John Deere
John Deere 324 P-Tier
The bright segment is what John Deere 324 P-Tier is rated to carry; the grey run past it is the rest of its tipping load. Bar length is tipping load drawn to the same scale on every machine on the site, so a short bar is a smaller machine and not a conservative rating.
One caveat on this machine: we could not find a published tipping load for it, so the figure above is its advertised capacity divided by the fraction its maker rates at. That makes the grey run arithmetic rather than a measurement, and it is the number worth asking a dealer to confirm.
Deere's best-selling skid steer, the 324G, gave way to the 324 P-Tier in mid-2026 as the flagship of the mid-frame wheeled line. The 74 hp turbocharged Yanmar needs no DEF, the vertical-lift boom reaches a 126-inch hinge pin height, and the 2,690 lb rated capacity handles a full pallet of sod or block. EH ISO joystick controls are now standard, and the options list adds ride control, hydraulic self-leveling, a 32 GPM high-flow package, LED lighting, and a rearview camera that the G-Series never offered.
Suits: Maximum lift and reach in a mid-frame wheeled machine, without large-frame price and weight Its vertical lift path reaches highest at full extension, for loading high-sided trucks and stacking.
Lifting and reach
- Rated operating capacityWheeled rating convention
- 2,690 lbs
- Tipping loadDerived from the advertised capacity, not published
- 5,380 lbs
- Lift height to hinge pin
- 126 in
- Lift path
- Vertical Lift
- Operating weight
- 7,700 lbs
Power and hydraulics
- Engine power
- 74 hp
- Engine
- Yanmar 4TNV98CT
- Auxiliary flowStandard circuit
- 21 GPM
- Flow type
- Standard
- Warranty
- 2 yr / 2,000 hr
Fitted or available
What this machine can be ordered with. Some of these are standard and some cost extra, and which is which moves between trim levels, so check them against the quote rather than against this list.
What owners report
Summarised from the sources listed below. Nothing here was tested by us.
Mid-frame wheeled is the volume end of the skid steer market, and this is Deere's contender in it — the direct successor to what was the brand's best-selling skid steer. With 74 gross horsepower, 2,690 lb of rated capacity and a 126-inch hinge pin, it is built for landscape, hardscape, masonry, rental and general contracting on firm ground. The reach is the headline: very few machines this size lift that high, and it is what lets a mid-frame machine do large-frame truck loading.
Conventional and well understood is what it is, and after a generation of field service that is worth something. There is no undercarriage to rebuild, the final drive runs oil-bathed chains built to need no adjustment, and the sealed pressurised cab with its swing-out door and footwell cleanout is a real serviceability improvement over a design that dated to 2018. What owners of the outgoing version actually reported going wrong was electronic rather than mechanical: joystick sensor and calibration faults that shut the machine down or left it tracking on one side, and in one documented case a complete loss of left steering that persisted through pump and motor work. Drive chains and relief valves are the mechanical items that come up. None of it is catastrophic, but all of it is worth testing for on a used machine.
For most contractors who are honest about their work this is the right size, and the wrong one for anyone whose days are spent in mud. Cross-shop it against the tracked 325 P-Tier on ground conditions rather than capability — tires are dramatically cheaper than rubber tracks and faster across a site, but they stop where a track machine keeps going. One thing to be careful about when shopping: Deere also sells a 324 P-Tier compact wheel loader, an entirely different machine, and dealer listings and search results confuse the two constantly. Confirm you are being quoted the skid steer. Before signing, decide on high flow at order time, test both joysticks and the steering under load, check the drive chains on anything used, and price the trailer and tow vehicle honestly into the total.
What owners like
- A 126-inch hinge pin is exceptional reach for a mid-frame wheeled machine, and it is the specification that decides whether you load a tandem truck over the sideboards or spend the day building a ramp. Very little else this size gets that high.
- The 32 GPM high-flow option finally closes a gap the mid-frame Deere always had. Cold planers, heavier augers and light mulching are now possible without stepping up to a large-frame machine, where previously buyers with attachment-led work had no mid-size answer in the brand.
- Holding the engine at 74 horsepower keeps it one notch below the power band that forces the more elaborate exhaust aftertreatment used on the big frames, which means one less system to maintain and one less thing to fail outside warranty.
