TIMELAPSE OF JOHN DEERE 430 GARDEN TRACTOR TRANSFORMATION & COSTS. ODDLY SATISFYING

Hey guys & gals. I wanted to put out a shorter version of all of the stuff we've completed on the John Deere 430 Garden Tractor with commentary. We have a few hours of footage on the separate videos but we wanted to condense it all into a viewer-friendly, relaxing, and satisfying package. Any individual tasks can be found on the transformation playlist for more detailed real time installs. Thank you for watching community!

[@michaelbenoit248]

Glad to see a 430 is being taken care of. Not many left rn. Diesel swapped my 212 & 210 w a Yanmar L70. My mini version of a 430 or a 330.

[@tractorstrailsandlivingfree]

Thanks. For watching! My son had a 212 at one time. It's unbelievable the attachments that could be ran off of those older small tractors.

[@richardpickell8062]

One proud Piece of J.D. equiptment on the end.

[@tractorstrailsandlivingfree]

You got that right Richard! I love it, especially for snow plowing. Still need to add weight but it will get there. Thanks for watching and commenting!

[@davidsmathers5621]

Wow with all that you better keep it

[@davidsmathers5621]

I think I might put some tires on like that

[@davidsmathers5621]

Yea your up north from me iam 70 south of Columbus

[@davidsmathers5621]

We all need bigger buildings

[@davidsmathers5621]

Yea you should get some dust caps for your hydraulics

[@tractorstrailsandlivingfree]

Yes, I should. They're definitely not too expensive.

[@LivingOutHere]

Great overview of what you have put into it and the cost breakdown is awesome also. It lets those of us know how much it would take to get it to the point of yours!!

[@tractorstrailsandlivingfree]

Thanks man! It's always cool to remember those things.

[@davidsmathers5621]

70 miles south of Columbus

[@davidsmathers5621]

Sorry like your videos

[@johnpyle8027]

I took a 4x4 square tube 60" long and cut 1" solid square bar at a 45 degree angle about 8" long and welded them to the 4x4 to drag and finish dirt work. I spaced them like a rake maybe 2" apart and welded it all together with a slip hitch. I have about 200lbs on it to get it to dig better and it really busts up the ground and smooths it nicely. With the tractor not being 4 wheel drive I can stop it with that grader. I wouldn't buy a box any bigger than 48" and you will stick that. These tractors push snow and will move "loose material" nicely. I did almost a full restoration on mine. It's powder coated and painted I had to buy the blade and extension but had the 3 point, I had to spent $1600 for a nice rear PTO, clutch, shaft and harness. Someone harvested it from my tractor. It is 100% complete and I am guessing I have a little over $6000 in mine. I want a tiller and have thought about adding Cat 1 lower arms because I cant find a Cat 0 tiller that isn't a pile of rust. My fear with a Cat one is its height. If I am not on totally level ground or have to go through a swail I think it will drag and hang up the tractor. I'll be watching to see if your tractor handles a Cat 1 box. You don't know of an Cat 0 tillers new out there do you, I can't find any! If it makes you feel better, I took my rock shaft out by unnecessarily to paint the frame once and really regretted it! lol

[@tractorstrailsandlivingfree]

I think i saw a couple cat 0 implements including tiller come up on Craigslist late last year but yep, they are hard to come by. Thanks for the advice on the box blade. If I didn't plan to upgrade eventually, I wouldn't even consider more than the 4' blade. But it sounds like 4' is my only option with the 430. We will see how it goes.

[@davidsmathers5621]

Yes you should grease them I do and put some grease on the end of the axle then put your dust cap on

[@davidsmathers5621]

Hey did you have dust caps for your front wheels

[@douglasvandyke7666]

Thanks, I really enjoyed the video. I still use a 318 .

[@tractorstrailsandlivingfree]

I appreciate the feedback Douglas. It was one of the most relaxing videos to watch and make and I enjoyed providing extra commentary without messing with tools and parts at the same time. Thanks for watching!

[@Wtfisakilometer_]

Keeping my eyes open for a 430 or 650. Would love to have one.

[@tractorstrailsandlivingfree]

I've seen 430s come up a handful of times on Craigslist here in Ohio after I bought mine. They're not too hard to come by if you're patient. Thanks for watching!

[@davidsmathers5621]

Don't you have any shoes for your plow blade that would help you alot

[@geraldharris6277]

Any John Deere gt275 Restorations I have a gt275 has well over 5,000 hours on it I need engine seals and the rear axle and gears seals

[@davidsmathers5621]

Yea watching the video over again on that threaded bolt mine is different from yours

[@jeremynguyen6049]

where did you get your R4 front tires? I like those. Thanks.

[@tractorstrailsandlivingfree]

Hi Jeremy. I had to search my emails for the answer. It was on ebay from a seller called lawngardentire-com Looks like they're still available as a pair for 149.95usd Thanks for watching and commenting!

[@organiccleanfoodconnection]

Nice video. Where is a good place to look up and get parts? I need water pump, thermostat and belt?

[@tractorstrailsandlivingfree]

If YT allows the link, here is a good place to start partscatalog.deere.com/jdrc/navigation/equipment/62402 Thanks for watching and commenting!

[@ARTUROmechanika]

Hi. I see there are just a few millimeters between the drawbar and the stabilizer chains. How do you avoid their intersection? And do the stabilizer chains have any length adjustment?

[@tractorstrailsandlivingfree]

Can you give me a timestamp on when you saw that so I can see what you're seeing? Thanks!

