1970 JD 350C transmission gear issues

[Alaskanmutt]

I am looking at a 350C that the owner says will only move in 4th gear. It will shift into 1st, 2nd and 3rd but will not move. Reverse works in 4th also. Seems to start and run good, under carriage looks fair.

I have rebuilt Muncie manual transmissions and Ford truck trans, multiple engines and work on farm equipment. But never a dozer.

Any clues from the gurus?

[LeonardL]

It could be a broken shift fork or some issue with the shifter. Worse case scenario is all three of the other gears are shot. The 350 transmission is not hard to work on, it's just hard to get to. If the guy will let you, I would pull the top off of the transmission and see what it has going on.

[Alaskanmutt]

I will check if he will. For the trans, pull moter and front of dozer? Is it before the reverser?

[LeonardL]

Unfortunately no, the reverser is first behind the motor. The transmission has to come out from the back. Which means you have to remove everything attached to it first. Break the tracks, remove the final drives, remove the clutch housings and then pull the tranny out the back. The transmission itself is relatively easy to take apart and fix once you get there. If you have any mechanical experience at all then you can rebuild one without any issue. It's just labor intensive to get the mechanism out to where you can work on it.