Hi,
I was going to post a l-o-n-g reply on the steps to correct this and other problems once-and-for-all. I decided not to spend the time, though.
It would have started with a 420c and ended with everything upgraded such that you wound up with a JD350C at the end, following the path that Deere took to get their themselves. Only, I wasn't going to actually *say* the end result was a JD350C and let y'all figger that one out on your own.
Yes, the best thing with any crawler is to store it under cover, and up on boards or logs or something like that. There's just too many parts on a crawler that don't like exposure to water.
Oh, and the wood under the tracks is to keep moisture, in the form of humidity, from collecting under the pads over time and (a) rusting pins and bushings along the ground and (b) sticking the whole machinne fast as soon as the temperature hits 31 degrees F.
Stan