track trying to ride off bottom rollers on steep hillside

[Lavoy]

I have been hearing these horror stories on the new hydros as well. I kind of wonder if Deere is not going to service them, someone in the aftermarket will start rebuilding them. If the stories are true, there should be a lot of late model crawlers around for not much money if you can't put a tranny in one.
Lavoy

[jdemaris]

I have been hearing these horror stories on the new hydros as well. I kind of wonder if Deere is not going to service them, someone in the aftermarket will start rebuilding them. If the stories are true, there should be a lot of late model crawlers around for not much money if you can't put a tranny in one.
Lavoy

Same can be said with some older crawlers e.g. 350 and 450 series. Labor and parts costs have gottten so high for HL-Rs or reversers - many crawlers are getting scrapped as soon as one goes. I was just offered a 450B dozer with a slipping trans for $3800 and passed on it. Dealer gave the guy an HL-R rebuild price of $6000 and now he's going to scrap it.

If you're doing your own work, and doing you're own parts scrounging - that's a different story except used parts are also very high.

One example of of a Deere I'm working on now. Not a crawler - it's a 300B wheeled backhoe-loader. I just priced some parts for the power-steering and almost cannot believe it. Two AR81610 steering valve-cartridges - $700 from Deere. AT315816 o-ring kit - $66. Steering shaft - R57446 is $325. T34344 piston is $825. T34345 rod is $180. T36482 sector-arm is $530. T28272 pitman arm is $245.

I can see why so many machines are getting parted out. They're worth more dead than alive. I'm heading for the local tractor junkyard.

[The Fireman]

The bigest thing with the hydros is keeping the oil clean and the filters changed. A rebuilt hyro from the local hydraulic pump guy may be a little cheaper but we saw at the dealer ship that they seldom lasted as long as the remans deere offers with a warenty.

I doubt deere will stop servicing the hydros, they are proven technology (at least they were when I left ) Most of the problems we saw with them were electronic related. I can recall only a few that ate a pump or motor and those were mostly caused by contamination in the system. Speed sensors and PCPs were big issues that we had to work on on a regular baisis, when they went they would throw all sorts of codes and cause the crawler to do some strange things.

Another less comon problem was caused by worn out pump displacment control valves on the C series 750's and 850's. They would cause the tractor to miss track and creap in neutral, even had one that was so bad one track would drive itself at full speed as soon as the parking brake was released That was a real eye opener, however those problems only started showing up after 10-12 years and between 6-7thousand hours.

I wouldn hesetate to buy a H or J series crawler, but that is probly because I spent a couple years working on them and have went to several schools through deere to learn about them. Its all in what you're comfortable with and they are complicated, I can definatly understand why people are nervous about getting into owning one.

[mini kahuna]

your right digitup,none of the equipment is built like it once was,the new case backhoes are nice and all,but they are not half the machine the 580e is/was.