John Deere 440 icd advice

General help and support for your Lindeman through 2010 John Deere crawler
Chartersj
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Re: John Deere 440 icd advice

Post by Chartersj » Mon Aug 10, 2020 3:07 pm

Lavoy wrote:
Mon Aug 10, 2020 2:14 pm
For the most part yes, not hard to take apart.
No idea on the skipping.
If you have to jerk it to get it to work, something is wrong.
Crawler in general kind of sounds like a wreck. I hope you are up for an expensive project.
Lavoy
Yeah I'm getting the feeling that I am going to have more into it then it's worth just fixing the known issues and not to mention the stuff it will probably need once I start using it

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Re: John Deere 440 icd advice

Post by Lavoy » Mon Aug 10, 2020 4:33 pm

No matter what shape it is in, or any other one fir that matter, you will always have more in it that it is worth in terms of sale price. They are worth what they are worth, thousands of dollars of repairs does not raise the value equivalent to the dollars invested let alone the labor. We own them because we like them, and the satisfaction of owning one is the reward. If resale price vs investment is your overriding criteria, you would be better off hiring the work done.
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Chartersj
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Re: John Deere 440 icd advice

Post by Chartersj » Thu Aug 13, 2020 10:49 am

Had a chance to drive it today. Started very quick with a bump start and shot of ether. There was a little spitting from the exhaust joint but not very much at all. However, the oil turned milky again. So wondering where it was sitting for 4 or 5 months it separated then mixed again after we started it. The oil has not been changed in years. And the wrong oil has been used to top it off every so often. We topped the coolant off, didnt take much more then a cup, and that did boil over where we overfilled it i suppose. It was about 3 inchs down from the cap after we shut it off. Some grey and blue smoke from the exhaust. Not overly smokey. Would let some out when i gave it a big shot of fuel. Steering clutches are slipping on both sides. It will start to grab at first but gets worse the more you try. The brakes dont work at all. Underneith you can see oil leaking down both final drives. Looks like it coming from between the transmission housing and the next housing which is probably the clutch housings? The guy that had it before said he had one final drive off and had to clean up rust from sitting so long, and the brake pad on the brake band was starting to separate.
On a positive note the blade does have down pressure. Will lift the crawler no problem. But does very slowly fall down on its own.

Chartersj
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Re: John Deere 440 icd advice

Post by Chartersj » Sun Aug 16, 2020 6:50 am

I forgot to mention there was a lot of bubbles in the coolant when It was overflowing. It seems to have every indication of a bad head gasket or cracked head/block. Owner was not interested in me doing a pressure test on it. He obviously knows what it's going to prove. I think I could get it for much cheaper then we had agreed on but at this point it seems like more of a parts machine then a fixer.

timmtnman
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Re: John Deere 440 icd advice

Post by timmtnman » Sun Aug 16, 2020 8:00 am

Sounds like a head gasket. Had the same problem on a 450B I just bought. Had the head redone and it fixed my problem. Sounds like a cheap fixer upper. If your able to do the work yourself your just out on parts. Atleast when your done, you know what have when your finished.

Chartersj
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Re: John Deere 440 icd advice

Post by Chartersj » Sun Aug 16, 2020 3:05 pm

timmtnman wrote:
Sun Aug 16, 2020 8:00 am
Sounds like a head gasket. Had the same problem on a 450B I just bought. Had the head redone and it fixed my problem. Sounds like a cheap fixer upper. If your able to do the work yourself your just out on parts. Atleast when your done, you know what have when your finished.
That is why i am on the fence with this machine. I have never had a diesel apart that far and not exactly sure what's involved to change out head gaskets. But seems to me if I am that far an in frame rebuild would be the thing to do. I see kits online for $350 usd. Not sure on quality

JWB Contracting
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Re: John Deere 440 icd advice

Post by JWB Contracting » Sun Aug 16, 2020 4:40 pm

It will most likely be a cracked head. You should tell me where it’s at and I’ll check it out for you?

Detroit’s are a very basic engine. 253 parts are getting hard to come by, the common parts with 353, 453, etc are all readily available. We used to sell a lot of Detroit engines, now maybe 1 or 2 if we’re lucky.
Jason Benesch

John Deere 420, 430, 440 & 350C With 3 Point Hitch
John Deere 400G With Winch
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John Deere 420, 430, 435 & 440 Wheel Tractors

Chartersj
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Re: John Deere 440 icd advice

Post by Chartersj » Sun Aug 16, 2020 5:05 pm

JWB Contracting wrote:
Sun Aug 16, 2020 4:40 pm
It will most likely be a cracked head. You should tell me where it’s at and I’ll check it out for you?

