MSRP, base build
Same turbocharged 2.091 L Yanmar as the 4052M, moved into the 4R chassis: eHydro standard, the self-levelling 440R loader, and a premium ComfortGard cab on the order sheet. About $5,600 buys the cab option and the better loader, not more engine.
0.88 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
The most valuable thing owners say about this model is where it sits in the range, and the answer is that it is the sensible stopping point. For loader and three-point work there is no benefit to going bigger within the family, because every machine in it carries the same loader, so the extra money buys engine rather than lift - a point a Deere salesman made to one shopper unprompted, calling the step up to the next model wasted horsepower for around $7,300. Horsepower only matters if PTO implements are the point. Follow that logic far enough and owners tell you to leave the family altogether: one suggests anyone looking at the top model should ask why they are not buying the 5-series equivalent, which with a loader can come out a few thousand dollars cheaper and can now be had with a premium cab. A long-time owner of this exact machine puts the limits precisely - a 6-foot rotary cutter is about the maximum in any heavy mowing unless you crawl, and it is not ideal for extended heavy grapple work because of its weight even when ballasted - while still calling it the best tractor he has owned for its size. He is trading it for a 5-series so he can run a 10-foot cutter.
The used market is where owners find value, and they travel for it. One drove 900 miles round trip for a four-year-old example with a rototiller and plow at 80 hours, reports it digging out nine stumps on the first day with little effort, and rates it a huge step up from the 30-horsepower machine he had been renting. Another bought a four-year-old cab model with bucket, snow plow and rototiller at 85 hours from a private seller and says he could not justify paying tens of thousands more for new. Most were sold with factory cabs, and examples around 640 hours have been listed near $30,000. That active used market attracts trouble too: one shopper found an online seller advertising a 1,040-hour example with a loader for $8,800 against a $20,000 to $23,000 private-sale value, responsive by message and offering shipping and a return window, but evading every question about buyer protection or trade accreditation.
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
Largest of the open-station 4M machines: a charge-air-cooled 4TNV86CHT pulling 65 hp from the same 2.091 L block the 4052M uses, and 54.2 hp at the PTO. Hitch, hydraulics and loader are unchanged from the 4052M, so the step buys engine and 228 lb of chassis.
Spec sheet & owner notes
John Deere
Cheapest way into a cab-capable 4 Family machine. eHydro is standard here rather than optional, the 440R self-levelling loader replaces the 4M's 400E, and the 2.189 L Yanmar is the only naturally aspirated engine left in the 4R line.
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