'73 - 450B Crawler/Loader/Hoe Restoration

[cordlesscarpenter]

Got the discos for the loader and backhoe swapped out just in time to get sideswiped by a thunderstorm. I did start up the machine and boy oh boy am I a happy happy camper! The engine started up normally and shut down normally and the hyd fluid is a normal temp! Everyone around me was telling me "don't worry too much about it, hyd pumps will put a big draw on the engine". I knew in my gut something wasn't right, which is why my test runs were always real short, just didn't have a good feeling about how things were running. But now, I feel SOOOOOO much better as everything sounds normal and operates normal... whew! This is HUGE HUGE HUGE for me if you can't tell.

I think the T-storm will pass quickly, if so, i'll back up to the hoe and give her another go... I can't wait to see the hoe go!

[cordlesscarpenter]

Got the backhoe fully mounted on the crawler and finally got to operate it! It was smooth sailing through full range of motion on all cylinders and the one leak I had stopped (for now anyways). My total hydraulic fluid capacity with the backhoe and loader is now up around 17-18 gallons

I still have a few more obstacles to hurdle which will be coming probably this weekend as it will be raining for the next 2 days:

- Steering clutch/brake adjustments (almost there), I made an adjustment today and it is better but not perfect yet

- H-L-R & engine clutch re-adjustment (with gauge plugged in and adjusting the stop nut)

- Swap the upper levers on the loader and add the new wavy spring washers

- Rehab the forks and the inside of the skid plate, then mount both

- Final paint of the bottom of the hoe and the very front of the loader where it touches the ground

- Alignment/tracking checks (shimming the idler side to side as well as shimming the idler from the front side of the track adjuster yoke)

- Finally mount the hood, exhaust and side shields

- Adjust valve tappets

- Have new hose(s) built for the 4-in-1 bucket (since I pinched the line yesterday cutting off flow)

- Check all fluid levels, give her a bath, grease EVERYTHING and that'll be all she wrote!

[Lavoy]

Then you are going to have to start on a new one!
Lavoy

[cordlesscarpenter]

Then you are going to have to start on a new one!
Lavoy

I do have an IH TD-8E (Charlotte) that needs some love in the paint department as she is one ugly mo-chine BUT she's a beast in the woods and I'll put her to work just like she is and maybe give her a new look down the road (I did tear her down and got her mechanically sound).

Honestly, even though I have 30 years of mechanical engineering (and actual mechanic) as a background, this build has taught me a LOT. The most important thing I have gained from the process is getting to know the machine intimately. Spending every day wrenching on a machine for 2 years really helps you to understand the machine and learn all of its strengths and weaknesses (which Deere no doubt has both). When you operate it, you know how it's suppose to sound, feel and smell... when you're crawling along, you know exactly what's happening from the moment air and fuel enter the engine, how the power is transmitted to the tracks and everything in between. When something goes wrong, you not only know exactly what the problem is, you know what it will take (time, parts, effort) to get it back in the dirt.

All that said, the build is coming to a close and I'm glad I went this route but it will soon be time for me to shift 100% focus to getting up to Montana and start the next huge adventure.

[cordlesscarpenter]

Today it stopped raining for the first time in 3 days and I was able to finally get the spring washers installed on the upper levers as well as swap both lever sets to their proper side. Only thing left to do on the loader is replace the two hard lines with hoses for the 4-in-1 bucket, make some proper bracketry for them and do some minor painting in places I couldn't reach before.

Also broke out the testing gauge and did the clutch / H-L-R adjustment hopefully for the last time. I haven't had a chance to test that properly but it does shift 1,2,3,4 gears fine so thats a good sign. It was shifting pretty hard between low and reverse before so hopefully that smooths out to the way it should be.

Gave her some grease too, not a ton since I'm going to be pressure washing it after I get the steering clutches and brakes adjusted properly but didn't want to run dry (mainly the hoe because I pre-greased all the loader components).