[@ARTUROmechanika]

@@tractorstrailsandlivingfree Of course. I've seen this in your other videos too where you show the 3-point hitch assembly. And in this video you can see it at 12:45 - 12:56. What I meant was that the stabilizer chains crossed between the lower lift arms are very close to the drawbar bracket with the ball on it. I see you move the 3-point hitch up and down and nothing bad happens. Means there is enough room, although from the video it looks like those chains are almost touching the drawbar bracket.

[@benjaminmandli9209]

Great overview. I recently purchased John Deere 430. Waiting on the shop inspection before I can pick it up. Could you please let me know which front blade plow you have? The unit I purchased come with the snowblower but I would prefer the plow for most snow days. Thanks!

[@tractorstrailsandlivingfree]

Thanks for watching. The nameplate says M00054X and below that it says 54 BLADE-300

[@dannydodd2075]

It does have a rear pto if its a 430

[@tractorstrailsandlivingfree]

Correct, there is an output shaft, but you need the actual pto shaft, clutch, and gearbox.

[@NeilLB7]

At the beginning you said "turning this heavy duty lawnmower into a serious garden tractor". I would like suggest that the John Deere 430 is probably one of the most serious garden tractors ever to roll off an assembly line. Certainly nothing lawnmower about it. It was a sub compact tractor before the category existed.

[@tractorstrailsandlivingfree]

I 100% agree with that.just when I bought it it only had turf tires, no accessories except for the mowing deck, no 3 pt hitch so it kinda was a super heavy duty mowing machine. Thanks for watching and commenting!

[@timhankins9245]

I saw the headlights flicker, did you also change the taillight bulbs to LED? I'm an electrician, and LED lamps mixed with regular incandescent lamps will do that. If that works, let me know.

[@tractorstrailsandlivingfree]

The fronts are LEDs and yes there is a flicker. I changed the rears to LED but one of the sockets only seemed to work with the incandescent bulb so I kept that one. So what do I need to do to use all LEDs without any flicker? I've heard a direct battery connection would eliminate that but that's not ideal.

[@timhankins9245]

@@tractorstrailsandlivingfree remove the incandescent bulb to test the theory, if that works,maybe the socket is faulty. Keep me posted, please. My 430 had the light wiring removed when I got it, haven't gotten around to replacing yet, hah

[@tractorstrailsandlivingfree]

@@timhankins9245 I will check it out next time I'm out there. Thanks.

[@timhankins9245]

@@tractorstrailsandlivingfree Did you get your LED'S working? I'm going to wire my lights next weekend

[@tractorstrailsandlivingfree]

@@timhankins9245 they do still have a faint flicker even when removing the incandescent rear bulb. Now obviously they are still effective as is since the flicker doesn't act like a flash. But it would be nice if they were perfect.

[@lv_woodturner3899]

I just upgraded the front lights on my 1989 JD 755 to LEDs. I installed one bulb and turned on the lights. The LED was not as bright as expected and it flickered. The lights are powered by the battery so a DC supply and so should not flicker. On my snowblower the power comes from a small AC generator so that LED upgrade needed a capacitor to avoid the flicker. I checked the LED bulb with a 12V DC bench power supply and the bulb was very bright and zero flicker. I cleaned the contacts in the bulb sockets, then checked the voltage at the socket and at the connector for the 3 lights. The connector had 10.7 volt DC. The socket had 9.6 volt DC. The battery is only a few months old so I know the battery is good. I am not sure why the voltage drop. I rechecked the bulb on the DC bench power supply at 9.6 volt and it still was bright and no flicker so I then installed the LEDs. Nice and bright with no flicker. Dave.

[@tractorstrailsandlivingfree]

Thanks for the advice! I have seen others say that you need a capacitor due to the low draw from the lights. My question, what capacitor did you use? And where in the circuit did you install it? And how?

[@lv_woodturner3899]

The LED light I purchased for the snow blower contained the rectifier and capacitor. For your JD 430 you should not need a capacitor since the lights are powered by the 12V battery. Try removing one bulb and connect a couple of wires to the bulb and the battery posts. If the bulb does not flicker then a capacitor is not needed. If the bulb flickers you can try e.g., 2200 mF capacitor on the +ve connection. I read that cars can flicker with LED upgrades due to the computer voltage/current monitoring. Since the LED draws much less current the computer can think the bulb has a problem and so interrupt the connection. Our tractors are nice and simple battery connection. Dave.

[@tractorstrailsandlivingfree]

Thanks! I am going to try that. I will probably follow up here if I need more info.

[@geraldharris6277]

I have a new John Deere x580 I put LEDs in it and mine don't flicker you can check it out on my channel under my name Gerald Harris I don't know how to cut and paste so you can check it out you might just have to find it I don't know how I'm new at this you take care hopefully you'll see what I'm talking about on my x580 and then I also did it on a Simplicity Broadmoor new LED lights that is

[@ponypwr]

Do you plan on restoring it?

[@tractorstrailsandlivingfree]

Maybe. I can't say for sure at this point. But since we have a subcompact now, that is definitely an option. Thanks for watching!

[@davidsmathers5621]

Yea but you have a diesel witch is the best

[@tractorstrailsandlivingfree]

I wouldn't mind a 445 or 455 to be honest.

[@diontekendrick6665]

Want to sell that deck?

[@tractorstrailsandlivingfree]

Probably not at this time. Thanks for asking though!

[@davidsmathers5621]

Mine sticks out more than yours