JDcrawlers Messageboard

Hi,

I remember these! I always referred to them as 'the garden tractor crawler'.

Stan

Hi, How in heck does someone bust one of these? There's an eyebrow guard. FWIW, my 420c has had standaed zerks in place of all the button heads since 1966 without issue. So, I know it's not easy to bust one..... Now, I *have* managed to snap off the zerk on the back end of the lift cylinders a coupl...

Hi,

How come he didn't have his skidder out there playing in the dirt, too?

Stah

Hi,

Heck, I change the AF in everything I have on a 3-year cycle.

Stan

Hi, The 355D has the same serial number range as the 350D. Deere just changed the model number to bring it in line with the other crawler/loaders as a 'x55' vs. the dozers 'x50'. The 350 and 350B had the 3/152 (64-75), the 350C had the 3/164 (75-86) and the 350D and 355D had the 3/179 (85-88). As us...

Hi, Yes, the rails do wear more in reverse than in forward. A lot more, actually. In reverse, the power is applied to the chain via all the teeth in contact. In forward, the power is applied only through the first couple of teeth in contact. There's a lot more slipping between the sprocket teeth and...

Hi, If you weld this, it *will* bust again with 100% certainty. I'll tell you when it'll let go, too. When you're digging a fundation, or swimming pool, or some other reason for making a large hole in the ground, which is a good use for a dozer. At some point, you'll be pushing a blade full of dirt ...

Hi, No, it's the original 'M' engine still. The poor tractor was snapped in half when someone tried pull starting it with a 4WD truck after the ice formed inside the cylinders because they hadn't covered the stack. The piston tops were caved in, so dad decided to repair the things. The end result is...

Hi,

My pleasure. I was wanting some of this data myself as I look at every 350 and 450 I see with a 'for sale' sign on it!

Stan

Hi, One thing to keep in mind is that the factory manuals were intended for service shops. They expected you to have a full set of manuals, so much data needed for the 420 is missing from the 420 manual. I'm referring to things that were also on the 40 and the 'M', which are found in the 40 and 'M' ...

Hi, The quasi-fabricated pistons I have in my old 'M' (wheel tractor) increase the compression to around 9.5:1 and the thing *will* pull wheelies in the three lower gears. I always have a tool on the back just in case, and start the thing off with at an idle so it won't try and dump my onto my head....

The JD400G was an 'economy' crawler dozer made to boost sales. Don't confuse it with the JD400 industrial tractor of the 1960's, which was the industrial variant of the 2010. Don't you hate it when they reuse model numbers like that? I remember a comic conversation with a JD parts guy when the '420'...

Hi, The most common blade is the 6-way PAT one, and is mounted inside the track frames. The next most common is the manual angle and tilt blade and is mounted outside the track frames. The manual blade has only two hyd cylinders and they lift and lower it only. If you want angle, you get off and pul...

Hi, Most times the filter works fine without the lower plate. Sometimes the filter will slip downwards from the spring pressure of the top plate and then it has a tendency to only work halfway, the other half bypassing. You can tell when you take the old filter out as the bottom side center hole wil...

Hi, This is true as long as we talk about pump gas. Once we get into racing fuels, things change. For example, the 100 octane rated unleaded race gas I use evaporates far more quickly than any pump gas does (plus leaves no residue at all) and works very well in the winter. It works too well in the s...