Detroit’s are a very basic engine. 253 parts are getting hard to come by, the common parts with 353, 453, etc are all readily available. We used to sell a lot of Detroit engines, now maybe 1 or 2 if we’re lucky.
It's in NB. I would like that but its probably a bit far for you lol. Im thinking of getting it even if i dont do anything with it for now, maybe an engine transplant down the road

timmtnman
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Re: John Deere 440 icd advice

Post by timmtnman » Mon Aug 17, 2020 6:06 pm

I'd make him a lower offer since he already knows it has issues. Head comes off pretty easy. Get a manual for it also. With head off you can check the liners wear. I would have the head checked out and redone if it's not cracked. Head gasket I bought at deere was 40 bucks. Maybe that is all it needs before you put money in fixing the clutches and brakes. I like bringing things back to life again.

Chartersj
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Re: John Deere 440 icd advice

Post by Chartersj » Thu Aug 27, 2020 1:36 pm

Picked it up for $400. Oil seems greyish like its thinned out with fuel Maybe. Going to borrow a pressure tester for the coolant side and go from there. Pull the valve cover and have a look. Steering worked good for a minute then lost effectiveness after that

Chartersj
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Re: John Deere 440 icd advice

Post by Chartersj » Sat Aug 29, 2020 6:00 am

So if I try to push too much it acts like the main clutch is slipping, the engine doesn't bog down but just stops moving and I can hear something turning. After warmed up i am getting lots of foaming coolant past the rad cap. Coolant definitly getting in the base oil. And also the engine ran away on me when I gave it a big shot of throttle, but I was very quick to shut it down by plugging the intake and holding the fuel shut off at the same time(had the hood off and there is no air filter for the blower. So I have lots to figure out. I'm not afraid of a project, which this definitely is. I just don't know if it's worth fixing or better off as a parts machine for someone.

timmtnman
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Re: John Deere 440 icd advice

Post by timmtnman » Mon Aug 31, 2020 5:39 pm

I would pull the head off first and inspect the pistons and liners. If they look good, have the head checked and out it back together. Check adjustments on clutches then try it out again. How does it steer and brake. Is the undercarriage good or decent on it.

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pop pop
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Re: John Deere 440 icd advice

Post by pop pop » Fri Oct 02, 2020 1:47 pm

wow, you got it cheap, scrap iron brings more than that here. good luck, happy wrenching
440icd/602/8a,,440icd/831/ripper,,440icd/831/3pt.,misc. 440 parts, i have 5 of these now, but i can stop anytime :cry:

Chartersj
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Re: John Deere 440 icd advice

Post by Chartersj » Sat Oct 03, 2020 6:05 am

So the head is cracked between each exhaust valve and injectors tubes on both cylinders. The radiator has a small crack in the top and was full of mud and grease and the water pump must have been leaking by how rough the bearings feel so I think the previous owner got it hot. There is no temp gauge (or any of the others) so he probably didnt even realize it at the time.
I happen to mention it to one of the previous owners and he still had a spare head that he gave me. So I'm sending that off to be tested and if it's good it will get new valves, seats, tubes and resurface.
The radiator is at a shop now and hopefully they can get it fixed.
There isn't any scoring in the cylinders but the cross hatching is gone. So I'm wondering if I should freshen it up with new pistons and liners.
I took what was left of the starter to a shop and they said they could rebuild it for $600. I want to go to negative ground so is there anything you have to change with the starter to do so? There is no alternator or generator on it.
Also the second to last owner, who gave me the head, is going to give me the original air intake for it too.

Chartersj
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Re: John Deere 440 icd advice

Post by Chartersj » Sat Oct 03, 2020 6:15 am

I have been looking at other older dozers around to compare undercarriages and I would say mine is in good shape. Looking in the clutch inspection covers everything looks a little wet/greasy so I'm hoping that's where all my steering and pushing problems are and not main clutch or reverser problems. The reverser handle has been removed so im thinking there was problems with that at one point in time. Previous owner also told me he had one of the final drives off and there was a seal gone between the final drive and clutch housing and he tried to make one with some rubber strips.

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