Dear Pete,

What's my JD 4230, with under 2,000 hours, worth?

That question came from Dale, a caller from Missouri. Sorry I've been hard to catch on the phone here lately Dale. I'll hope that you are a regular reader of this weekly online column on www.agriculture.com. I'd be happy to try and help. Wow, under 2,000 hours on a Deere 4230. That's pretty darn rare! The 100 horsepower 4230s were made from 1973 to 1977. Let's start with the big picture. Here's what our data shows for average prices.

• Data compiled by www.machinerypete.com.

But Dale, your 4230 with under 2,000 hours certainly isn't an average run of the mill 4230. What we need to do is narrow our focus and look for the very nicest 4230s that we've seen sold at auction. What did they sell for?

Actually, back on March 20, 2008 on an auction in west-central Michigan, we saw a 1977 model 4230 with 2,000 hours sell. It brought $16,500.

Click on this link to pull up all of the John Deere 4230s we've seen sold at auction in the last eight years.

But I wouldn't hang my hat on just that one 4230 sold in Michigan. Look through our list of sale prices and you'll find many 4230s with 5,000 to 7,000 hours that have been worked on and overhauled to some degree, selling in the $15,000 to $17,000 range. Back on November 30, 2006, a 1977 4230 with 2,714 actual hours sold in north-central Indiana for $19,500. I'd estimate the used equipment market, in particular for very nice condition, lower hour tractors has increased 10 to 15% since then. If we conservatively tacked on 10% here, that would take us up to $21,450. And that tractor had 2,700+ hours on it, while yours has under 2,000, so we'd need to keep going up in value from $21,450.