New To JD crawlers and the new proud owner of a 1957 420c

[JimmyFunk]

I would like to say hello to everyone. My name is Jimmy Funk and I am 25 years old and live in Ohio. My family has always been fans of John Deere's and we have been collecting for the past 25-30 years. For the last few years of my grandfather’s life he always talked about buying an old JD crawler and he never got around to it before he passed. I have been collecting tractors since I have been about ten and at the age of 25 I finally decided to make my grandfathers wish come true. I looked at crawlers off and on for about a year. As well as visited this site and ytmag to get info on crawlers. I found a crawler about a month ago in New York. The man that hadn’t seemed like a very good guy and we struck a deal on it... I picked it up the last weekend and it is now home in Ohio. I am very happy and love our little crawler. When I brought it home my father and I took it behind our shop and pushed a little dirt with it. It runs good and works well. My dad and I both had huge smiles on our faces as we operated it. The man I bought it off of was a mechanic and rebuilt the bottom end of the motor and the steering clutches. He had receipts for parts and the boxes the parts came in so I would have that info if I ever needed it. He also gave me two manuals for it. I have 2000k in the crawler and plan to do a tune up and paint job on it. I have looked threw the books I have but they are both repair manuals not an owners manual so I have a few questions. I am new to these crawlers so I am sure I will be asking for help a lot. Our collection only consisted of tractors till now.. But I Think I caught the crawler bug after driving it… Also I only plan on using my crawler to grade/clear trails in our woods, and push some brush at our property. I look forward to talking to all of you… I can upload pictures if this will help also..
#1- I know the motor takes 5 quarts of oil, is there anything special that you guys run in these?
#2- What oil should go in my transmission? How much?
#3- What oil should go in my reverser? How much?
#4 -Any other fluids I should change?
#5 Any other adjustments I should make before I use it?

[Lavoy]

Welcome to the board, welcome to the wonderful world of crawlers.
I run a good grade of multi-weight it the engine, unless it is rebuilt, than I run exclusively Mobil 1.
Trans is gear lube, 80W-90.
If you have a 57 420, reverser is fed by the trans, you can't add or change.
On any new crawler I bring in, I change every fluid every time with the possible exception of anti-freeze.
Owners manuals are relatively worthless, same as I & T service manuals. Get a factory parts and service manual, only way to go, owners manual only if you find one cheap.
A word about paint, fix every problem you know of and then some prior to paint, or you will be loathe to ever put a wrench to it again.
Lavoy