JD 4450

[RankeCattleCo]

WOW has it been a long time...

My dad was looking at this JD 4450 MFWD tractor.  Wondered what your guys thoughts are?  The front rubber is 100% and the rear duals are 80% and 90%.  Looks pretty damn clean and the dealer said it came off of a Illinois grain farm, so unlikely it was exposed to manure, salt, etc.  This thing probably hasn't done much but pull a buggy around. 

http://www.tractorhouse.com/listingsdetail/detail.aspx?OHID=7420991&dlr=1&pcid=2998144

Also, what are people's choices for finishers, vertical tillage, disc chisels, etc.?  We will be working in primarily sandy ground with a few spots of real good, black dirt.  We were thinking a piece like the Great Plains Turbo Till or a piece like that for finishing, and a piece like the DMI 530B Disc Chisel/Ripper for primary tillage.  Would a 140 HP have the balls to pull it through a sand box on some pretty good hills?

Turbo Till
http://www.tractorhouse.com/listingsdetail/detail.aspx?dlr=1&etid=1&pcid=2998144&OHID=6887757&lp=TractorHouse

DMI 530B
http://www.tractorhouse.com/listingsdetail/detail.aspx?OHID=7264261&dlr=1&pcid=2998144

Thanks to all,
RCC

 

[cowpoke]

I buy and sell tractors besides cattle and farming so this subject I know a little about.The 4450 are excellent tractors and the 15sp P.S. are usually trouble free.Those tractors if cared for usually run over 10,000 hours with no trouble.Price wise it is at the top end but that is usually trade price.We have a similar tractor that isnt quite that nice equipted the same at 32K.Three scvs help and rubber can make a difference of a couple thousand.As for tillage it is hard to beat JD or CIH and different parts of country require different practices.A lot of people prefer the 40/50/55 series as it was before all the computer and plastic that the new ones have.

 

[jd438]

At first look, that is a really clean tractor, but the price seems on the high side.  I did a little looking around.  Here is a 4850 for 39900 with less hours, but not the same rubber.
http://dubuque.craigslist.org/grd/3589935518.html

 

[DakotaCow]

That is a clean tractor, I don't see any issues with it other than I am partial to the quadrange transmission. You have at least another 10,000 hours left in that tractor, you should get along fine pulling a 22 foot implement. Good luck it should serve you well.

 

[ejoe326]

Did you talk to the farmer that owned the tractor before to know how it was used?

We traded a 4450 off several years ago and it did pretty much everything.  It was a decent sized tractor when new so it might have been used for a lot more than pulling something small.  We still have a few 40 series around for pasture spraying, bale processing, etc. The main problem we've had repeatedly has been the hydraulics.  I'd hook up all the scvs and make sure everything is doing what it's suppose to do, it's not using a bunch of hydraulic oil, the pump isn't making too much noise, etc.

What kind of residue do you have on the fields?  What are you putting in?

 

[nate53]

We have a 4450 powershift with 10,500 hours on it.  We bought it new in 83? , it has been an excellent tractor for us.  The dealer turned it up to 160 hp not long after we got it.  Never been overhauled, I like the powershift better than the quad range on the 50 series, on the 30 and 40 series I would go with the quad range those powershifts were kinda jumpy.

Some of these tractors had front end problems, they stuck a couple different ones under them (the foreign one ZMFWD seems to be the worst).  On the early models when the water pump went out, water would drain into the oil resevoir (the replacement pumps had drain holes on them so they just drain out on the ground instead of the crankcase).  These are the two problems we have encountered on ours over the years.  So I would recommend buying one that had the regular JD front end under it instead of the ZMFWD and then finding out if the water pump has a external drain on it.


The tractor looks nice, looks to have been painted.  I would talk to the previous owner about it, the dealer should give you the previous owner's number.  Find out what has been done to it if anything.  They might come down a little on the price? 

I doubt this tractor will pull that ripper.  Should do fine on the other tool.  Call a dealer that sells those tillage tools and ask what the Horsepower requirements are.

 

[HF CHARS]

Tturbo till pulls hard,we pull our 24ft with a 8310,,its all she wants ,4450 won't work at the speed you need to pull it and do a good job

 

[RankeCattleCo]

Couple things-

This is just about as big as we could find with an interchangeable PTO.  We need the 540 to pull our small square baler.

We're going to check on the JD front end versus the ZMFWD front end.

As far as the price- we probably won't be able to bring it down.  3 or 4 people have called after we did, and they all seem interested. The rims have been painted, but suprisingly the green is all original, with just some fading around the fuel fill.

We run 130 acres of soybeans, corn, hay, and wheat ground.  Hopefully we will soon expand on a farm down the road to 220 or so.  My cousin's dairy farm has very outdated tillage equiptment and would like us to do some custom tillage for them.

Thanks for all the info!
RCC

 

[twulf43]

In my opinion, a 4450 would not be enough to pull that kind of tillage equipment. We run all of our rippers and tillage on 4wd tractors that range from 350 to 485 hp. Nice looking tractor though, but may be a little spendy. We have a couple 50 and 40 series JD that run augers, sprayers and loaders around the farm. Can't seem to find a reason to get rid of them. Good luck!