New to crawlers, undercarraige questions?

[Lavoy]

No 350 with pedal steer, power steering was an option on straight and B models, standard so to speak on C and later.
$10,000 better bring with it a lot of work. I sold a late straight years ago for $9,500 with all new undercarriage, steering clutch, and rebuilt blade in addition to some incidentals.
There is a 350 listed not far from me for $12,500, owner has receipts for $21,000 in work in the last year or so.
If you don't over pay, yes they hold their value. Even if you over pay, deduct the value of the work the machine does for you, and then recalculate. Everyone wants to do a million dollars worth of work with a $X value machine, and then get every dollar back out of it in spite of the dollars it saved or made them.
Lavoy

[Stan Disbrow]

Hi,

No, 350s are stick steer. There are four series, what we call 'straight' as in no following letter, thru D. The JD350 and JD350B have dry steering clutches. The JD350C and JD350D have wet steering clutches. They are all 3-cylinder engines. Early ones came in gas or diesel. Later on, just diesel.

If you keep the machine in a shed, the dry steering clutches don't have the rusting issues you hear about a lot. I mention this, since straights and B's go for a lot less money than C's and D's. Nice later ones sell for $20-30k.

To put that in perspective, Deere had a remanufacture program not so long ago. You had to have a C or a D, then ship it back to Dubuque along with $38k They would disassemble it to use all the good parts, then send you back an essentially new machine made from good used and brand new bits.

When thinking price, read my tag line. You get to pay one way or the other!

As far as where to look, eBay.actually isn't a bad place. And, don't forget Yellow Deere dealers. They know who has what where.

Stan

[Tigerhaze]

There are a number of online and local consignment auctions that I keep an eye on for crawlers- sometimes I am nice and post them up on the "Little Shop O Deeres" part of this board if they are something I am not interested in or too far away for me

[egeor]

A good place to look in your area would be the Lancaster Farmer weekly paper. They have many listings of equipment for sale along with listings for most of the auctions in Pa. and the North East.
But keep in mind good machines are few and far between.
I was looking for a 350c loader for 3 1/2 years before I found one that did not need more work than I wanted to put into it.
The one I found was from Valley Ag and Lawn just north of your area.

[s281jim]

Bought a dozer today! The family friend and I looked at 3 over the past few weeks, and this was the nicest we found. Pins and bushings were turned this summer along with new drive sprockets. It fired right up, idled nice on a 28 degree day. He worked the piss out of it and couldn't get the reverser to slip, so I bought it. Blade has some slop to it, but I'm told that it is good for it's age. I measured 5 pins in the track chain and it came up 25-1/8" so it should last me forever. Thanks for all your advice.

One interesting note, it's turbocharged. I 'm not sure if it's a transplanted 219 from a D, or if it is the add-on kit I've heard mention of. Either way, the crawler was too nice to pass on.[/img]