Dad bought a brand new 4640 in 1979. He still has it and uses it to pull his 12 row planter. It has over 12,000 hours and he’s never touched the engine for repairs. He refers to it as Old Faithful
My father-in-law bought a new 1975 4630 for the 75 growing season. He traded it for a new ‘78 and and finally a new ‘82 Model. I put many hours on them, particularly the 82 which my brother-in-law and I bought off him. It was optioned out with 3 hydraulics and large tires front and rear. I can still smell it. Fond memories of a really good tractor.
Still some of my favorite tractors of all time. Started in Missouri running my uncles 1974 JD 4430. I've collected a few over the years myself. 1967 4020 synchro a 1973 4430 synchro have two 4240's one quad one power shift they are a 1980 and 1981. Got a 4640 open station 1981 with power shift. Have a 1982 4440 with power shift . Finally a 1992 4455 quad with 5,700 original hours . They are all great machines simple . I'm not paying a house note for a new one . Mine run just fine .
The 4640 was the cross over between large and utility. It was very flexible in operation, with its size being able to to work the farm yard with a front loader, as well as the field. A variety of row crop options for tire configurations meant this was an all season tractor. The diesel engine wasn't a pain in winter to get started and didn't suffer some of the complications of others. The front end weight distribution didn't always work in your favor, though. Rolling hills would unbalance the weight distribution with taller wheel setups. The quiet comfort cabs that came out in this era weren't bad at all, and work effort engine noise was like a white noise machine. So much so that when I was a baby if mom couldn't get me to go down for a nap, dad would bundle me up in a pile of pillows left of the seat.
My dad bought a 4640 new which i ran at the time. We had demonstrated a 4440 but that just wasn't big enough for our use. We loved it and was eventually traded on an articulated 4wd. Just a few years ago i bought one at local auction . It is relegated to turning a 12" grain auger and a stone picker. Very good tractor for its age and hrs!
Father in law had an 1980 model. Pulled a white 5-20 plow. That thing was a workhorse. I put a new interior in it just before he sold it when he retired from farming.
I had a 4640 and it was an excellent tractor! I did a water pump kit on it while I owned it. Also had run a 4840 before with the powershift. My 46 made 158hp on the dyno so I think it to be midrange in the hp mode. The quad transmission was great. Sold it in 2005 after quit farming. I think it could have been turned up to 200 hp if you could keep the working temperature in check. GREAT TRACTOR !!
I know you are American, but thousands of there tractors were sold here in Canada..in case you didn't know we do a lot of farming up here. We had a 4640 on our farm...very good tractor...
My brother had a 4640 with a Quad what a beast can easily see why JD dominated the tractor industry starting with the 4020..I had a 4320...at the time Case and IH were so far behind in design I felt sorry for them...Nothing Runs Like a Deere
We had 2 4640 while i was growing up working on the farm. Put a many hours on them both. We also had a 4840. The owner of the farm at the time worked for john deere. So every winter we would bring them in and replace the interiors in them. Every planting season they looked new. Man how i miss those days.
My dad ran a 4640 back in the 1990's on a pair of combine drills and later a Chamberlain air-sow cart plus Bourgault 36ft seeder bar. Not sure what year nor factory it was made in, but what I do know is that my dad always despised the lack of room in the sound-guard cab, and the lack of power on the hilly country led to him trading it for our 8760 4wd in 1999. Last whereabouts of our 4640 was it ended up in South Australia.
Planted a lot of corn, soy beans , sorghum, and picked tons of peanuts with one in the late 80's and all of the 90's. Was a good, dependable tractor to run and own, and would be high on my list if were looking for another tractor.
I bought a 1980 4440 Quad Range in February of 1982. I kept it until 2006. It was the perfect "do everything" tractor, from discing, ,plowing, planting, spraying, mowing, digging and combining peanuts, you name it. It was the perfect stable mate for the 4450 Powershift that I teamed it with in 86.
We Had a 4640 but sold it to get a 6145R,,, we still have a 4240s with a 4640 engine kit, turbo. and intercooler with MFD..... factory equipped from Germany
I really enjoyed the 4440 over the 4640 . They had good power 540/1000 pto and thought the were better on fuel .. also had a 4240 . Loved the tractor missed the turbo . But can tell you that tractor really liked its fuel !
Have owned a 1980 4640 since new, very dependable, reliable tractor with virtually no issues but it was always a dog and very gutless my 69 5020 could mop the floor with it.
He is wrong about the fuel, we had this one and a 1466 and its fuel usage was far better, the advantage the 4640 had was it had its gas tank in the front so it was easy to add an addition tank right ahead of it and make a workhouse tractor that could be in the field all day, it used about 10 gallons/hr under full load. We could stay in the field for 18 hours with the extra tank. The ergonomics of the JDs was 10 years ahead of the Internationals.
I remember working at a farm that they had a pto adapter from the large 1000 rpm to the small 1000 that had a 1/4 twist in it. I asked what happen to it and was told they had a 6030 on a tub grinder and they had dropped a bale in to quick and twisted the adapter. Never ran a 6030 but would like to someday.
We have this same tractor but it's a 4620 tuned to 170 used to be the big horse but been replaced by a 4wd 7520 and 4955 and now thr 7520 and 4955 are going to one day be replaced by the 9400 4wd jd we just bought
I really enjoy these videos. I think, however, you meant to say 9 to 13 gallons of fuel per hour, not per minute. If that were the case, you'd have to drag a fuel trailer in the field!
Great tractors but I wish they would have included the 540 PTO. Were there any mechanical differences between the 48 and 46 tractors or was it just pump tuning? There were lots of 46s around here and not a lot of 48s. Am I correct in thinking the 4840 was only available with the 8speed PS trans? Third gear was too slow and not enough HP in 4th if I remember correctly. Had to crank them up so you could use 4th in heavy conditons.
Came with a 83 gallon fuel tank.THe 404 was replaced by the 466 because it has reached as far as it can go.One thing I noticed about Deere & their tractors during this era is that they did not have a 160 PTO hp tractor like Allis Chalmers,Case,Ford,Massey Ferguson,International Harvester all did .White was the other company out of the 7 farm equipment back then whom matched Deere by not having a 160 PTO to.So here is to the 7060,2390,TW-30,2770/2775 & the 1566/1586.
4640 is a pig of a machine. If they get into any type of mud they are done, big and underpowered, and have also ran a 4840 also, same story. I believe a 4440 seems a better option out of the 40 series. I have run a 4240 and that one was not all that bad, seemed a better machine then the bigger ones. Just my observation.
Bought a brand new 4440 in 1979. Bolts were loose, wheel fell off, front threaded casting was stripped, radio was all static when the heater fan ran, hydraulic seat leaked oil, all this from day 1. These tractors were going out the factory doors not being checked over. Bought my last new tractor from deere in 79. Never buy another.
@@davehughesfarm7983 nevi had to fix our 1486 their won't had been a4640 or 4440 that would had touched our 1486 believe it or never took a rearend out he was our big tractor we pulled a 6 bottom plow 30 foot digger with him