- Drive is through oil-bathed final-drive chains that are designed to run without adjustment, and there is no undercarriage at all. Against a track loader doing the same work you are replacing a rubber track set costing thousands, plus rollers and idlers, with a set of four tires at roughly $930 to $1,524 in pneumatic form.
- The 2,690 lb rated capacity comfortably carries a full pallet of pavers or sod, which is the everyday test this machine gets bought to pass for landscape, hardscape and masonry crews.
- The 324G it replaces was Deere's highest-volume skid steer, so dealer familiarity, parts availability and a deep used-attachment market all work in your favour — and the machine carries a two-year, 2,000-hour full-machine warranty as standard.
What owners complain about
- The 5,380 lb tipping load is the number that actually governs what it will do. Because wheeled skid steers are rated at 50 percent of tipping load where track loaders use 35 percent, the 2,690 lb headline sits on a much thinner margin than a similarly-rated tracked machine, and awkward loads at full height are where you notice.
- The control electronics are the most-reported trouble spot on the machine it replaces. Owners logged joystick sensor and calibration faults that shut the machine down or left it driving on one side only, and at least one documented case of losing left steering entirely that survived hydraulic pump and motor work. Function-test steering and both joysticks under load before buying.
- Drive chains and relief valves are the other reported failure points on the outgoing mid-frame — chains needing inspection and replacement, and relief valves going soft. Neither is a design fault so much as a maintenance-sensitive wear item, but both are real running costs.
- High flow is an option and 21 GPM standard is unremarkable for the class, so attachment-led buyers effectively have to specify it at order time. Solid flat-proof tires, which many contractors want for demolition and scrap work, run $2,698 to $4,217 for a set of four against under $1,524 for pneumatics.
- At 7,700 lb it needs a 10,000 lb trailer and a 3/4-ton truck, which pushes past what some landscape crews can legally tow with the equipment they already own — and Deere has no radial-lift alternative at this size, so a buyer who wants radial geometry for digging and backdragging has to look at another brand.
Drawn from clboyd.com, skidsteers.com, brokentractor.com, justanswer.com.
What buyers ask
Is the 324 P-Tier a skid steer or a wheel loader?
How does it compare to the 320 P-Tier below it?
Do I need the high-flow hydraulics?
How does it compare on running cost to the tracked 325 P-Tier?
What should I check on a used one?
Can I tow it with what I already have?
Put the John Deere 324 P-Tier against
Machines in the same range
The rest of the John Deere line
John Deere
John Deere 320 P-Tier
$62,900
- Engine
- 69 hp
- Aux flow
- 21 GPM
- Weight
- 7,150 lbs
Deere's mid-frame vertical-lift wheeled skid steer, the 320 P-Tier, replaced the long-running 320G in mid-2026. It keeps the proven 69 hp Yanmar and 2,190 lb rated capacity while making EH ISO joystick controls standard and adding options the 320G never offered: ride control, hydraulic self-leveling, LED side lighting, a rearview camera, and a 30 GPM high-flow package. The sealed and pressurized cab, 10-foot-2-inch hinge pin height, and standard two-speed transmission make it a do-everything machine for construction, rental, and landscape crews.
Full sheet & owner reports
John Deere
John Deere 330 P-Tier
$75,175
- Engine
- 98 hp
- Aux flow
- 25 GPM
- Weight
- 9,930 lbs
Replacing the 330G in mid-2024, the John Deere 330 P-Tier is a large-frame vertical-lift skid steer with a 98 hp turbocharged Yanmar, a brand-new one-piece pressurized cab, and a 25 GPM standard / 39 GPM optional high-flow hydraulic system. It keeps the 330G's 132-inch hinge pin height while adding a touchscreen display, EH dual self-leveling, and larger fuel and DEF tanks for full-day runtime.
Full sheet & owner reports
John Deere
John Deere 318 P-Tier
$59,342
- Engine
- 65 hp
- Aux flow
- 17 GPM
- Weight
- 6,542 lbs
Sub-63-inch width and a pickup-towable weight made the 318G a rental and landscaper staple, and the 318 P-Tier keeps both. It's the small-frame vertical-lift wheeled skid steer that replaced the long-running 318G, adding a larger sealed cab, standard EH ISO joysticks, and options like ride control, self-leveling, and a rearview camera. The 65 hp turbo Yanmar meets Tier 4 Final with no DEF, and counterweight packages push rated capacity to 2,095 lbs for pallet work.
Full sheet & owner reports