New member. 77 JD350C

[Lavoy]

If you have any serious reservations about it, sell it now, not later. If it breaks, you are selling a dead crawler which sometimes means scrap value.
Lavoy

[Eurotrash]

Kinda what i was thinking. Just got off the phone with my uncle who manages the lot for an auction co and he was saying 4-6k running/turning. At that point i can get out alittle money ahead. Its just shitty to think that all the major componants are in good shape its all the smaller stuff in the undercarriage that suck. Im thinking this is indicative of the lower hours but lack of maintance. I dont think all of this happened simply because it sat. The top idler has def been run while seized for a long time.

After resurrecting this old girl its disheartening to think about getting rid of it. Ive become attached. Especially when right now its just a matter of a few grand worth of parts and a seal. I just dont have the cash to put into it now. I'd rather see it go to someone who will fix it and use it than have it sit any longer. Would be one thing if i had the shop space to pull it apart and rebuild it slowly. Ive only got one bay though and alot of vehicals and constant house projects. Cant have a piece of machinery in it down for what would prob turn into years by the time ive got everything bought and rebuilt.

[Stan Disbrow]

Hi,

Makes me sad to think about a nice machine being run that way. Even sadder that it is way too far away for me to get it and straighten it out. The JD350 is actually my favorite. Just enough bigger than the 420, and just enough smaller that the 450, to match up with my needs for a dozer.

Stan

[Eurotrash]

Ill need a skidsteer to shape and fine tune everything anyways so ill prob just wind up trading for one at this point. I used it for a while yesterday and it did pretty well. The dirt is pretty soft and the heaviest duty its doing is pushing trees and the ocasional rotted stump. There is very little rock in my soil. Ill be finishing the track at least. Ive got the button head adaptor on order so we'll see how everything responds to grease then go from there.

[Stan Disbrow]

Ill need a skidsteer to shape and fine tune everything anyways so ill prob just wind up trading for one at this point. I used it for a while yesterday and it did pretty well. The dirt is pretty soft and the heaviest duty its doing is pushing trees and the ocasional rotted stump. There is very little rock in my soil. Ill be finishing the track at least. Ive got the button head adaptor on order so we'll see how everything responds to grease then go from there.

Hi,

I now realize that you might be thinking I was referring to your running it to make your paths. That is not what I was thinking earlier.

I was thinking of how it was used by those folks before they passed their overtasked and under maintained machine on.

Very sad, but all too common. In the For What It Is Worth department, I have seen a lot of such machines with a lot more wrong with them for sale for a lot of money.

I have learned to translate 'Good U/C' into 'Good for Scrap U/C'....

And, I have seen *nothing* compared to many other folks on this board.

Oh, and by all means. Pump grease in everywhere you can. It can only help and not hurt at this point. The machine might keel over from a cardiac, though, in shock over that rare substance it is seeing....

Stan

[JWB Contracting]

Before doing any more work I would recommend taking a large crowbar and checking for movement on the sprockets. The sprockets should not be missaligned. Any movement will indicate bad final bearings and you should stop using it immediately. I get 1,500 for a complete 350C final drive.

If your bearings are good then it is the outboard seal leaking. Can be changed by splitting the track, removing the sprocket and bottom final drive cap and inside cap.

If your sprockets are missaligned and your final drive bearings are good, then you have frame or crossmember issues. Something is broke or bent. Again stop before it craters.

We fix a few of these project crawlers every year, mostly takes lots of hard labour and a good parts supply.

Do a little more checking before you work your machine any more.

[Eurotrash]

I grabbed a rock bar and couldnt get any movement from the sprockets. Its off to the inboard side on both idler and sprocket. I think its just that the rollers are all in terrible shape.

[Eurotrash]

Ive pretty much finished cutting the track and im pretty happy with the little machine. Dispite its faults it hasnt missed a beat and aside from not being able to get the bigger trees/stumps out of the way, its been able to push all the dirt ive needed it to. Along with the smaller trees and under brush. Im going to look at a jd125 this weekend and if all goes well ive worked out for the guy to haul it to me. Its prob tech worth alittle less but this little dozer has alot of little issues that stem from sitting so long. It appears more and more that the previous owner used it just to use it. Im basicly at the same point. I really dont have alot more to do with the dozer. Ive got a ton of work i can do with the skid steer and the neighbors came in super handy for unloading things and moving things around the property.

On to some of the work done.

This was the mess im not fond of dealing with. Viney maples love to get wrapped around everything and just generally a mess.



Now on to the dirt work.

[Eurotrash]

Well it was fun and def a big learning experience. This sites been a super valuable resource and im sure this wont be my last dozer. On to the next adventure. Thanks again gents