This post will focus on models with 17-character and 13-character VINs. Older models will have a five- or six-digit serial number, while newer ones will have a VIN that is 13 or 17 digits long. As John Deere has been around for generations as a brand, the VIN and various forms of identification have changed over the years. The VIN on any vehicle can tell you a lot of helpful information. What each character of the VIN on a John Deere tractor means For the answers to these questions and more, read ahead in this post to see what our research has uncovered. You might also be wondering how long your John Deer lawn tractor will last or why the John Deere 318 was so popular. Now that we know how to tell when a John Deere tractor was built using the VIN, we'll dissect the characters of the VIN one by one. In a tractor with a 17-character VIN, the 10th character of the John Deere VIN will tell you the calendar year it was manufactured. We researched this farm vehicle from multiple professional sources, so you'll know for sure what year it was made. If you have a John Deere tractor and are wondering what year it was built, we can help you. You might not realize it, but there is a way you can tell what year a vehicle was manufactured just by using the VIN.