JOHN DEERE
Three-Cylinder Tractors

When One More or Less Was Just Right

Cutaway drawing of John Deere’s first production three-cylinder engine. The 152-cubic-inch engine was introduced on the JD350 Crawler. The engine behind it is a 202-cubic-inch four-cylinder which, unlike the three-cylinder, required balance shafts to run smoothly. Both engines shared sleeves, pistons, connecting rods, and many other parts.

Nearly anyone who has been familiar with John Deere products over the years is aware that the time-honored, two-cylinder tractors were replaced by four- and six-cylinder New Generation Tractors — introduced on August 30, 1960, at Dallas, Texas. Less well known is the fact that the one-cylinder John Deere-Lanz Tractors built in Mannheim, Germany, were replaced by two models of four-cylinder tractors in January 1960. But what’s surprising to a great portion of enthusiasts is that John Deere began building tractors with three-cylinder engines in late 1964, and continues to do so to this day.

The decision was made to do this article as a result of continuing comments made and questions asked about three-cylinder tractors over the years. Probably the most specific questions have concerned the three-cylinder versions of the 820 and 830 Tractors, which are sometimes confusing to both newcomer and old-timer alike. Keep in mind that although the name of this publication is Two-Cylinder, as has been said before, it’s a name inspired by the icon, and could carry any number of different names and still cover the same subject matter.

This magazine and organization fully embraces any vintage John Deere products, including three-cylinder tractors. Owners of three-cylinder tractors are encouraged to send photos and stories about their tractors, and to ask any questions they might have concerning them.

This article is going to lead the reader through the agricultural and industrial tractors with three-cylinder engines that were introduced for sale in the United States and Canada from 1965 through 1976. It will not include tractors built in Germany, Spain, or elsewhere for sale outside North America. It also will not include the “consumer product” tractors such as the 850 and 950 Tractors built for Deere by Yanmar, and since these tractors weren’t introduced until 1978, they fall short of the 30-year definition of a “vintage” tractor. However, that doesn’t limit the content of this article, as there are 23 distinct models of agricultural and industrial tractors with three-cylinder engines that were introduced for sale in North America from 1965 through 1976; as well as numerous variations of these basic models.

The Waterloo-built New Generation “3010” and “4010” Tractors were “clean-sheet-of-paper” designs, sharing little with their two-cylinder predecessors beyond some wheel equipment and green-and-yellow paint. However, the new tractors introduced by Dubuque and Mannheim were basically comprised of modified older chassis designs adapted for four-cylinder engines, along with new styling and additional features. Although it was felt that these tractors would be adequate for their markets, it was known that some design compromises had been made, and that new tractor designs would be needed by the end of the five-year planning program.

Closeup view of the operator’s station on an early experimental “2100” Tractor. At this point there was still more development work ahead.

The impetus for the three-cylinder engine came from the decision to develop a “worldwide” tractor that could be manufactured in both Dubuque and Mannheim, and at other Deere facilities as might be needed in the future. Meetings concerning this project began in September 1960, shortly after the New Generation Tractors had been launched in North America. As had been done with the Waterloo-built New Generation Tractors, it was decided to begin the design process of the new small tractors on a “clean-sheet” basis, incorporating as many of the features of the larger New Generation Tractors as possible, such as eight-speed transmissions, planetary final drives, and closed-center hydraulic systems.

New engines were the top priority. The then-current gasoline and diesel engines built at Dubuque for the Dubuque and Mannheim-built tractors were considered to be adequate, but needed to be replaced as soon as was possible — especially in the diesel versions. These engines had basic design ancestry that dated back to the 1940s, and although the Dubuque engineers had been clever and innovative in converting these older engines to diesel service, the durability of the sleeve-and-deck system was less than desirable in the diesel versions, and starting was sometimes difficult at best.

