One of the many recurring themes of 2021: hunting for deals on anything used with life left. Our Green Egg was a major win, and after two years of searching in earnest for a yard tractor, we found one for sale minutes from our home.
Here is a short tour of our score, and some maintenance we handled to keep it in top shape.
We are home! Eric went to view this tractor the previous evening, and paid a deposit on the spot. Competition was fierce, and being first in line helped to solidify the sale. This is a John Deere 400, with optional front scoop, mower, and tiller attachments. It has PTO drives in the front and rear, which is a major win! We are the fourth owner of this 1980 tractor, and all of the original owner’s manuals and information have been passed down over 40 years. She had 697 hours on the clock, and was in decent shape considering.
A major consideration for us was the size, we really needed something 48 inches or less. This fit the bill, and we can utilize it in every part of our property.
The first task was using the tiller to level some dirt in preparation of our coop/run build. The tiller ate through roots and a few rocks, and made quick work that would have been painstaking by hand.
Phillip has taken a liking to his new toy as well, and his Vacuum Power Suction Arm ™ is making sure everything is serviceable.
The original gas cap was upgraded for an optional unit.
This was available when new, and a replacement was sourced to allow a quick view of the fuel level in the tank.
The mower was in pretty rough shape, the belt was broken, and the blades were basically rounded with no cutting edge.
All three blades before sharpening.
After sharpening, these might work!
Phillip lending a hand with the belt drive during disassembly.
New belt is installed after a painstaking routing and tensioning situation. The belt was too short to allow the tensioner to work, and a long work around was used to allow the setup to work as intended.
A trip to the repair shop was needed to replace all of the fluids, filters, belts, spark plugs, and battery. The brakes were inspected and adjusted, and the parking brake mechanism was freed up. This model requires the seat deck to be removed to add transmission fluid… what a pain in the butt. The correct battery was installed along with an actual hold down. A battery disconnect was also utilized in an effort to keep the battery in top shape.
All of the mainteneance was finished, and we delivered the tractor back home. The next morning she started, and died. The fuel pump failed! Another removal of the deck…
The offending part, and it looks original.
Back in business!
Her second task was the distribution of ten yards of Bird’s Eye gravel. Our last load was eight yards, and Eric attacked it by hand over a week with a shovel and wheel barrow in August heat.
With only two wheel drive, she doesn’t have the pushing power or traction to fill up the scoop. That said, we were able to achieve acceptable results and had distributed the pile in about two hours.