Technic

John Deere 9700 Forage Harvester

A cheerful little green machine that wins on charm, not accuracy.

Brick Rated Score

3.6/5

Set 42168 · 2024

Pieces559

Minifigsn/a

Year2024

Set number42168

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The verdict

The header is what got me here.

That spinning front drum that raises and lowers like a real corn cutter is genuinely satisfying to fiddle with, and the whole thing looks lovely rolling across a shelf next to the 42136 tractor. I'll be straight with you though: as an actual John Deere 9700 replica it is loose at best, and there is not a lot of function packed into 559 pieces. If you like farm machinery and want something fun to push around rather than a scale model, this is a warm little afternoon.

Best for: Farm-machine fans and younger Technic builders who want a quick, playable green harvester

The full review

What it is

This is LEGO's first proper forage harvester in a very long time, and only their second farm harvester of any kind since the old 8274 Combine back in 2007. It arrives in that unmistakable John Deere green and yellow, sized to sit alongside the 42136 tractor so your little farm layout suddenly has two matching machines. The star feature is the header on the front, the toothed drum that on a real machine chews through rows of corn. On the model you can raise it, lower it, and spin it by pushing the harvester along, and I found myself doing exactly that far longer than I expected. It is a small set with a big grin on it, and for pushing around a table it does the job beautifully.

The catch

Here is where I have to be honest with you. If you buy this expecting a faithful miniature of the real John Deere 9700, you will be a little deflated. The proportions are off, the detailing is approximate, and reviewers across Brickset and Eurobricks kept circling the same point: when a set wears a specific vehicle's name, it should look more like that vehicle than this does. On top of that, 559 pieces buys you fairly little in the way of working functions. You get rear-wheel steering and the header, and that is more or less the list. There is also a running grumble about the front tyres, which many felt should have been the chunkier ones from 42122 and 42136 to match the family properly. At around forty dollars it is not badly priced for the part count, but it does not feel loaded with engineering either.

Who it's for

So who will love it. Farm-machinery fans who care more about the look and the play than the ruler-accurate scale will get a genuine kick out of it, and younger builders around nine and up will adore the spinning header. It also makes a quietly excellent MOC feeder, which I will get to. Who should skip it: serious Technic modellers chasing gearboxes, pneumatics, or mechanical cleverness, and stickler scale fans who will only be annoyed by the liberties taken with the real 9700. Go in for the charm and you will be happy. Go in for accuracy or engineering depth and you will not.

The parts story

What the build is actually like, and the pieces worth knowing about.

The build itself is gentle and quick, which is part of the appeal. You start with a little cluster of gears that drive the harvesting drums, and the finished header is essentially its own standalone module, all its gears turned by two small wheels tucked at the bottom. From there the body comes together fast with a lot of curved panelling to make that rounded engine cowling. It is not a taxing build and there is no clever gearbox to puzzle over, so it suits a relaxed evening or a younger builder more than a Technic veteran hunting for a challenge.

The real treasure is in the bin of parts. This set is stuffed with gears, and several of them appear here recoloured into John Deere green for the first time, pieces that previously only existed in light bluish grey. The curved shells that form the cowling, including the 3x1x2 shell with cross hole and the 3x5 curved panels, also show up in green as debuts. That makes 42168 a quietly brilliant donor set for anyone building their own green machines, and it is a big reason the part-out value sits well above the retail price at roughly sixty-four dollars. Even if the finished harvester is not your thing, the parts alone make it worth a look.

Fun facts

01This is only the second LEGO farm harvester ever, following the 8274 Combine Harvester from all the way back in 2007.
02Several gears and curved shell panels appear in John Deere green for the first time in this set, recoloured from their usual grey to match the livery.
03The set's part-out value sits around sixty-four dollars against a forty dollar retail price, making it a favourite parts donor for MOC builders.
04It was designed at the same scale as the 42136 John Deere 9620R tractor so the two machines can share a shelf as a matching pair.