Tractors competing in the sub-100hp livestock tractor sector traditionally featured a pared-back specification. Not always, though. With its 2003 launch of the 5020-series, John Deere offered a tractor with a comprehensive standard spec for its class. A decade on, how do these models stack up as a used buy? James de Havilland reports.
Searching for a used stock tractor in the sub-100hp bracket? Well, you’re not short on choice. Contemporaries to the subject Deere 5020-series from 2003 include New Holland’s TL, the Case IH JXU, MF 4200 and McCormick CX. Back then, John Deere had been covering this sector with its Agritalia-built 5015 and with the by then superseded Renault Ceresbased 3010 tractors. Yet with its all-Deere, Mannheim-built 72-88hp 5020-series, the firm wasn’t really offering a direct replacement for either the 5015 or 3010. Similarly, you could also argue that the 5020 models had no direct spec-for-spec competitor in the livestock tractor sector, either. As standard, all 5020-series models feature a 16-speed PowrQuad transmission with four clutchless powershift speeds in each
of four ranges. This is pretty much the same box as you you’ll come across in the larger 6020-series. An extra £985 would have bought PowrQuad Plus, this bringing auto speed matching with just the one transmission shift lever plus a park transmission lock. An additional 16 creep speeds could also be specified, but today this will be an unusual find except perhaps in certain vegetable growing regions. All UK specification tractors have electrohydraulic, on-the-move 4WD engagement.
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