JDcrawlers Messageboard

Hi,

Yes, it does suck, doesn't it? Too much slop in too many places. It doesn't even help much to increase the tension, either. As soon as there's something funny with the ground the tracks are on, the slop will occur anyway and - pop - goes the track!

Stan

Hi, Ball hitch on the Avitar? I think you're mistaking the rear work light for a ball hitch in that tiny photo..... :P No, the drawbar has a pin to attach pulled implements. That's the older way to go. The drawbar is mostly used with pulling chains on crawlers. The more modern way to attach implemen...

Hi, The rockshaft for the crawler is 3x as heavy as that for the wheel tractor. It goes under the seat the same, but then everything else is different. The tractor rockshaft has pistons inside it and the hydraulics go to it. The crawler has no pistons in the rockshaft itself. It uses a double-acting...

Hi, Yes, it does seem odd. I had never thought twice about the 3010 being rare. Heck, how can they be rare if the farm down the road had two of them? ;) Actually, my favorite was the third crawler they had. It was an ancient Cat D8 with cable blade. What a hoot that was for a kid to run! Just gettin...

Hi,

Hey! I like that idea! That would be about as close to the center as we can get, plus there's other things to do once we've run out of crawler stories to tell! Well, maybe that won't actually happen, but there would be lots of other things to eyeball!

Stan

Hi, As I recall (I have not been to KSC for at least three years now), they've never changed anything associated with the tracks on those crawlers. They have under 50 miles on them and they don't go very fast (no spinning tracks there!). Now, they did modify the platforms for the shuttles, having or...

Hi, Weight runs 5000-6000 pounds depending on how the machine is optioned out. The main items would be the number of rollers (4 or 5) and which dozer is mounted (61 vs 62), then the various guards (all of which add weight). Normally a 420c can't use most of the implements you mention as the 3-pt hit...

Hi, The 3010 crawlers I saw were identical. They were both gas engines, painted green, so they were ag line. Both had 3-pt hitches and manually adjusted outside the track frame dozer blades. I can't recall any specifics about the tracks on them, other than they were there! It was long ago, you know....

Hi,

I'm up for the Road Trip, but I think I'll leave my crawler at home. It's a long way from NC to ND and fuel costs are up. Besides, it's just a 420, and there's plenty of them around. Now, if I had something special, that'd be different!

Stan

Hi, I doubt I'll ever come up with anything more on these things. I now live 700 miles away from the scene, so to speak. That farm is long gone, now, anyway. I used to work there after school and during our two weeks off in the spring and fall (planting and harvesting 'vacations', as it were) when I...

Hi, I know that some 3010 crawlers were produced. At least two, anyway. My uncle sold two of them out of his Deere dealership in Pine Plains, NY to what was once Stockbriar Farm. Of course, the dairy farms in that neck of the woods are gone some 30 years now, and the big old place has been cut up in...

Hi, We used to use a Ford L8000 rollback with a steel deck. Stuck crawlers would slide right on it. Ours was cool in that the bed could go flat on the ground if needed. It only had a 26,000 pound pick-up rating flat (as opposed to 32,000 tilted), but it worked great for anything 'stuck'. Perhaps you...

Hi, I don't know what version of manuals the three you ordered are, but if one of them is an I&T brand manual, then it's pretty much worthless. If any of them are Deere service manuals, then you need *three* of those to cover the 420: the one for the 'M', the one for the '40' and then the one for th...

Hi, Oh, absolutely. I'm not trying to say 'don't get into this stuff'. I'm just trying to point out that old iron most always needs a lot of work, and that the amount of effort and expense tend to be related to each other! :) I'd hate to see anyone get into a $5k machine, then put it to work and win...

Hi, I never had a reference for the production numbers of the 3010. Originally, they were in the same boat as all the early industrial units: they were Ag machines to begine with and industrial versions were just painted yellow, although sometimes with modifications. I bet that if we were to enter t...