John Deere 5400 high hours?

[62oliver]

Hi all,

My son is looking at a John Deere 5400 tractor.
Apparently has spent most of its life on a TMR, hour meter is at over 13,000.
Seems too high for my liking.
 Anybody have an idea of a reasonable life time for these tractors?

Thanks

[moosehunter]

I can usually figure out the acronyms, but you got me with TMR. What's that?
mh

[Southside]

Total Mixed Ration. Basically a giant mixer. So she ran the PTO a lot on a dairy. Probably lived a hard life.

[hedgerow]

Its pretty green around my farm. I have not been impressed by the 5000 and 6000 series JD tractors. I had a 6603 about a hundred horse with a loader bought it new in 2005. The first two years it spent more time the dealers than me working it by 2011 I was tired of it and sold it and bought a old lower hour 4440 to replace it. It would have to be cheap and had a lot of work done to it to buy a 5400 that had 13,000 hours on it. I do know of a 4455 that has 12,000 hours on it and has only been under hauled .   

[Sedgehammer]

Was built 1992 thru 97. So if it's a 95 model, that's about 25 years old.  That's 520 hours per year or 1.4 hours a day. That's not a hard life necessarily, but my question is how often did it get serviced. I'd like to know whence it came from before I'd think about pulling the checkbook out.

[62oliver]

Ya the maintenance I'm not sure about either. It went to a shop when needed, but don't know about the rest.

[Sedgehammer]

Ya the maintenance I'm not sure about either. It went to a shop when needed, but don't know about the rest.

If you know the farm it came from, go ask'm. If it's a junk pile of a farm I'd prolly pass. If it's neat and clean and price is alrighty, sign the check

[62oliver]

If you know the farm it came from, go ask'm. If it's a junk pile of a farm I'd prolly pass

He decided to pass, thanks guys

[mike_belben]

as a purveyor of used up junk, i never have any idea how many decades since the hour meter worked and dont want to know.  hours might make me pass up a good tool.

i look at it a few ways.  it runs and works and is cheap enough to use until it quits then get my money back parting out, minimal risk.  or is it simple enough to cut off and cobble on my own major fixes to obsolete parts if i cant part with it.  or was it so mass produced and cheap with still good parts availability and aftermarket support, like an 8N or a jeep cherokee.  i search ebay for any model machine to get a tally of the support available on major parts before buying. 

john deere is like the harley-vette of old junk.  suzuki-chevette parts dont fit, they were never cheap, parts suppliers are proud and john deere/harley-vette guys have deeper pockets than the rest so used is expensive.  thats why theyre green and gold, even at the junkyard. for the money a worn out john deere brings, a newer "lower" brand can probably be had with more life left to do the same job.

[Tom King]

My 1979 John Deere 2640 had 1460 hours on the broken hour meter, when I bought it in 1991.  I rebuilt the motor in 2008,and completely replaced everything in the reverser system last Winter.  It's been worth having.  I hadn't done a thing to it between those times but use it, and change fluids.

Tractors are pretty easy to work on, but I wouldn't want to work on one unless I had a building to leave it sitting in during the process.

My tractor sat in my shop for several months while I replaced everything I thought needed to be replaced, but I didn't really need that building for anything else at the time anyway.  I just worked on it in spare time.

John Deere has most parts available next day, but when you open one up, you will keep finding something else that needs to be replaced in the process.

I think rebuilding the motor cost a little over a grand, and last Winter, I might have put another 1800 in it.  It's done a Lot of work for me since I've owned it, including after the last fix session.

Purchase price needs to be cheap though, which mine was in 1991.

I see it got passed.  Probably just as well.  If there is any doubt about working on it, they probably couldn't.

[DennisK]

I hope you rebuilt the the Pogo stick trans cover for the 2 speed, We REALLY disliked those Southern Bells up north, and the Manheim engines with so many applications, parts were a nightmare.

[Tom King]

I replaced every seal, washer, clutch plate in the forward clutch pack, and reverser brake, main clutch, and pressure plate, all hard hydraulic lines inside, all the springs, bearings-anything that moves against something else.

I built a splitting stand that uses a scaffolding foot on each side, for fine adjustment going back together, and bolts to the loader frame, so the loader doesn't have to come off to split it.  There is also a piece that grabs the steering drag link, when you drop it loose, so no more blocking is needed for the front tires.

I don't leave stuff sitting out in the weather anyway.  That tractor stays in a closed building, when I'm not using it.  I've built our spread with that tractor.

