New to me 1957 JD 420c

[Keepermovin]

Hello everyone,
My name is Brandon and I have a tractor addiction. But this is a first for me, a crawler. I just purchased a 1957 John Deere 420 C a few days ago, and I know almost nothing about it. But, the guy I bought it from put some new parts on it and wasn't able to get it to run. Well I spent 2 hours going through the paces (charged battery, cleaned fuel line and twisted the distributor) and it fired right up. No kidding, I was surprised too. Now my issue is a frozen clutch and brake pedal. I know the tracks are free from rolling it off the trailer and moving it with the bucket,(it has a JD model 90 loader on it) it also moves the tracks when I turned the engine over while in gear so I believe the drive is working. My issue is freeing up the clutch/brake pedal shafts. Any advice to free them? Too good a deal to pass up and I also bought the backhoe attachment (Henry Manufacturing) for it while I was there.
Brandon
Salem, WI

[Jim B]

Welcome to the board.

You will get more help with issues like this on the early models board, that is where the most of the "work is done".

In case you haven't guessed, the clutch shaft is hollow and the brake shaft runs through it. You may end up doing a major teardown to get at the clutch shaft inside the center housing. You can try putting the penetrating oil to them on the sides and maybe you will get lucky. Post about this on the early models board and maybe someone will have a trick to cure this.

Did you get manuals with it? If you don't have manuals for your machine contact Lavoy by email (postmaster@jdcrawlers.com) or call him. He sells manuals and his business provides this site for us to use.
Jim

[Lavoy]

I moved the topic so it gets more views.
As Jim has said, split it back to the transmission, and then go from there. Don't start til you have a set of manuals so you know how to go about it. As a general rule, skimping and trying to take the easy way out on a crawler just costs lots more money in the long run.
Lavoy

[420C-Mike]

Brandon- welcome to the board. Lots of knowledge and help here. I have a 1956 420c I am "rebuilding" so am similar to you. We are neighbors as I live about 20 miles north of you although my tractor is at the farm in western wisconsin near the Mississippi. Good luck in the rebuiild!

Mike

[Keepermovin]

Thank you for the warm welcome. I have been PB blastering the clutch and brake shafts for the last couple weeks. I've been able to get them to move only slightly. Not exactly looking forward to pulling the loader off and backing the tranny out but I'm taking this slow and steady as I've never worked on a crawler before. I do have a set of manuals for it so at least I have that covered. Thanks again for moving my post and the welcome.
-Brandon

[Keepermovin]

Brandon- welcome to the board. Lots of knowledge and help here. I have a 1956 420c I am "rebuilding" so am similar to you. We are neighbors as I live about 20 miles north of you although my tractor is at the farm in western wisconsin near the Mississippi. Good luck in the rebuiild!

Mike

Mike- It's funny that internet makes 20 miles a neighbor. It would be hilarious if we were also "neighbors" by the Mississippi near Prairie Du Chein where I go to get away from thinking about working on this crawler! Thanks for the welcome.
-Brandon

[420C-Mike]

Brandon
'neighbors" near the Mississippi as well. Same county as prairie du Chen but opposite corner. My farm is near soldiers grove
small world
mike