MSRP, base build
Deere's 3R line picks up where the discontinued 3038R left off: a turbocharged 1.6 L Yanmar, 15.3 gpm of pump flow and a 2,194 lb hitch. Pick eHydro or a 12F/12R PowrReverser gearbox, and a ComfortGard cab with air conditioning is a factory option on the eHydro build.
0.83 PTO hp per $1,000 of list price
As published by the maker
On the price: The maker's own published starting figure for the base build. A dealer adds a loader, a deck and freight on top.
Lift figures are the maker's and are quoted at whichever point the maker chose; the about page explains why two loaders with the same number do not lift the same pallet.
Comes with
From owner discussion and long-term write-ups
Gathered from owner reports
A striking number of 3039R owners did not set out to buy one. They arrived from a 1025R or an older 4110 after discovering that the thing limiting a sub-compact is weight and loader lift rather than horsepower - one owner had his 1025R six months before concluding the list of jobs he could not do was longer than the list he could. Others bought it because Deere offers no factory cab below the 3 series, and were then surprised to find the bigger tractor turns tighter than the 2 series it replaced. The cab is what most of them mention first: mowing at six or seven miles an hour in air conditioning, blowing snow in comfort, working in weather.
And then the same owners say they wish it lifted more. That refrain is remarkably persistent - people who moved up specifically for lift capacity still want more of it, including for gravel and bales. The working answer is ballast rather than a bigger machine: one owner runs a 700 lb ballast box plus 200 lb of wheel weights when handling logs with a grapple, and says even with filled tires he needs an implement on the back to avoid overloading the front axle. Filled tires alone add something in the region of 800 lb on this size of tire, but owners describe iron on the three point as what actually stopped their rear wheels leaving the ground while digging.
Two purchases owners consistently advise against are the backhoe and the belly mower. One buyer's own dealer talked him out of the backhoe, arguing that $350 rental weekends for a mini excavator would take many years to add up to the $8,000 to $10,000 it would have added, and pointing out that trenching with a machine that has to be repositioned every few feet is miserable work. On mowing, several owners run a zero-turn alongside the tractor and say the 72-inch belly deck is heavy, awkward to handle and worse around trees once a cab is fitted - though the owner who does use one mows a big meadow happily and notes he tears grass in four-wheel drive but not in two. Practical notes worth carrying: chains for serious snow work, winter fuel treatment if it sits between uses, and keep an eye on loader fittings, which one owner retightens every time he mounts his grapple.
Summarised from public owner discussion, not from testing. Nothing here was measured by this site, and a report that recurs is not the same as a defect rate.
Cross-shopped against
Same brand or same size, nearest in price
John Deere
The cheapest 3R chassis, and the money goes into hydraulics and hitch rather than horsepower: 15.3 gpm against the 3E line's 9.3, a 2,194 lb hitch, the larger 320R loader and a ComfortGard cab on the option sheet. The only 3R without a turbo.
Spec sheet & owner notes
John Deere
The only Deere compact under 4 Family with a turbocharged, intercooled engine: 44.7 hp from 1.568 L, at the head of the 3 Series. eHydro is the sole transmission - the PowrReverser offered on the 3033R and 3039R is not on this model's order sheet.
Spec sheet & owner notes
John Deere
Fifty horsepower with a 12F/12R PowrReverser as standard equipment rather than an upcharge, and the 400E loader that lifts 2,396 lb at the pivot pin - nearly double what the 3 Series manages. The trade is the operator station: 4M is open-station only.
Spec sheet & owner notes