Don Hotz’s JD 4840: The needle in the haystack.

It’s getting awfully tough to find a low-houred original JD 4840, but it’s possible. They’re out there. However, finding a ONE-OWNER low-houred original JD 4840 that never strayed more than 15 miles from the dealership where it was sold? Those are a needle in a haystack.

Still, they do exist…and Sieren Auction Sales has one. It’s selling on an estate auction wrapping up on September 26, 2024. Here’s the link to the listing.

1980 JD 4840

Here’s the crazy part. When I say “low-houred,” I’m not kidding. It’s got 2163 hours on a working original tach.

So what’s the story on this thing? Glad you asked. It was a good excuse to catch up with Riley Sieren and find out.

Don Hotz: The One Man Show

This 4840 belonged to a farmer named Don Hotz who recently passed away. He had a modest operation – about 400 acres – just southeast of Iowa City in a little town called Lone Tree. He graduated high school in 1969 and actually went to Iowa State for a year, but when his father got sick, duty called and Don came home to run the farm. A bachelor all his life, Don loved the ground that he cared for. Fall was always one of his favorite times of the year, because he loved harvest…and Hawkeye football. I’m about certain that if you were to flip on the radio in the combine right now, it’d be dialed to AM 800 KXIC in Iowa City, the local Hawkeye Radio Network station!

Running a 400-acre operation solo isn’t easy, but Don made it work. He learned to be pretty efficient in his movements. For instance, it wasn’t terribly uncommon to see him moving between fields with a minibike parked in the snouts of his combine. That way when he was finished for the day, he had transportation home!

Incidentally, there was one thing that Don wasn’t efficient with. Riley told me that as long as he lived, he refused to carry a cell phone. It wasn’t an “I don’t want one of them dang smart phones…” attitude, it was a straight-up “I don’t want to carry a phone…period. Bag, flip, walkie-talkie, or smartphone. I’m not gonna do it!” thing with Don. In fact, Riley Sieren’s dad (who worked for Farmers Supply for 35 years and knew him well) remembered one day when Don stopped by the dealership four different times just to see if his tractor was ready yet!

Do more with less…

He was also efficient with the machinery he used. I don’t get the feeling that Don bought tractors just to have tractors. Since it was just him, moving equipment needed to be kept to a minimum. Thus, it was important that his tractors could handle pretty much anything he needed them to do. They had to be able to pull reasonably big implements, and had enough grunt to haul corn and beans in the fall. So in 1980, when he needed something new, he drove to Farmers Supply & Sales in Kalona, IA, stuck his head in Ernie Ropp’s office, and said, “Gimme the biggest one ya got.”

And that’s how the JD 4840 landed at the farm!

Sidebar: One-upping the 6030…

The 4840 was John Deere’s replacement for the 6030, and their first high-horsepower row crop tractor. They rated it at 200 engine horse from the factory. The Nebraska Labs tested it at 180 horse on the PTO shaft and 151 on the drawbar. Despite not being a big-block tractor, it was a brute. The turbocharged and intercooled 466 was a powerhouse! Furthermore, thanks to the standard 8-speed Power Shift transmission (there was no Quad Range option) and the SoundGard cab, it was a lot more capable in the field. More comfortable, too! The 6030 snorted a little harder down low, but that was about it. In the field, the 4840 was leaps and bounds ahead.

Looking at the scoreboard, the JD 4840 outsold the 6030 by four to one – in a rapidly-depressing farm economy, too!

Anyway, enough history. Let’s get back to Don.

Actually, let’s not. There’s one other little sidebar here. Who was paying attention when I mentioned where Don bought the tractor? For those of you who have followed tractor pulling for a long time, did that ring any bells?

Sidebar 2: Ernie Ropp, Farmers Supply, and the Iron Elk

At just 28 years of age, Ernie Ropp opened the doors to Farmers Supply in Kalona, IA in 1953, and built it into something of an Iowa legend. The business served local farmers for 66 years. Ernie’s boys, Phil, Warren, and Myron followed in their father’s footsteps and eventually took over the dealership after he passed in 1994. If you spot-check green tractors near Iowa City, you’ll find a lot of Farmers Supply decals on ’em!

For you tractor pulling fans, though, you’ll probably remember something different. Ernie and his son Warren campaigned a Diesel Super Stock with the NTPA for many years. That tractor started life as a narrow-front 4430 with a white hood. As time progressed, the narrow-front went away and the sheet metal changed a bit, but they definitely left their mark on the sport. They won the Grand National points for the 7500 lb. Super Stock class in 1986 at the Nebraska State Fair in Lincoln, leapfrogging two very tough competitors – Esdon Lehn and the team of Max Simpson & Keith Haynes.

From everything I’ve ever been told about Ernie, he was a class-act, a great sportsman, and a terrific mentor to his sons. Sadly, he passed away at the Dairyland Nationals in Tomah, WI on July 2, 1994 just after Warren had made his pass in Session 3. The NTPA inducted him into their Hall of Fame later that year.

Ernie’s a guy I would’ve loved to have met. Perhaps someday I’ll get the opportunity to sit down with one of his sons and hear some old dealership and pulling stories. I feel like that would make a pretty good Interesting Iron article!

Anyway, back to Don Hotz and his JD 4840.

Don’s 4840

Like I said before, Don bought this tractor from Farmers Supply in Kalona in 1980, and for fifteen years it was his main workhorse. It’s a well-optioned tractor, too; 3 remotes, 500 lb. inside wheel weights, quick hitch, A/C, radio, and eight front weights. Overall, a nice place to spend time, and powerful enough to get the job done. However, despite the sunburn on the hood, he only put 2163 hours on it. Being a one-man show, I know the tractors spent some time outside.

This tractor isn’t perfect, and it’s not pristine, but it’s definitely original. It needs a new cab kit pretty badly; foam doesn’t last forever, and glue dries out when it gets hot. However, the headliner looks nearly pristine. No sagging anywhere. The A/C doesn’t work, but I’d imagine it probably just needs a good cleaning and a recharge. Overall, it’s the normal stuff that falls apart on these tractors over time.

The paint is all original too. I’d love to see what would happen if somebody gave it a real thorough once-over with some cutting compound and then worked it back up. Elbow grease and a buffing wheel would do wonders, I’m sure.

What’s it worth?

Honestly, I don’t know. I think it’s going to sell for somewhere north of $40K, I just don’t know how far north. I hate putting it in print, but these tractors are remarkably bulletproof – even when they have high hours on them! The sales numbers show it, too. One of the highest auction prices I’ve ever seen on a JD 4840 happened in July of 2022. A Missouri tractor with 12,392 hours on it hammered home for $43,450. Granted, it was recently restored, with a beautiful paint job and fresh rubber all the way around. Still, these tractors will fetch really good money!

The one thing I do know is that this tractor will be a good one for whoever ends up with it. Don was a lifelong Farmers Supply customer, and Riley’s dad remembered that he was pretty good about taking good care of his equipment. If it needed something, it got it. It’ll be fun to watch this one sell – if you’re the one who ends up with it, send me an email and let me know what it looks like after you work over that hood!

Don Hotz’s JD 4840