John Deere Model 440 Tractor


John Deere Model 440  1958 to 1960


Based on the excellent popularity of the 420 series, management at Deere
believed that an entirely new series of Industrial tractors would also
be big sellers.

Patterned after the 420 tractors, the 440 series of Industrial machines
was introduced to the public in January of 1958. The 440's had a new
styling, better radiator protection, a front mounted hydraulic pump, a
stronger sheet metal, caps for the radiator and fuel were moved underneath
the hood with doors for service, the air cleaner was moved behind the engine,
and a slanted instrument panel was used.

Engines were basically the same two cylinder as had been on the 420.
About half way through the production run, a new higher compression
cylinder head was used and the engine RPM's upped to 2000 giving the 440
about a 10% power increase.


The 440 crawlers got a new, greatly strengthened final drive housing after
many complaints about the castings breaking on the 420 C. Hydraulic
track tensioners were made as an option and all 440 C's had 5 rollers.

The GM 2-53 Diesel engine was an option, that was the same engine
in the 435. A little over half of the 440's sold during the time the GM
engine was available, had the GM engine.

A new innovation was offered as an option on the crawlers called Pilot
Touch. This allowed the operator to control steering the tractor and
reversing with a single lever. Unfortunately while it was a popular
option and in theory was an ideal thing to have, it didn't work very well
and most crawlers with Pilot Touch were converted back to having the
original controls.

Other options included: rear PTO, belt pulley attachment, power steering,
direction reverser,

The 440's could be used with front end loaders, backhoes, rear blades, street
sweepers, scarifiers, snow plows, or any 3 point hitch implement.

John Deere 440 Advertisement





John Deere 440 Tractor Trivia

All 440 tractors were built at Dubuque.

LP Gas was not an engine option. All fuel was, only 10 all fuel engines
were ever sold, all of them in crawlers.

Total sales of all units were 19,846


Next:  John Deere Model 840 Tractor

Back to:  John Deere Model 435 Tractor


Return to: A History of John Deere Tractors

Search Our Site for more Tractor Stuff