What 350 or 450 for rebuild

[milkie62]

I am looking for an older 350 or 450 preferably with 6 way blade and maybe gas engine.Are parts still plentiful out there ? I am only using it on my property to clear logging roads and haul logs.I would like to rebuild parts of it yearly so eventually I would have a dependable machine.What would an average cost of the older machines go for ?

[pdmech08]

I would say price somewhat depends on your location. In our area (NY) prices range from $1500-$2000 on up to $5000-$6000 for the 350's and up to $15000 or so for the 450's. This is of course depending on year and condition. Beware of those machines. Although not a bad machine overall, they do have common issues to look out for. Such as broken clutch housing bolts, broken frame rails and worn out front hard bar bolt holes just to name a few. While all of these problems can be fixed, it can become costly to do it properly. We have done many of them over the years and most parts are readily available.

[jdemaris]

I am looking for an older 350 or 450 preferably with 6 way blade and maybe gas engine.Are parts still plentiful out there ?

Here in New York, I rarely ever see older 350 or 450 dozers sell for less than $4000 if they run and push dirt - regardless of how much wear they have. I see crawler-loaders go for less. Junkers in non-running condition - often in the $2000 price ranges. Same older machines - fixed up a bit at dealers - often priced at over $10,000. I just recently saw a first-year 450 with a 6-way blade, in average/usuable condition - at a dealer -with a $14,000 asking price. That seems rediculous to me.

A few cautions. 350s often have major problems that CANNOT be fixed - not from an economical viewpoint. Always check mating area where the reverser case goes against the transmission case (if it has a reverser). They are held together by two bolts on the bottom, and two nuts/studs on top. The bottom bolts rarely get tightened properly, they come loose, the two cases shuck against each other, and get ruined. When new, there were tight-fitting alignment dowels between the two cases that kept the splined shafts perfectly in-line. Once worn, the shafts run out-of-line and will keep wearing out and there is NO fix -unless you own a large machine shop. 30 years ago, we had a place we could send reverser and trans. cases to - and have them re-aligned with with oversize locating dowells installed. Big equipment is needed to do this - and even then, it was very expensive. Now? Forget it.

I've looked a lot of 350s for sale over the years - and it's rare to find one that does NOT have this problem, so check closely. Many - get patched up - but not fixed right and will not last.

[dale]

Must have missed that tip somewhere. Any other good ones I should know?

Thanks,
Dale