JD 2038R: 100 Hour Review

The obligatory 100 hour review of my experience with the John Deere 2038R tractor. After posting the video, I realized I neglected to mention I also have the factory wheel spacers installed, which I believe gain an extra 3 inches of width on the rear end.

[@HomesteadnVA]

Great video, I will need a tractor very soon, probably next year. So jealous of this thing!

[@LittleCabin]

I really have loved it so far. We have neighbors who live below us fulltime, (we share the first 1,000 ft) but they have no means to maintain the gravel drive other than shovels and rakes. Time and water (washouts) forced my hand to buy when I did, since our road was getting in terrible shape after 2 years of essentially no maintenance. No regrets!

[@davidp5561]

I also purchased the 2038r last summer, my first tractor. I have the backhoe, brush hog, box blade, grapple, heavy hitch, tiller, Artillian pallet forks and several items from Ken’s Bolt on hooks. I’m very happy with the tractor and had no issues yet. I’m in NE FL on flat land. I went with the 2038 for the PTO power over the smaller options. My first thought was the 1025, then 2025 and finally landed on the 2038r.

[@LittleCabin]

Thanks for watching and sharing! Sounds like you have the attachments about covered! The next item I need is a standard rear blade to help shape some ditches. I have used the box blade for that to some extent, but I think a scraper blade will be better suited for it -- really need to have the capability of offsetting further past my rear tires so I can shape the edge of my steep roads and I need to keep all 4 wheels on the road at all times.

[@davidp5561]

@@LittleCabin I took advantage of the Deere zero percent financing and added most of the attachments. This year I purchased the pallet forks, which has been so useful and the Heavy Hitch which really adds capabilities. I think the rear blade will really help you out and lots of ballast.

[@LittleCabin]

Yeah, I also did the 0% financing, but just started to have a bit of sticker shock, especially once I decided to add the backhoe.

[@ryanhighfield1094]

The most common issue I’ve seen with lever parking breaks is the tension created by pulling the break up is basically concentrated onto the button. All that’s required is to pull up on the break to relieve some of that tension (it wont move but just a tiny bit) hold that tension up while you press the button (it should be much easier to press the button down) and then you can completely release the break. I’ve seen more than a few strong men struggle with the button until they learned that little trick. You may have already known and tried this, in which case you might have to take some stuff apart to investigate, because there’s a few other things that could be the issue which are slightly too complicated to type out in a comment section. Hope it helps, nice tractor!

[@LittleCabin]

Thanks for the tip -- I haven't tried that! Thanks for watching!

[@chrisjimerson8790]

can you put LED lights in this tractor or no

[@LittleCabin]

I've seen videos where others have done it. I may put some up on top of the ROPS at some point, but really haven't needed to operate after dark yet. If you mean replacing the stock lights with LED, I've seen videos for that as well.

[@chrisjimerson8790]

@@LittleCabin oh ok i mean makes since to me