Itās been a long while since Iāve heard that. Around here most people from town call them a road grader. In the rural countryside, they call them a motor grader. When I was younger I would occasionally hear older folks call them a maintainer. Folks in the excavation trade simply call them a blade.
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Up here in the frozen tundra of Iowa, townies called them graders and us bumkins called them maintainers. Surprising what differences there are in our common language.
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Considering this tractor, is it too much for an orchard and 40 acres? Price seems reasonableā¦ 10 years old but only 400 hours. I like the idea of being able to do some work on a machine myself if necessary, not sure if this is old enough to do that really or not. Asking 27k, guy said new it was 46kā¦
John Deere 4720 MFWD WIthJD 400X Loader
2010 4720 MFWD. 3 Speed E/Hydro, 58 H.P., 415 HOURS, Engine Block Heater, Cruise Control. Air Seat.
10-16.5 6PR Front R4 Industrial. 2 Position,.17.5L-24 6PR Rear R4 Industrial. 2 Position.
Dual Mid & 3 Rear HYd. Valves, 540 Rear PTO, Mid 2100 PTO.
3 Point Hitch With Telescoping Link Arms, 3 point Draw Bar, Grill Guard, Foldable Rops.
JD 400X Qt. Loader With 73 inch QT Bucket, Bucket Level Indicator
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It sure looks new and shiny!
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Looks like a very nice buy if you go by these prices
https://www.machinerypete.com/listings/tractors/40-99-hp/john-deere/4720
Jump on it!
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1/4" sockets probably arenāt for splitting your tractor 
They are good for removing screws that have both hex and phillips head, like the airbox on some cars. Also good for places that are tight fit.
Mostly I find I use the 1/4 drive when I need to get something on the nut and the bolt and Iām already using the 3/8" socket for one end. Like for a battery terminal or something.
Iāve never used 3/4" drive or larger. I mostly use 3/8" on my car unless its with the cordless Milwaukie fuel impact driver.
Now if you are just talking about impact sockets, then yeah, I donāt get the point of the 1/4".
3/4 inch is about the only thing you can use with an air compressor and an impact wrench is all I use. You can use something smaller with a breaker bar. If you are though the part was probably coming loose already. The torque on tractor parts, especially body parts, is really enormous and it will take big powerful tools or a real ton of weight and pressure from a person and a breaker bar.
I have the 3/8 and 1/2 inch and they usually work fine on basic nuts and bolts or smaller implements. Iām seriously not down playing their usability. But 3/4 and an impact wrench is the only thing thatāll get many main tractor parts loose. In my experience
im just not sure if itās too big for orchard work, Iām planting berries in rows 10ft apartā¦ want something big enough but not 2 big. never had a tractor before.
I have pines that are 8 feet apart and can mow with a 75 horse tractor.
Their is just so much more you can do with a bigger tractor and more horsepower. Iām not in an orchard but I traded up from a 55 horse and am very happy I did. The 58 is actually pretty powerful and can do what most people need. I had a 35 horse Kubota I worked very hard for 3 years but just got to where I was into the bigger work and traded up twice.
My neighbor says if you arenāt breaking it you arenāt working hard enough! 10 foot apart is actually fairly wide in the big picture. Iām thinking as long as you have the trees trimmed upward so you donāt knock yourself off of the tractor! Lolā¦ JMOā¦
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I would definitely say that your tractor isnāt too big for 40 acres. Nor is it too big for 10ā rows. It has a category I three point, which is the smallest. That means you wonāt be able to hook up to category II implements, which probably limits you to a smaller rotary mower.
It looks like there is room to narrow the wheels if you think itās too wide to fit down your 10ā rows. Sometimes the front end loader can limit you on how narrow you can go. If you do narrow the wheels, make sure you re-set your steering stops correctly on the front wheels.
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Iād go with what the others have to say regarding the size for your use. But I would do some checking on the engine/emissions control. I have heard that the newer JDās have a āsealedā electronic control system which is hard for owners to diagnose or fix problems on. You need to have the dealer do it. I am not aware of the details of these systems and when they were put in place, but if you were planning on doing any work on your tractor you need to check this out and make sure this model doesnāt have them.
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Kubota bX25d owner here. Love it and it is great for all types of acrage as long as you donāt have hills.
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Update on my JD 2040. Tried to start it up a few days ago, but it didnāt want to turn over. The batteries were down to 11.8 volts, so they needed to be charged. But, one of the post terminals were busted so, I had to fix that today. Got everything back together and hooked up, and it started right up, so glad I didnāt have to get new batteries.
Now I gotta get out there and do some bush hogging and hopefully some plowing before the rains get here later tomorrow.
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Got my bush hogging done, and my wife helped me hook up the plow. Itās too late for that, so might try tomorrow, although itās supposed to be rainy.
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I have a tractor question. Iāve noticed that my rear tires seem to be a bit low, on air (or fluid since they are filled with some kind of liquid). Can I inflate it with air like a regular tire? If there is liquid in them, I assume that I would have to move the tractor enough so that the valve stem is at a 12 oāclock position? The max recommended pressure for the tire is 36psi, I believe, but Iāve read that itād be better to not fully inflate them. Also, it looks like one of my valve stems is corroded a bit, I assume from the liquid, perhaps itās leaking through that? If itās really corroded, is there a way to remove and replace it? Any comments? Thanks. These are just regular standard use tractor tires. Donāt think they are radials.
Have had the same issue with corroded valve stem seal on my my filled tractor wheels. I moved the stem to 12 oāclock, took the schraeder (sp?) valve out of the stem (it unscrews with a special tool) and then screwed in a new one. You can generally pick up the valves and special tool at any auto parts store; they are fairly cheap. My experience is that typically it is the valve seal which corrodes from the calcium solution they fill the tires with, and a new valve will fix the problem for a while.
Oh, and if you are just putting air in, then no particular need to move the stem to the top, but if you are going to put a pressure gauge on then you probably should, if only to keep that solution out of the gauge.
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Thanks. I checked the non-corroded valve as it was at 12 oāclock. I removed the valve cap, and depressed the stem, or whatever itās called, and some fluid came out. That tire looks low, so, what should I do, depress the stem until no fluid comes out, and then fill it with air?
I have a 6 gallon pancake compressor that I can use. How much psi should I give it? It says on the treadwall 36psi max.
Iām kinda surprised it would still have that much fluid in it. Maybe thatās why itās low, the fluid pressure has pushed out a bit too much air?
I couldnāt get the other valve cap off, it is too corroded to remove by hand. The residue is green, is that probably calcium chloride? So, it looks like Iāll have to replace it? I donāt know what a Schrader valve is, I read about it on a tractor forum, so Iāll look that up.
You can probably just go ahead and air the tire up to your desired pressure without removing any fluid. After you put some air in the fluid shouldnāt come out anymore at the 12:00 position. If you can give me your tire size I can probably tell you how much pressure you should put in.
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The schrader valve is what you are pushing in to let fluid out. On a tractor tire it should also have another splice on the stem that can be removed with a pliers by turning it counter-clockwise. Any farm tire shop would have the replacement. Thatās probably what you will need on your corroded stem.
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Thanks. I posted the tire further up this thread, I had asked a similar question about it. Itās a Alliance 14.9-13-28 358 R-1 Power Drive tire. They are biased tires from what I understand.