JDcrawlers Messageboard

When I put my 420 crawler away after the last snow storm we had here a few weeks ago, I noticed the blade would not raise to its full height. From the sound of the hydraulics it acted like it was straining against something but I did not see anything it was hitting. It was the end of a long afternoo...

I put new lights on my 420 crawler, but when I turn them on, I blow a fuse. Just by visual inspection I am not seeing any shorts. Any advice on tracing down the solution to the problem?

The fasterner studs on the hood of my 420 crawler keep vibrating loose. Any trick to keep them from doing so?

I opened up the lights and found somethings wrong, I do not know if they are the cause for the blown fuse, but they could. The front lights are bulbs, and a piece of Bakelite (or whatever) where the wiring goes in was broken. Fortunately I have some other old lights and a stole a piece from one of t...

I did not change the wiring of the crawler, and there is a fuse that protects everything, as originally designed. It blows and everything stops, not just the lights. I will check and see what I can tell from the lights bulbs. It has been a few months since I put in the lights, but I do not think the...

I put new lights on my 420 crawler and rewired them. However, when I turned the switch to the lights, the fuze blew. My first guess is a short somewhere. I replaced the fuse and crawler started and runs fine--with the lights off. I looked in the parts and service manuals and could not find the size ...

I had the crawler overhauled at a local John Deere dealer about a dozen years ago. I do not know if the clutch was replaced then or not. I purchased it in pieces from an uncle who has since passed on. I do not know if the John Deere dealer reassembled the clutch correctly or not. Sounds like may be ...

It does not look like the clutch pedal it hitting the foot platform. With a little more time and warmer weather I will check out everything you mentioned. In the meantime, I am putting PB Blaster on the left side and working the pedals from time to time. I am hoping they will come completely loose. ...

I do not want to hijack 420CrawlerHoller thread, so I will start another one. I read with considerable interest the solutions to his brake and clutch pedal being stuck together. I have been having a similar problem, but mine are not complete stuck together, just tight. I realize from reading his thr...

Thanks folks. I suspect that the linkage in the clutch pedal needs adjusting so it can go further forward far enough for the battery box lip to fold down. It is a warm weather project unless we get more snow here and I need to get the crawler out. I double checked, and I have an Exide battery, but I...

I checked and I probably am due for a new battery. I got the current one in July of 2013 from TSC for $79.99. If I get more than three years off a 6 volt battery I feel lucky (not good though). However I recently did get seven years from a 6 volt TSC battery on my Farmall 340, but I run it pretty re...

Thanks folks. The point is that the clutch pedal will not go down far enough for the battery holder to fold down. There is just no way it can happen, and I pushed on it a lot over the years I have had the crawler. Even if the battery lip were cut so it would fold down beyond the clutch pedal, the cu...

I have a 1958 420 crawler. To get the battery in and out, I have to take off the clutch pedal. Is this normal? The battery tray is part AT 10454 T. There is a lip on it that tilts out, but it hits the clutch pedal. There is no way the clutch pedal can be pushed down far enough for the the lip to be ...

Thanks for the information on painting. I am still using mine so never intended to paint the tracks, but I just wondered how they ever painted the rest of it. I had a professional paint the sheet metal a year ago, and I am not working on painting the undercarriage (some of it anyway), the cast metal...

I have a John Deere 420C. I had the sheet metal painted, but now I look at the rest of it and wonder how one ever gets the undercarriage painted. Looks about impossible to get to everything. Anyone have experience do so?