The Dubuque serial number system
John Deere manufactured their New Generation tractors at two factories: Waterloo, and Dubuque. Waterloo tractors were often big Row Crop or Standard models. Dubuque specialized in smaller Utility models. Both factories used a system of letters and numbers on the serial number tag of their tractors to identify the version and sometimes other parts, such as engines and transmissions. Unfortunately, both factories used slightly different systems.

This page will attempt to explain the Dubuque system.
This page does not include all of the Dubuque built tractors, but it is a start. It also includes the industrial versions.

You can try to figure out the Waterloo system at Forty-Twenty.com, here.

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Models 1010 and 2010

A serial number example:
1010  RU  001000
123

  1. 1010-this is the model of the tractor.

  2. RU-this is the chassis type. There were a variety of types for the 1010 and 2010.
    1010 Chassis Codes
    "RC"= Row Crop
    "RS"= Single Row Crop
    "RU"= Row Crop Utility
    "RUS"=Row Crop Utility Special
    "UT"= Utility
    "OR"= Grove Orchard
    "W"= Industrial
    "AC"= Agricultural Crawler
    "IC"= Industrial Crawler
    "L"= Landscape Loader

    2010 Chassis Codes
    "R"= Row Crop
    "RU"= Row Crop Utility
    "H"= Hi Crop
    "RUS"=Row Crop Utility Special
    "W"= Industrial
    "AC"= Agricultural Crawler
    "IC"= Industrial Crawler

  3. 001000-This is the serial number of the tractor


Models 1020 and 2020
or JD300 and JD400
and a couple later models

A serial number example:
T5W3D  035115  T
1234567

  1. T=This means that it is just a basic tractor, and not some strange version!

  2. This is the model of tractor:
    4=1020, 1520
    5=2020, 2030

  3. The chassis type. They were:
    1020 and 2020 Chassis Codes
    "L"=Low Crop Utility (abbreviated as 1020 LU)
    "H"=High Crop Utility (abbreviated as 1020 HU)
    "R"=Row Crop Utility (abbreviated as 1020 RU)
    "W"=Industrial-it might stand for "Wheel"
    • Industrial models were given different designations. The 1020 became the JD300, and the 2020 became the JD400.
    "G"=Grove (only the 2020 had this version)

  4. Fuel Type. The avalible types:
    1=Gasoline
    2=Liquid Propane (not used)
    3=Diesel
    The 1520 Types:
    M= Gasoline
    N= Diesel

  5. This is the transmission. Types were:
    "C"=Collar Shift
    "D"=Collar Shift with reverser
    "H"=Collar Shift with Hi-Lo

  6. The serial number of the tractor.

  7. The factory that built the tractor.
    T=Dubuque
    R=Waterloo


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