John Deere 400 - 800 hp Marine Engines?

[sgharford]

I came across this article https://www.marinelog.com/news/john-deere-unveils-two-new-marine-engines/ noting that John Deere is coming out with 2 new diesel marine engines in the 400 to 803hp range at 13.6 liter and 18 liter displacements, respectively. I never hear of John Deere as a marine engine, anybody know if they are any good? If I ever were to repower my 400hp Cummins 903's, seems like a possible contender.

 

[edward]

A friend has a Grand Banks ,he spec’d. Deere engines , he has several thousand hours on his engines.

 

[Pascal]

They ve been around for a long time and very popular in trawlers. Seem reliable. Not cheap though, factory reman Cummins remain the best value for repowers although it seems that Cat has now a reman program as well.

 

[Captain Ralph]

Very good and popular in the marine field. Been around for a long time.

You may have been working on their lil engines and not known it.
Just with different labels on the valve cover like Alaska Diesel/Lugger/Northern lights and Yanmar.

 

[Scarlett]

Most Nordhavn’s have them as there main engines labeled as Lugger’s.

 

[bigbill]

my 58yf has 2001 model 12.5 liter 450 hp john deeres. they have been great engines, only normal maintenance except one fuel pressure sensor i dont put a lot of hours but they have never missed a beat

 

[Timeless72]

Nothing...swims like a deere?

 

[Avenger]

They're pretty popular with the lobster boats in the New England area. They're pretty unpopular around here. Being New England has more agriculture near the coast than NY does, there are actually JD dealers available to service a JD marine engine. So, there's no support for them here.

 

[motoryacht lover]

They're pretty popular with the lobster boats in the New England area. They're pretty unpopular around here. Being New England has more agriculture near the coast than NY does, there are actually JD dealers available to service a JD marine engine. So, there's no support for them here.

Dealer support is my concern. In the heavy equipment world JD does a very good job with parts availablility and service. Just don’t see much evidence of that with marine engines in and around the SE.

 

[Captain Ralph]

In Jacksonville FL, The JD marine shop is Diesel Parts Sales & Service
on W Adams ST.
Also my Detroit and Cat supplier.

 

[cww]

They've been around forever, but usually they make the hardware for other people who slap their name on it. Last few years they've been dipping their toes into the market directly but their max hp was +/- 600 and the $/hp equation was the most expensive out there, so most people overlooked them. These new offerings will solve some of the lack of hp issue, but probably not the $ issue.

 

[harnett]

I purchased the 13.5 lit for a repower in my 53c.

All I can say is the pricing I got was slightly less than cat and just slightly more than cummins reman.

I liked the fact that it made it's HP at a lower RPM than cummins.