JD 2240 good bad ugly?

One up for sale dont know the details havent looked
at it yet or into it yet.couple hundred miles away what
are the ins and outs of this tractor and what hp is it?
its a 2wd

I had a 2040 for ten years or so...a three cylinder model with less hp than the one you posted about. Mine had a JD loader on it and was just the right size for moving 5 X 6 round bales. Best to have something on the back for ballast. Hydraulics were good.

Butch

We've had one for 30+ years. Been a great tractor for a small dairy farm. Ours had the high/low shifter, which is useful for matching speed to windrow size while baling, for instance, though it's recently started giving problems and is out on one side (can't recall at the moment if it's out on high or low as it's on the home farm and I don't see it much nowadays) and will probably need a teardown at some point. One handy feature is effortless power steering--handy when mowing or other things requiring maneuverability. We had a loader on ours and it did OK with one (sure beat not having a loader!) but sold that once we got a 4wd tractor with a loader.

I think those engines were subject to cavitation if the antifreeze wasn't kept up. I'd sure take test strips and check the antifreeze before buying. I bought a 2520 which I think has the same or similar engine that the block was so pitted from cavityiation that the liners wouldn't seal. Expensive fix. On that one, when parked you'd see water on the floor below the breather pipe. Former had used some stop leak product to try to hide the problem.

2240 is 50 HP at the PTO. Engine HP is 60. Ive had mine for 4 years. Very handy tractor, not as nice as the 2155 on the farm I co-own with my brothers, that one is easier to shift and has independent PTO rather than the dual clutch my 2240 has. Mine does have the hi-lo, which I like, although I understand its expensive to fix if it goes bad. I changed all the filters, fluids, and cleaned the screen in the hydraulic system, used a coolant made for sleeved engines to reduce cavitation damage. Operator station is a bit cramped with the wheels set narrow, which you need to do to haul it unless you have a deck over trailer. Really easy starting tractor in cold weather (Virginia, so not terribly cold), doesnt have glow plugs, has ether assist system but Ive never needed it. Only major repair has been getting the injection pump rebuilt, which wasnt really a big deal. Lots of minor stuff to fix: lights, which was mostly a matter of running grounds for them; needed starter switch, light switch, ground cable to battery run to the body of the tractor rather than relying on sheet metal. I like mine even though its overkill for what I do with it, mostly just snowplowing and driveway grading. I have a more modern compact tractor (MF 1240), which has a loader and is more operator friendly than the JD, but I just like the old JD, use it whenever I can make a case for it. Its a real tractor, even though its quite small compared to what most farmers use these days.

The last year I worked for the JD dealer was the last year of the 2440.Very popular,and reliable.Most,if not all of the ones we sold went out the door with 145 loaders on them.Nice steering,nimble,easy to get on and off,nice braking system,and started easily in the cold.I did put a lot of clutches in them,seemed to be the same for the 20,22,24,and 26 series tractors if they had loaders.Still one of my favorites too.I have one of those engines on a woodchipper,I put it on there close to 30 years ago.

We have an early SN 2240. There are two different versions... -34,999 (pre-tiger stripe) and 35,000 (tiger stripe). My understanding is that the later SN machines have several updates. However, our early SN 2240 has been a great tractor. It has the independent PTO (lift knob between gear shifters), and the two speed power shift (rebuilt once... ouch... but great to have). As others have said power steering is the best. Nice to have diff lock and foot throttle too. We use ours mostly to mow around trees with 7 foot Deere 717 brush mower. Low, horizontal exhaust is great for that. As others have mentioned, I would not prefer to use it as a loader tractor. Swept back front axle is great for tight turns, but not good for a loader. Also, the whole way that range I and II work with Reverse, it seems that you are often going too slow or too fast in reverse (so you need to shift both levers). One other thing, we updated ours with a single GP31 battery. Not quite the combined CCA of the original 2 parallel car batteries, but much simpler and durable.

Thanks for the replies the first hand experience with this machine was what I was looking for

Steve you left off a "digit" on 2240 serial break which was 349999/350000

That is right. thats a lot of tractors!