Probably won't get to the steering clutch / brake adjustment until it dries up a bit so I can use the hill I usually test clutches on, without just sliding down lol.

There's a little bit of light left so I'll be cleaning up the extra backhoe bucket pins I have. Tomorrow I will likely pull the big bucket that's on it now off and swap on a smaller one. Then clean the area and prep it for paint at the bucket attachment point because it was skipped on purpose during restoration of the hoe. The pins that are in the bucket hinge points won't even take grease, it's that bad.

Cheers!

[cordlesscarpenter]

Got the inside half of the skid plate painted today (not sure how this got missed)

Waiting for it to dry up a bit more I moved on to addressing the backhoe bucket... When I bought the machine, the backhoe came with 4 buckets and the widest one was mounted on it because the PO was digging a pond on his property. I don't need a huge bucket on there so I needed to step down. Upon further inspection of the other 3 buckets I found that the two smallest buckets are in pretty rough shape but the next to largest was in the best shape of them all. I grabbed that bucket and started beating out the pins on the mounted bucket. It soon became clear that I would spend the rest of my day wire wheeling.

I got all the wire wheeling done on the backhoe end of things as well as the bottom of the loader so all is ready for paint tomorrow.

My original plan was to put the forks on but have since changes direction and I'm going to put the 4-in-1 on the front. This will also allow me to properly measure for the correct length to make the new hoses for it.

[cordlesscarpenter]

Got the painting done

Backhoe buckets are swapped out and everything is put back together back there.

Pinned the 4-in-1 bucket on the front and got the hoses made up for it that run down the boom, just waiting for the QDs to come in so I can build out that part of it, make some brackets to hold it all in place and it'll be gtg.

The last major step is to get the steering clutches and brakes adjusted properly. I have done the "by the book" adjustment and it didn't do the trick, today I'll go to my hill so I know exactly where my clutch is engaging and tune it in from there.

I also need to check track alignment but I may wait until I get to Montana to do that.

[cordlesscarpenter]

Took a second to come inside and cool off before steering clutch/brakes testing.

This morning was spent behind a welding hood fabricating a one off square hitch pin to hold the backhoe boom up tight to the operator. I found a a piece of steel that looked like an old school Wile-E-Coyote magnet only it was just steel. cut the end off one leg and put it sideways on a 5" piece of 1" square PTO stock and welded it down, then took the rest, which resembles a candy cane and welded the long leg to the top of that. It looks funny but it works better than any other pin for sure and I get the satisfaction of having made it myself.

Ok, so all the adjustments have been made using a different interpretation of the tech manual's procedure and it's all set for testing, just gotta take it over to the hill and give her a whirl... crossing my fingers.

Ok, looks like I didn't hit "submit... so here are the results

Both left and right steering clutches are working fabulously! I need to make a small adjustment to the right clutch and back the brakes off one turn at a time (they are engaging too early). I went to the bottom of a hill, put it in 2nd H and started crawling up, I pulled on both sticks and it started rolling rolling backwards . The brakes were engaging soon after (too soon), only about an inch of "clutch only" once I started rolling before the brakes would stop me in my tracks (pun ). Because the brakes are coming on early, I don't think it is allowing the clutches to fully disengage.

Tested out the hoe too and she can sure dig a hole... very happy with the hoe!

[Stan Disbrow]

Hi,

Wait! What? It moves? It digs? Sumpin wrong here! These projects never turn out like this!

Party Time!

Whoot!

Stan

[cordlesscarpenter]

Hi,

Wait! What? It moves? It digs? Sumpin wrong here! These projects never turn out like this!

Party Time!

Whoot!

