Help with 440ICD in CT.

[Purepowder2000]

I live in south eastern ct and I need help with my 440ICD loader. The engines runs great. The tracks and rollers are in good shape. My problem is the steering clutches are frozen. I began taking it apart, but I can't get the finial drive off. One of the large bolts are frozen solid and also a smaller bolt. I couldn't get the other track off because the tension adjuster won't loosen up. I was hoping to get just one side working to use it, but that came a stand still.

I have given up for now and wanted to know if I could get someone in the area to repair it. I just started looking for a mechanic, but had no luck finding one. I wondered what the price of repair would be like. I am even willing to work out deal. It was my fathers and I wanted it to clear property and forestry.

[jac]

If you have an Industrial Deere dealer in your area they can likely repair it. I live in southeastern NY and our area dealer will service the machine (NorTrax). My guess is it will cost a lot to have a Deere dealer do the repair since they will find many things wrong once they get inside.

It took me quite some time to get my finals off my 440ICD since I also could not get some of the large bolts out between the finals and the crossbar bracket. I ended up cutting some of them and extracting the cut bolts once the finals were off. Look for some of my old postings and see what I tried to get the bolts off, it may work for you. Smalll bolts are no problem, just snap them off if required!!! I snapped dozens restoring my machine, especially the bottom roller bolts. After a while, you get good at removing broken bolts.

[Gil]

Find the master link pin on the track. Remove the snap ring and drive out the pin. If you can move the track, I find it best to do this when the pin is moved to the rear of the crawler where you can hit it most easily with a hammer and drift. That will loosen the track and you can remove the adjuster.

[Gil]

I forgot to mention, don't be put off just because you are having problems removing the large bolts from the final drives. These are some of the hardest bolts on the whole crawler to deal with. I could show you half a dozen sockets, extensions, and wrenches I have used to try to get to them. Last time I used a 3/4" breaker bar with a five foot pipe extension. Last week I bought a new Ingersoll Rand air impact gun with promised "nut busting force" for my next attempt.

[Trucker Dan]

My guess it would cost a small fortune at Deere labor is probably 100.00 + an hour. One thing that seems to help for me is to slowly heat the head of the bolt, Theory being that it gets hot and expands in the hole and helps to break it loose. Heat it back off heat it and so on so the heat travels down the length of the bolt. While it is hot hit flat on the head of it a little to help jar it . Let it cool completely and try again. Dont try while it is hot. I usually try over several days and finally come to the conclusion that today it is coming off. This is when the pipe goes on the end of the breaker bar and it either comes loose or breaks. Although I hate that feeling when bolts break it is bound to happen on any old equipment

[mini kahuna]

unless you have hit the lottery the dealer route is way to costly,lavoy's got the parts you'll need to get going again.
the biggest thing about working on heavy equipment is having the right tools,3/4 drive socket set,3/4 impact is better.
these things were put together 40-50 years ago,they come apart HARD.
I to have a pile of sockets,bars etc twisted and broke,we have all been there,not fun.

[Ray III]

My guess it would cost a small fortune at Deere labor is probably 100.00 + an hour.

Oh, yeah. NorTrax stealerships are wealthier than Bill Gates.

[jac]

I agree those were the most difficult bolts on my machine. The proper tools are a must but in my case, even a new 1" impact gun did not get them out. I even tried an old fashion slugging wrench which can put a LOT of torque on bolts. No luck, so that is why I ended up cutting two bolts on one side. Once I decided it was time to cut them, I had the final off and the two cut bolts removed from the final in 2 hours. Maybe not the best approach but it worked out well if done correctly. There is even an auction on e-Bay right now for two of those "special" bolts.

[Lu47Dan]

Stuck or seized bolts are real frustrating when working on older equipment , over the years I have tried most all of the penetrating oils commonly available in the local hardware or parts stores . The one I use now is called Kroil , works great 90% of the time , If you have time to let it soak in and do it's magic , heating cycles help also let the bolt or nut cool and then apply the Kroil , let sit overnight and repeat until bolt breaks free . If time does not allow for this , heat the offending fastener and let cool to a point you can still melt candle wax ( paraffin wax ) onto it with the heat remaining > Have an air chisel with a 1" hammer attachment in it and vibrate the snot out of fastener , repeat process until either the fastener comes out or you lose your patience and cut the fastener (head or nut) off with the hot wrench . I usually can get 97% of the fasteners out , and end up cutting very few of them off . Dan

[Purepowder2000]

I believe I am just cutting the bolts. I heard these are some strong bolts. I tried drilling one bolt with titanium bits and got no where. My question is how much will it cost me to have done at a die and cast machine shop.

[jac]

Have you tried ALL other options such as penetrating oil (PB Blaster or Kroil) as well as using a good impact gun or a long pipe extension on a breaker bar? Most of those bolts can be accessed fairly well. If I recall the top inside bolt is difficult to get to and that is the one that caused me the most problems. I would try all options before cutting them. I actually drilled 1/8" holes to various sections along the length of the bolts to get penetrating oil directly to the bolts. That allowed me to get some of the bolts out. Also try heating and cooling them as others discussed. It works quite often. You will need an oxy/acetylene torch to get them hot enough to break them loose.

If you have to cut them, cut at the joint between the final and the crossbar bracket with something thin (I used a thin cutoff wheel on my angle grinder). That cuts the bolt flush with the final and allows you to get the final off. Remember, this is sort of a LAST resort approach. I did not cut mine until I tried for two weeks to get them out. I had a pile of trashed tools by this time and had donated a lot of blood to the Deere gods!!! It is best to remove them as opposed to cutting them.

Getting the cut bolts out of the finals is another story. I drilled holes down the center of the cutoff bolts and then extracted them. Drilling the bolts is not that difficult once you have good access to the bolt. I drilled mine with a standard high speed steel drill bit but did use my Bridgeport to drill the hole. Once you have the center drilled out you can try reheating the bolt which allows for more expansion/contraction and may loosen them. I extracted one bolt this way with a large screw extractor and an impact gun. The second bolt was more stubborn so I MIG welded up the drilled hole which caused the bolt to contract when the weld cools and then welded on a nut and used the impact gun to remove the bolt. It came out very easy with this approach. No clue what someone would charge to do this, it all depends upon how easy they come out. That is why I suggest trying all other options before cutting the bolts. Also, cutting the bolts this way will cause some metal removal on the mating surfaces of the final and cross bar bracket. If done correctly it should not affect the parts. I switched sides of the finals (Left to Right) when I replaced them to get a good mating surface. Note, if you take both finals off at the same time remember the transmission will not be supported and may either drop or raise up since the crossbar is the main support for the machine.

[Creepy Crawler]

You may try something that was shown to me by a professional welder...Drill a hole in the middle of the bolt now use your acceteline torch and aim it up the drilled hole..get it hot then quench it with cold water...you may have to do this a couple of times...BE carefull of heating the castings and cracking them!!!! I tryed this method to get a brocken axle bolt out of my jd model "R" after quenching it I turned it out with my fingers.....Hope some of this helps....Brian