New member and new owner of a 56? 420 crawler

Lu47Dan · Post by **Lu47Dan** » Fri Feb 22, 2008 10:38 pm

The Blade we think was made for the local John Deere Dealers by Greenville Steel Car . The blades were fitted to the crawler at the dealerships . That would mean that this crawler was originally JD green in color . So green it is . Greenville Steel Car built railroad cars and was bought out by Trinity Industries , they closed the plant and there is no way to see if this information is correct . The blade does angle to the left and right my means of a toggle or brace which came with it . I will post some pictures of it once I get the carburetor rebuild and the throttle shaft lever reattached tomorrow morning . Dan

Here are the pictures of the Blade and angle mechanism

Post by **Lavoy** » Sun Feb 24, 2008 6:08 pm

Greenville built loaders for the crawlers as well, I have seen many of them. There were affiliated with ATECO at one time as well.
Lavoy

Ray III · Post by **Ray III** » Sun Feb 24, 2008 6:16 pm

Dan, don't buy a steering lever yet, I have one to get rid of but I don't remember which side it is. I got it from eBay to replace mine but it was wrong because mine has the later offset levers, so I just took the handle off it and fixed mine. You can have it for the cost of shipping and some, Lavoy has reproduction handles I think.

edit: It's in my dad's shop, I'll check tomorrow or Tuesday.

Looks like a strong blade, though I like having the tilt to dig drainage.

Lu47Dan · Post by **Lu47Dan** » Sun Feb 24, 2008 7:37 pm

Thanks , Ray .
Eventually I am going to build a whole new blade and pushbeam assembly for this crawler . It will be a hydraulic six way blade . I have a few ideas floating around in my head to start with and have seen some other guys versions of one . I am not going to hack the existing set up so the crawler can be put back to original .
Today I managed to get the pan off the broken final drive , I got six bolts out with a assortment of sockets and wrenches , two had their heads torched off

. The pan came of in two pieces , the people who ruined the final drive had welded the pan back together with stainless rod , while it was on the final drive , I am wondering what else they missed with in the final

. The crawler now can be moved under it's own power but needs to be nudged with the blade on the Super-H to get it steered where you want it to go .
As far as the bull gear it still looks good , will have to get the right side blocked up and inspect the teeth for damage . The pinion is the 16 tooth pinion and it is trashed managed to get it out threw the outer bearing cap mounting hole . The guy I bought it off of only had 14 tooth pinion gears , so I am on the hunt for one of them . Here is what is left of the pinion gear .

Leaked oil as fast as you could pour it in I bet

I wonder if this had anything to do with it running rich ?

Dan

Ray III · Post by **Ray III** » Thu Mar 06, 2008 7:02 pm

Almost forgot about the steering lever, I have a part number M1754T, check the one on your broken lever.

Post by **Lavoy** » Thu Mar 06, 2008 8:42 pm

I have new pinion gears and bottom covers on hand.
Lavoy

Lu47Dan · Post by **Lu47Dan** » Thu Mar 06, 2008 11:12 pm

Ray , I will check for the part number once we get a break in the weather , might be tomorrow or Sunday .
Lavoy , Will get a email to you once I have the Lombardini diesel engine up and running again , it is for one of my ongoing projects and it is sucking all my equipment money up right now

. As for the bottom covers will be needing maybe two . I need to check the left side for damage also .
I have found a good final drive case , will also need a 63 tooth bull gear , and the assorted sundry items to rebuild it .
Thanks guys . Dan

Post by **Lavoy** » Thu Mar 06, 2008 11:21 pm

Dan,
I have bearing kits and bull gears on hand too, let me know when you're ready.
Lavoy

Lu47Dan · Post by **Lu47Dan** » Thu Mar 13, 2008 5:20 pm

Ray , the steering clutch lever part number I need is M-1755 , for the left side track . You said something about offset levers , the levers on this crawler come down then angle back to the steering clutch housing , is that what you are talking about ? . Thanks anyway for the offer . Dan

Ray III · Post by **Ray III** » Sun Mar 16, 2008 9:47 pm

The later 420s have levers to the left of the operator, where the left side lever is straight and the right side lever has a big offset. I like it because it's out of the way of the shifter and is comfortable to steer with the left hand while using the right to shift and control the blade.

But I bought one meant for the earlier 420s by accident because I thought only the 40s had the centered steering levers. I must have a right side one, I thought it was left side for sure...

JD56420C · Post by **JD56420C** » Wed Mar 19, 2008 10:12 am

Dan, I have the same blade with the angle wedge. It is not a J D but some type of after market. The wedge angles two different settings to the left or to the right. The blade and fram is very strong compared to some I see. I recently posted pics of mine about two months ago or so don't know if You can find it but it is the identical blade. Good luck George

Save The Old Steel

JD56420C · Post by **JD56420C** » Thu Mar 20, 2008 8:43 am

Dan, I have the exact blade and wedge for angling left or right two different settings. It is not a JD made but some after market can't find a name anywhere. Anyway it is one of the strongest blades and fram I have seen. A few months ago I posted some pics of the blade. Good luck George

Save The Old Steel

Lu47Dan · Post by **Lu47Dan** » Thu Mar 20, 2008 1:07 pm

George , The person I bought the crawler off of is considered very knowledgeable on these crawlers around here and is where the information on the blade I posted came from , I like the blade and it will be the basis for the new power six way blade that I intend to build for the dozer . Neighbor already has some work for the crawler to do this summer . He has a A-C HD-6 crawler loader but it won't do what he needs done , mostly cleaning the shallow drainage ditches around the edges of his fields against the fence rows . He lets me cut wood on his property , so I guess I can get them cleaned up for him

. Dan

JD56420C · Post by **JD56420C** » Fri Mar 21, 2008 10:52 am

Dan, that sounds like it would be much more versitle, but I did some work not much but was able to see that You can cut left or right to leave a swale with the manual angles. Also You mentioned color it is and was possibly produced as a Yellow Industrial model. My 420 is also yellow and I went back and forth tring to figure out why. Well, thats the way it was built for the highways and other industries. It is still the same machine under any color. George

Save The Old Steel

Lu47Dan · Post by **Lu47Dan** » Thu May 22, 2008 2:29 pm

Pictures of the latest parts.

I know it is the older style , but it was the only one I could find locally . I was assured it would fit .

Left side fender , on Photobucket the image is right but here it is laying on it's side

Right side fender .
Both fenders were free

Dan

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