The direct-injection, open-chamber combustion system used on the “3010” and “4010” diesel engines had proven to provide good fuel economy and good starting characteristics, so that design feature would be adopted for the new engines. The engine itself would be of the wet-sleeve design with individual cylinder sleeves, as used on the Waterloo engines.

Initially, the design teams concentrated on two sizes of tractors: The X-21 at 37 horsepower, and the X-22 with 55 horsepower. It was realized that the engines for both models would have to have room for growth in displacement for future years. From the beginning, it was recognized that a four-cylinder engine would be needed for larger models to meet the horsepower requirements. However, the performance target for the smaller models could be met with a three-cylinder engine.

An early experimental “2100” Tractor. Note that the oil filter is contained in the oil pan like the “3010” and “4010” Waterloo Tractors, and that the “John Deere” on the hood is a decal instead of the side plate medallions that would be on production tractors. The 2100 would never reach production.

Why a three-cylinder engine? The number “three” has some negative connotations (“phony as a three-dollar bill”, etc.), but on the other hand, the number also has positive meanings (“the third time’s the charm”). Still, it may seem strange to many people that a three-cylinder engine would be a viable powerplant for tractors. Nonetheless, a three-cylinder engine is naturally balanced, with a power stroke occurring every 240 degrees of crankshaft rotation, and therefore requiring no balance shafts or any other sort of secondary balancing system in order to run smoothly. The same certainly cannot be said for inline four-cylinder engines, either in agricultural or automotive applications, which require a physical method of auxiliary balancing to cancel out the second-order vibrations inherent to an inline four-cylinder engine.

A later “2100” Experimental Tractor with rear exhaust and fixed-tread rear wheels.

Since the smallest of the new tractor line was going to be sold in the lower end of the tractor market, where price competition was a major factor, it made economic sense to adopt the three-cylinder engine. It would require fewer parts; cost less to build; and allow a shorter, more compact design; yet would still easily provide the necessary power. Tractors with three-cylinder engines could be more compact and maneuverable, which was an important factor in many of the markets in which the tractors would be sold.

The engine that was adopted provides a fine example of the manufacturing advantages achievable with a “common-bore-center” design, as both the three- and four-cylinder engines could be machined and built with basically the same tooling and could share many parts, further reducing costs. Eventually, six-cylinder engines would be built from the same basic design and could be moved across much of the same tooling.

Engine design work moved along quickly, because many of the basic features that would be adopted for the new engines had already been proven by years of testing in the larger New Generation engines. Experimental engines and tractors were running by 1963. As prototypes moved through the later experimental stages, the tractor was given the “2100” designation. The photos of the “2100” in various forms show the evolution of the tractor that eventually became the “1020”.

In November 1964, the new engines were released for production at Dubuque. The initial production of the new three- and four-cylinder engines were shipped to Mannheim for use in the 310, 510, and 710 Tractors. Dubuque would furnish engines to Mannheim until later in 1965, when a new engine factory located in Saran, France, took over production of engines for the Mannheim-built tractors.

The first production John Deere built in North America with a three-cylinder engine was the JD350 Crawler, which entered production in late December 1964 and was the eagerly awaited replacement for the previous “1010” Crawler. The new three-cylinder engine for the JD350 was available in either gasoline or diesel versions. The gasoline engine was a “square” design, with a bore and stroke of 3.86 inches, displacing 135.5-cubic inches and producing 42 horsepower at the flywheel. The diesel version shared the same bore as the gasoline engine, but employed a stroke of 4.33 inches for a displacement of 152-cubic inches, and produced the same horsepower as the gasoline engine. Both engines offered peppy performance, smoother operation, and much better cold-weather starting than the four-cylinder engines used in the “1010” Crawler.

One of the stars of “Power Train ‘66,” Deere’s promotional campaign for 1966, was the new “1020” Tractor, which replaced the “1010” in the John Deere line and was the first John Deere agricultural tractor built in North America with a three-cylinder engine. The “1020” Series were the production versions of the experimental X-21 Tractors.