Today we celebrate a true worker, an engine that was not designed to make headlines with horsepower or torque but one that was designed to fire up every morning and put in an honest day’s effort for the guy behind the wheel. The John Deere 329ci diesel inline six was an 80hp naturally aspirated engine that could be found in tractors like the 4030 and others. It was around in the 1970s and was replaced by larger engines like the 404ci model but while it is not an all-star in terms of headline grabbing performances there are still loads of them out there today either working for a living still or leading a more pampered existence as part of someone’s tractor collection, etc.
So the basic facts about the 329 are as follows. The engine uses a 4.02″ bore and a 4.33″ stroke. It has 16.2:1 compression and it was rated to make it’s peak power at about 2,500rpm. The coolant system held about 22 quarts of fluid and the mill was responsible for dragging around about 10,000lbs of tractor in the field as that’s what a John Deere 4030 stops the scales at.
Parts are still plentiful and a quick search of the internet found a LOAD of these engines for sale proving that the machines they are intended to run are still out there in large numbers, working away.
The 329 seems to be everything that a farmer would want. It is reliable, simple, and can be simply repaired in the event that something breaks. No, it will likely not make you a hero after church on Sunday at the pull but then again, the real payoff in owning a farm is being able to work your land and harvest your crop. You can bring the hot rod out for the pulls and let this reliable, if not speed pack mule do exactly what it was designed for.
Deere 6329T was used in 544 wheel loader at 110 HP as I recall..
It’s was a Dubuque factory engine.
The 6404T was a Waterloo factory engine which in my mind was a stronger and longer life engine.