Burned 450 What should I do?

[nlrwrangler]

I have been offered a 450 that burned. It burned almost 2 years ago and has sat since then. What is the value of a 450 that burned? I understand that condition warrants a WHOLE lot. If the machine is running and in good to fair shape what is the value of a 450. The running gear is said to be about 75% It is just a 450 no numbers after. I will get the serial number by the weekend.

Second how hard will it be to get it back in shape to use? The fire was mostly in the rear of the machine. The engine will turn over with a wrench so it is not locked up. I will try to get pics this weekend if not it will be the following weekend.

I assume all hydraulic hoses will have to be replaced. I assume a lot to maybe all of the electrical system will have to be replaced. I assume the fuel hoses will have to be replaced and I plan on looking at the hard lines after the injector pump. Will the seals in the hydraulic cylinders need to be replaced also? What about the spooling valve for the blade? How much more of the machine is hydraulic? What key things or parts should I look at near the burned area? the rear.


About 6 months pryor to the burn the brake bands had been tightened by a shop.

It does have a 6 way blade.

I did run the machine about a year before it burned. It has been on a small ranch for the past 15 years pushing trees and rebuilding gravel roads that are washed out by creeks.
That is about all that I know about the machine.

[jtrichard]

It weights about 7 ton see what it would bring sitting on a scale in your area and that is about the max its worth steering clutches a most likely froze up and who knows what else is wrong

[JWB Contracting]

I would buy this if it were close as the Dozer attachment has some value. Always need parts.

[Tigerhaze]

Others mentioned that the floor of the value is based on the scrap value; some attachments such as the blade and good undercarriage can increase value. However you are looking at a lot of time and work to fix up and it is possible that the parts you need will be difficult to find and pricey when you do over buying a 450 in better shape.

Why do you want to purchase a 450? if your answer is to make money by using it and flipping it later or to get in running condition quickly for an upcoming earthmoving project my advice would be to pass on it. However if you want a longer term rebuild project and the satisfaction of rescuing it from the grave without an expectation of getting your money back out of it then it might be OK as long as you get a good price on it.

[JWB Contracting]

Here is an example of what we just did with a few 350's.

Bought a 350C widepad Dozer with a 9550 hoe at auction. Installed the hoe on our 450C as the current one was getting fairly worn out.

Wrecked the dozer machine, installed the complete reverser and rearend in one of our 350 widepad loaders. Quicker and cheaper then rebuilding the original reverser as input and output shafts needed replacement.

Bought a 350B loader machine that needed some work. Clutch foot petal stuck, no electrical, injection pump leaking diesel in the oil. Nice original condition crawler. We removed the loader and installed the 6 way dozer. Turned our really nice and will be listed for sale shortly. Have sold 4 Deere crawlers so far this year and need to get some more in for wrecking and rebuilding.

Going to end up a free backhoe, near new widepad set and undercarriage, excellent motor and loader in the end that can be used or sold at a later date. We will use the reverser parts in a future rebuilt and have 2 final drives as well. This should more than cover any labour costs and build the pot for future purchases.

This is why you buy parts machines. This also transpired in less than a year.

[digitup2]

try to get it cheep if it was a burn victim that is fixable most of the time before you pull parts off take some photos and post them on here several years ago I got a D3 Hystat that was burnt I paid 3500 bucks for it I looked it over close and it got singed in a shop fire but not burned as they thought changing the paint to a smokie mess and frying the hydraulic hoses as well as ram seals all were replaced and rebuilt right .I painted it got a new dash on it I bought six thousand in parts and an other four thousand in repairs.When done I had a thirty thousand dollar dozer.They are worth more than that but the new owner saw it before I did things up so he knew what he was getting and it still works great it wasn't that bad just look it over close when you get it it could easily be a re builder .Digitup.