pony, every other pony start tractor got the V-4. Dad put Char-Lynn power
assisted steering on ours, still was clumsy and awkward. I only remember Dad running it once, maybe
twice. Supposedly it was "My Tractor". I REALLY hated that 11 mph road gear. It was amazing how much more
work the SM-TA could do in a day than the R. It seemed to have a gearbox FULL of too fast or too slow
gears.
Next smallest would be the G. Then think the D. Later D's may make more HP than a G, early tractors were
distillate or kerosene fueled, lower HP. Next after G or D is the A, then B, then H, then M, then L.
Think that's all of them. Not a huge fan of those old 2-bangers. Some of the worst days of my life were
spent listening to those things bang, clang, and hammer along hour after hour. My ears ring 24-7-365 now
and I owe that ALL to Mother Deere. I'd get off an M, SM-TA, 450 and no ringing ears. Get off the BTO's
60 or A JD and my ears would ring at least as long as I ran them. Never had that problem with his 4020's,
& 4320, 4230, and 2470 Case.
 
I go to that site quite often. The letter tractors are always on the bottom of the list for all makes. And most of the models I have never even heard of, anything newer than a 3020 I know nothing about. But with models like the A it is very confusing as first series A was the one with no grill and that power size was built 34 to 39, next up 40 to a bit into 47 and these were all the all fuel tractors but there were ways to convert them to gas for more power but those ways were never tested. then the late 47 to 52 could be either the all fuell at lower power or gas and I have not found all of the tests for them. The G was all fuell but different ways to convert to gas and some ways the G would make more power than a 730. The L was the smallest then the LA & H were about tied in power then next up was the B made in 4 different power sizes, then the A, with those different power sizes depending on the age. G next yo. The GP was about same power as the orignal A or last model gas B. Confusing to you? I have been arount them for 62 years and owned several of the letter series.
 
We had an R for at least 25 years, 52-77, and the only problems I recall was an injector leak fuel into the oil. I was our big work tractor, pulled 4 16's all fall, baled thousands of small squares in the summer. the live pto and hydraulics were great. Once it even went to the woods in the winter to run the hydraulic pulpwood loader when the JD350 crawler was in the shop.
 
It probably would make a bit more sense to look at them as series:
Row Crop (in order of power):
the "GP" which then was split out into H, B, A, G which were replaced by the 50,60,70 then the 520, 620, 720, and finally the 530, 630, and 730

"Wheatland" style
D which then was "replaced" by the R then the 80 then the 820 and 830

"Inline" motors:
The "M" and related "MT" became the 40, 420 and 430 with the inline 2 cylinder

The LA also had an inline 2 cylinder similar to the "M"
 
DR. EVIL, do you have any pictures or information about the power assisted steering? I?d like to get one for my R.
Thanks
 
The R was rated at 45 drawbar hp. It was targeted at the IH
WD-9 with a few more ponies and slightly better fuel economy.
IH acknowledged this by turning up their WD-9 after the R hit
the market. Despite what some say, the was a good tractor
and over 20,000 units sold in just over 5 years doesn?t lie and
the R helped JD start the climb up to the number one spot.
PTO was a weakness on them but so was cracking heads on
gas start IH diesels. We had a R for a short time. Grandpa
ran it along side his IH TD-14A. Traded it off for a JD 5010
and retired the 14A from farming.

The G and late As have the same horsepower but I?ve been
told in the hard going a G will walk away from the A due to its
400+ cubic inch engine. The G was really overbuilt and a little
heavy at stock hp. It needed 20-30 more hp which it did get in
the 70 and 720. Then again JD didn?t have any drivetrain
problems when they started piling on the hp unlike the major
competitor.
 
Tractordata is full of errors so I wouldn?t take everything on
that website as gospel. If you want true factual info, the books
put out by J.R. Hobbs is your best bet.
 
(quoted from post at 17:17:29 06/12/19) Tractordata is full of errors so I wouldn?t take everything on
that website as gospel. If you want true factual info, the books
put out by J.R. Hobbs is your best bet.
I believe your opinion has been sufficiently debunked here.

P.S. NOTHING can be taken as gospel.
 

Here is a powerful G for you. The driver was my friend Bob who died a few years ago.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8L_p7bh1M6U
 

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