[Sedgehammer]

I don't really mind fixin mechanical break downs and I'm good at. I don't like all the new chips and sensors on tractor type equipment. You can be broke down and you can't see it let alone find it and it takes electronic equipment that for the most part only a dealer has to locate and fix

I'd like a newer version of a 1855 Oliver or a 3020 JD w/ out all the sensors. it wood have all the latest mechanical improvements over the years, minus the electronic type stuff. I think it wood be one helck of a tractor

[chevytaHOE5674]

Had the displeasure of working on a few TMR tractors over the years, usually they have a lot of idle hours which can lead to wet stacking and slobbering exhaust, also the PTOs get a serious workout. Rarely have transmission or axle issues.

In the last year parts prices have sky rocketed so any little repair gets pricey quick. The guy above rebuilding a motor for 1k wouldn't even come close now. Just spent nearly 5k on my 4cyl Yanmar between parts and machine work, doing a 3020 for a customer it will be close to that as well. Just ordered wheel bearings, seals, axle bushings and seals for the front planetaries on my big NH tractor this afternoon to the tune of 1k bucks and it will all fit in a shoebox. 

[farmfromkansas]

This repair thing is getting out of hand, JD used to be reasonable to buy parts, forget that now.  My thinking at this point is that tractors are too complicated and expensive to buy new, and I have enough to last me out, so will just repair the ones I have.  But take to the JD dealer, and it is like buying a newer one to get it back.  Had the powershift on my old 4450 rebuilt a few years ago, was 21,700.  Hear it is 30,000 now.  The tractor is not worth that much, but it is in fair condition, so plan to keep it till I die.  My 7800 has low hours and probably will last me out, my 7130 seems to be ok for now, it is my nicest tractor to operate, clean and quiet.  The old 4020 will be with me to the end as well.  Plan to keep my skidsteer as well.  That thing has been very good, only one valve came apart, and after replacing it seems to be ok. Had to replace the water pump also, and at low hours, but the engine is great, oil stays clean.  Case 60XT  What makes me sore, is that JD has discontinued parts on the old combines, up to the 9500's.  Guess they built them well, lot were still running even though now you can't get parts. Think the right way to say it is JD used to be a good company.

[Southside]

Completely agree with you there.  My 8640 is a perfect example of what JD used to build, 41 years later and it looks and runs like new.  I can work on it, it's easy on fuel, easy as in she is rated at 300 HP and I can bale with it on 15 gallons a day - try that with a high revving, tier 4 engine of comparable HP,  and she will walk circles around much newer iron.  No way I would buy one of their modern tractors.  

[Tom King]

The reasons I rebuilt the reverser on my tractor myself were:  One dealer honestly told me that he didn't have anyone smart enough to do it, and another dealer told me it would be 5 to 10k.  I think when I rebuilt that motor in 2008, the rebuild kit was 800 and some change.

I had never split a tractor before.

I had screwed up the reverser, and the loader frame by getting a woman out of her house who had to go to therapy every day, or wouldn't survive.  She lived down a hill, and one of our ice storms put an inch of ice on the hill going down to her house.  I figured I'd carry her up the hill in the tractor.  I made the turn, and started sliding down the hill. She had some weird disease that wouldn't let her lungs expand enough for her to intake enough oxygen.

Got it in the ditch, and barely made it back up the hill.  I started slamming the ice to get it off the road, figuring it would maybe break the bucket, but I could just weld it back together.  Ended up doing a Lot more damage than that, but they were able to drive out with their car.

Sheared all the bolts holding the loader on.   Long story shortened some, I had to rethread the holes in the block, to mount the loader, before it would be worth fixing the other stuff on the tractor.  You can see the new, larger bolts in the picture with the splitting frame.  Some 5/8's threaded holes had to go up to 3/4, and two 3/4's to 7/8, and 1".

Got it done, and then fixed the reverser.

[Southside]

So was she out of the bucket before you started to slam the ice or is there a State VS ...... detailed case report explaining the "rest of the story"?  :D

[Tom King]

They lived in a lake house at the bottom of that hill. My trouble started when I made the turn at the top of the hill. They were able to drive out in their Lincoln.  The thanks I got was a wave as they went out.  She lived about another six months.  

I had cut a 7' swath with the bucket.  That same afternoon, a propane delivery truck made that turn, still in the shade, and ended up at the bottom.  They sent one of the giant semi-truck tow trucks, and both of those trucks ended up sitting in the cul-de-sac at the bottom of that hill until the ice melted, a couple of days later.

I accumulated some good tools in the process of fixing that tractor.  Ended up getting a magnetic drill press off ebay for about half the cost of a new one.  I figured I'd sell it for what I had in it after I finished that job, but I like it so much, I decided to keep it.  Drilling out the holes to upsize the threads was a No-Go with anything else.  This made it easy.

If I hadn't been able to fix the loader, it wouldn't have been worth it to me to bother with anything else on that tractor.