350b reverser

[Mxzfx4]

Hi all,
I have a 1974 350b with reverser problems. I have the reverser out of the machine. My question is where’s the best place to get it repaired? John Deere yellow dealership? I know that will be expensive. I have a service manual but don’t feel confident enough to rebuild it. I have a good hydraulic shop that rebuilds all kinds of related items. Haven’t checked with them yet to see if they’d even touch it. I’m in CT if anyone knows anywhere in the northeast that’s reputable.
Thanks, Ryan

[DavidG]

I was in the same situation and was able to find a retired tractor/dozer mechanic that still did a little work on the side. Tool me a long time to find the guy and almost as long to finally get it fixed. Replacing hoses and full fluid/filter change this weekend and it should be running great again.

Ask around at some smaller companies that do excavation and see if they have a smaller shop they use. Also call some injector/pump repair shops. They might know someone. I also see a few guys with a service truck on Facebook marketplace and Craigslist offering tractor and heavy equipment repair.

Do you have any idea what is wrong with your reverser? I had a bearing fail on the end of the reverser shaft and pieces of bearing locked up the reverse clutch. Had to get a new reverser shaft as it was damaged trying to remove the bearing race.

[Clark]

I had same issue when i had my reverser apart. If you need to remove a bearing nock the rollers out the. Run a bead of weld on the old bearing . It will expand it enough it will come off easy. Old timervtought me that

[LeonardL]

Just to give a reason why you can ruin the shaft... most people don't remove the lube plug that is threaded into the end of that shaft. They put a puller and bearing splitter on and then push against that plug. Which is forced inside the shaft which causes the shaft to swell or swedge causing the bearing to be even tighter. The more pressure that is applied the more you are swedging the end of the shaft.

So... remove the plug and put a shaft protector between the puller screw and the end of the shaft and they come right off. That is of course they haven't spun and welded themselves to the shaft. Which is usually the case. If they look blue from heat then you're done. It's shaft time!!

It is these bearings that fail the most on these 350 reversers. Deere has changed the bearing a couple of times over the years trying to defeat this common failure. What seems to be the biggest issue rather than the bearing itself is the reverser will get low on fluid for whatever reason. Either lack of maintenance or a leak of some sort causing the reverser to be low on fluid. It is this bearing that starves for lubrication first. Thus all the failures.

Another cause for this bearing to fail is if someone has attempted an overhaul and they didn't get the end play right. You're only allowed .002 to .004 thousandths end play. Any more than that means it is just a matter of time for the bearing to fail.

A very good clue for an intermediate shaft bearing that is getting ready to fail is a leaking front seal which is also the pump seal. If that seal starts leaking then I always suspect this bearing as the issue.

What happens is the bearing will wear either from lack of lubrication or the end play is too much. Then the intermediate shaft starts to wobble or vibrate which causes the input shaft to do the same thing. One begets the other. This loose motion wears the seal to the point it will leak. If you don't catch it then the bearing will fail, usually catastrophically. Sometimes it will also take out the input shaft as well.

[Clark]

I am a long time heavy equipment operator and mechanic (retired). I found in all the equipment i have owned when it comes to hydraulic reverser and power shift dozers when working on hills i put a extra gallon of fluid in transmission and or reverser. Not saying it the proper thing to do but on for me never had a failure. Only failures i have had are in pre owned equipment that never had proper maintenance.

[LeonardL]

I agree that adding a little more fluid in machines working in steep conditions is a good thing to do. The 350s we had were used as fire suppression crawlers and were always on an Ozark hill that was as steep as a mules nose!! The sump on a 350 reverser is basically in the middle of the unit. They only hold about 2-1/2 gallons of fluid anyway so it didn't take much steep terrain for them to starve for fluid. Even if it was momentary it would be enough to start the damage. We would add about a half gallon extra to these machines and it seemed to help. The problem with a 350 reverser is when they get to operating temperature they will get rid of a lot of the extra fluid by blowing it out the vent in the filler cap / dipstick. Getting everyone onboard to maintain this was also a big challenge. The ones in charge of everything didn't always agree to this either. The key to adding a little extra is to remember moderation. Don't add too much or over fill things because you could cause other issues by doing so.

[Clark]

I thought the plug in the end of the shaft because the shaft is bored for the pressure fluid to the bearings and clutch disc ?. I replaced that bearing never removing the plug. I had my reverser apart because of the end play was .015. causing a rattle in the reverser and the flywheel isolator. but found the isolator was in bad shape and the cost of fixing it was too far out there for me. So I came up with my own fix for around 400 bucks. The reverser still has a little rattle but its from the counter shaft gears fitting lose on the splines. Now if I can get the reverse intermediate slipping issue fixed Ill be happy. If I had it to do again I would never have bought a 350B. Poorly designed Isolator and reverser. But it is a 1974 and still going!