My project rebuilding a 56' 420 w/6 way blade and ROPS

[notmeu]

Hello all and 1st off let me thank everyone for all of there input reguarding this fantastic website. I have used it many times for information while I rebuilt my crawler during the winter months. I bought this 1956 420 John Deere crawler in the fall of 2011 then it went in the barn and got completely torn apart to nothing and fixed, painted and put back together. And let me tell you there was alot of fixin! New upper idlers, bull gears, electronic ignition, one of the final drives was filled with grease because one of the seals would not hold oil, what a mess! and countless other smaller parts. But it is nice knowing you can still get new parts from JDeere. I also switches from 6v to 12volts, which I would recommend to anyone since the engine starts instantally. I'm going to run it for a couple years then get new drive sprockets and do the pins and bushings on the tracks unless I can find a good set of tracks(at the right price) to exchange with what I have. The 6 way blade works great on the Greenville steel car bull blade. It was designed by looking at other larger dozers and robbing ideas. I used a single 4" cylinder for the left/right tilt since there is next to no room on the left side of the crawler and a 3" for the up/down tilt. It all runs off of the factory 950 psi. 9 gallon per minute pump. Here it is when purchased.

And about 6 months later!

[johnHD]

nice work!

john

[notmeu]

Thanks John. That's as nice as it will ever look. There has been a few scratches added since the photos have been taken! Tom

[notmeu]

Does anyone out there have any good ideas on building some sort of roll over protection or at least some protection from a stray tree branch?

[Willyr]

Paul Buhler has what I would call typical on his avatar. Perhaps he can share a better photo of his crawler.

[Paul Buhler]

Hi Guys: Nice six way - I'm jealous. As to my FOPS canopy, I posted some pictures and comments on another forum thread, but can't find it. I'll put some pictures together and upload them to photobucket with links here in the next few days - I have a lot on my plate suddenly - all good, just busy. Notmeu - I got your PM; will follow up soon. Paul

[Paul Buhler]

Updated 8/29/15

Here's a link to photobucket pictures of my 420 projects. You'll have to flip through them to find what you need regarding the canopy. Paul

http://s460.photobucket.com/user/pbuhle ... t=3&page=1

[Paul Buhler]

Round 2: The angle iron at the rear connecting to the winch is 2x2x 3/8". The screen angle is 1 1/2 x1/1/2"x 3/16"
The tubing is 2" ID and 2 3/8" OD. The bar stock attaching the risers to the radiator protection is 1/2" x 2" by long enough to get two bolts through it.
The sheet metal is 1/8" and the whole structure is pitched to the rear with a little "raised eyebrow" in the front so rain goes to the back and sides rather than in your lap.

The rear mount has two vertical sleeves welded to the 2x2 angle stock that the canopy slips into. These are about 10" tall.

I backed into a tree last year and bent the angle iron, and rear of the canopy on one side. I think that having it in two pieces will allow me to straighten it more easily.
My canopy attaches to the top of my 8a winch. i think that if you don't have a winch, arms could be made that attach the angle iron cross piece to the draw bar crescent instead - I'd bolt it together rather than weld it for easy conversions or repairs.
I still hope to wire lights to my canopy running the wires through the risers and bolting the lights to the front underside of the "u" channel at some point.

Best regards. Paul

[Willyr]

My case crawler had vertical supports that came down from the canopy by the dash.

[notmeu]

Thanks a bunch for all of the photos Paul. I guess there is no excuse now for not doing a roll cage! Tom

[Paul Buhler]

Based on the pictures you shared, it looks like you have the skills to build a nice one. Don't forget to share pictures and your thought process with us. Good luck. Paul

[woodsman]

Wow. very nice workmanship. You've done exactly what I hope to do this winter to my 1010. Excellent job on the blade work. I bought a machine last year that has a 6 way and will swap it around when I do the tear down. Did you replace all bearings and seals while it was apart? Any trouble getting the right paint?
Regards,
Martin

[notmeu]

Thanks for the compliments on my rebuild. But yes I rebuilt/replaced all of the engine and final drive bearings and seals. There is complete gasket kits available for the motor. For the finals I got the old bearing numbers and crossed them over to new bearings that you can get at any local bearing shop. For the paint I used the SEM brand of rustshield paint with the hardner in JD green and yellow. I wanted to do the paint with this paint since the original paint was still holding on good in spots, and I figured it was lead based, but with the rustshield paint you do not use a primer. It can cover over almost anything.

[Ray III]

That is sweet. Wish I had a blade like that.

[Willyr]

Grin, I could build another.

the vid of my 6 way blade I built
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uz4sAynD2mo
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