Stan

I'm sure I didn't get the steering perfect but it's way better than my old 450 straight by a country mile. The levers are matched, clutches disengage and the brakes lock up at towards the end of the pull, can't ask for more than that out of dry clutches. It seems to steer better (easier) at higher speeds, my 450 straight wouldn't turn at all unless you were in 1st gear and sometimes 2L. I say it's not not perfect but I don't know what one felt like off the factory floor in 1973 either so I have nothing to compare it to. I feel I've just gotten use to my TD-8E with wet clutches. It's way better than my old 450 straight but not as nice as my TD-8E, so I figure it's about as perfect as I'm gonna get it. Buttoned up the compartments and checked it off the list.

[cordlesscarpenter]

Next up is valve tappet adjustment which I was gonna do last night but because of where I'm parked, I'll need to wait until it stops raining. I parked sideways under the awning but the hoe limits me on how far I can pull in which leaved my bucket still under the awning and of course the loader needs to be raised with maintenance stanchions in place to do the adjustment. Plus it was just me and since I have to watch for TDC on the valve train while turning the engine over, the only way I know how to do that solo is by rolling the flywheel with a screwdriver through the hole a few teeth at a time until the hole rolls around. Anyways, longer process that way and not enough dry daylight.

How have you guys rolled over the engine when doing this? During the underhaul I did on my old 450 I rolled the engine with the hyd pump drive plate that's mounted on the crank pulley but with the grill on it's harder to get to and I'm assuming I won't be able to roll an assembled engine anyways (too much compression)?

*** Also, my backhoe started leaking again (not profusely yet but not just a drip either). Maybe it was the pressure of actually digging that caused it to leak by? It looks to be coming from the top of one of the valves in the middle of the manifold. Does anyone have experience with re-building these? I imagine disconnecting the shaft from the bottom of the valve and pulling the shaft down and out and replacing o-rings, could it really be that easy? I'll have to see if there is anything in the book, just figured I'd ask and see if there is any experience to gleam from you guys.

~ Darrell

[cordlesscarpenter]

Took a lot more effort than expected but finally got all the parts to get the 4-in-1 bucket plumbed up from the operator to the bucket, with quick couplers at the bucket. Got it all plumbed up just the way I want it, just need to literally bang out some well fitting brackets to hold everything in place so I don't run into the same problem I had with the hard lines (kinking it with the lower lever arms). Ran out of daylight just as I finished up connections so will test it out in the morning, likely after making the brackets so I can fully test it all out.

Also picked up a set of mechanical gauges from NAPA to replace the original dummy gauges I tried to save. I tried to live with the dummy gaugesbecause they were "original" but just can't do it anymore. The pressure gauge still doesn't work properly, the temp gauge is a complete mystery as to what it's doing because it is set for whatever temp thermostat was in the machine from the factory (not necessarily matched to the new thermostat I put in, what I mean is I don't know what the actual temp is at the dividing line between green and red). At least now I'll have peace of mind knowing the exact status of the engine.

Hope to get all that done tomorrow but may divert to do valve tappets, we'll see.

[Stan Disbrow]

Hi,

On turning the engine over by hand, I use the drive gear tool. Now, which one of those does your engine require? Deere has had several over the years. Anyway, one sticks it in the hole and uses a ratchet to crank it and a pin in the small hole to push into the hole in the flywheel for TDC. That holds it. Just remember to remove it when you are done!

Stan

[cordlesscarpenter]

Hi,

On turning the engine over by hand, I use the drive gear tool. Now, which one of those does your engine require? Deere has had several over the years. Anyway, one sticks it in the hole and uses a ratchet to crank it and a pin in the small hole to push into the hole in the flywheel for TDC. That holds it. Just remember to remove it when you are done!

Stan

Ha, drive gear tool, never knew there was such a thing. Thanks

After looking it up, I see that JD281A is the "proper" tool for the job but I don't have one. Although it would likely come in real handy I'll have to stick with the screwdriver for now after seeing the price tag. Would be nice if someone made an aftermarket version for $20. At least now I know such a thing exist which is better than I was doing an hour ago

[B Town]

I may be mistaken, but I believe the tool is the same tool used for 5.9 Cummins. There are many inexpensive aftermarket tools for this available online.