440 vs 40??

[Putt Putt]

I've been thinking about some sort of crawler to do odd jobs and clean out a small wood lot with. I'm a complete novice to crawlers--never even driven one. I was thinking of a 40 since I have all first numbered John Deeres. I would imagine I would get more good out of a dozer, rather than a loader.

A friend has told me of a 440 that is for sale. At this point I don't know any more about it that just that. He insists that the 40 was hard to keep the steering adjusted and working correctly--a problem that he says was corrected by the time the 440 came along.

I'd appreciate your thoughts about both of these crawlers. What were the strong features and what was not so good about them? What should I be watching out for in these 50+ year old machines?

Anything that you can offer to help me make a choice (or find a crawler, for that matter) would be sincerely appreciated.

Thanks ahead.

Putt Putt

[JD440ICD2006]

I cannot share much about the 40 C. I have 440s because they are the most upgraded and last of the two cylinder crawler models from JD.
Both of mine are 1959 which fit right in with my 730 D.
Lavoy has been through all of them and can tell you all of the differences.