JD 420C - New to me

[Kberg5667]

Hello Folks,

I've just acquired a project, a friend gave me (with some conditions) a 1957 JD 420C that was his original project, alas he found a different project and is no longer fully invested in this one, The condition is I can have it for free but I can't sell it, which I am okay with. I have owned and worked on some older IH farm equipment in the past, I've never owned a Deere to be honest. This thing does need a considerable amount of work. We are in Northern Ontario, Canada close to Sudbury. This machine sat outside with a can over the muffler for the better part of a decade. I know that this means it will likely need a complete restoration, everything appears to "be there". We removed the plugs and noticed one cylinder is fine the other has some rust in the top end. I've been utilizing YouTube to look up the issues.
It also won't move, by that I mean the tracks won't move. I know for certain that one steering lever, forgive me if I don't know the technical term, is frozen in place. I deduced that this means the clutch on that side is likely frozen. Instead of dragging it from the bush to its current resting place, my friend placed logs underneath of it and gently pulled it along the ground with his tractor to where it rests right now. The tracks are a bit worn, the idlers and drive wheels seem like the have seen better days as well. I don't mind spending some time or money on this crawler both to possibly save a useful antique and also to satisfy my need to tinker.
My plan with the old girl? I would like to see it useful again, I will restore it to the best of our ability, we do have machining knowledge and lathes/mills available if we need to machine parts for it. But that being said we want this machine to be useful and to be used. Whether that is for trail maintenance or property maintenance. Its a great size and I have a soft spot for these old pieces of equipment.
The first thing we plan on doing (once the ice melts a bit more) is trying to free up that clutch, and hopefully trying to get it to move at least by pushing/pulling with a tractor. If it can move at least it will be slightly easier to load up onto a trailer and make it back to my place.
Wish me luck gents, I am humble and willing to learn. I'm hoping that I can utilize this forum to garnish some knowledge and maybe vent some frustration haha. This is probably the largest project that I've ever taken on, I'm excited. I'll try to post updates as I can. Thanks.

[Lavoy]

Welcome to the club, have fun.
Lavoy

[Canuck 420c]

Welcome to the forum from a fellow Ontarian.Any pictures of your crawler?

[Kberg5667]

I should have some better detailed pictures up by the weekend, in some form or another. I've been busy and haven't been out to the property in a while, but I'm hoping to do some work on it this weekend if the weather is nice.

[dtoots1]

Be sure to read all info in posts regarding 420c...mine shows under 420cPics

Be aware..main bearings are really rare and hard to find..if any...i am currently looking for them...just missed a set..
best i can tell you on the tracks....get the tranny in neutral and simply drag it...the tracks should move when in neutral. if dozer or loader...chain up somehow so can move to location/load

[Canuck 420c]

420c production figures

viewtopic.php?f=2&t=35&p=81768#p81768