JD350D dozer current ballpark value

[Stan Disbrow]

Hi,

So, to the guys here who do real work with such machines on a daily basis....

As opposed to guys like me who use one maybe two hours every other week....

What is the current value of a JD350D with 6-way dozer in decent shape?

I am giving up shopping for the straight 350s and the 350Bs that I know fairly well and going to shop for the end of the line where I might actually find one with a 75% u/c. You know, where that figure represents actual wear and not the percentage of turns it can make without a track trying to come off.

I looked at a B the other day with 90% u/c. It might have taken one more grease pump in each adjuster before the piston fell out. Idlers way out in front. Yet the tracks both looked like models of the Cyclone roller coaster. Yeah. 90%. Right. As in the rails flop off nine out of ten times you try to drive straight!

The rest of the machine was in lousy shape by comparison. But, only $5k Cheep!!

So. Y'all know what I mean here. Living up to my tag line and wish to pay the freight up front rather than later on.

But, I need to know what to pay in reality as opposed to someone's pipe dream.

Stan

[CuttingEdge]

I paid $10,000 for a 1988 JD 350D with six way blade with 100% rebuilt undercarriage with NO arch or winch with 3300 hours on it. The machine had very few welds on it and overall was in very good shape with no leaks. A few annoyances are worn pins in the blade, and a sloppy blade lever, but that was because the original owner was a contractor who put in subdivision roads which accounts for excessive wear on the blade, but no overall abuse (it pushed gravel).

HOWEVER, I bought it from a family friend and paid cash.

I have seen a lot of similar dozers in that condition and that year for around $12,000-15,000. I have 4 or 5 people ask me "how much did you pay for that dozer, $15,000", which kind of substantiates what I say here.

Did I get a great deal? I don't think so. I think it was a fair deal, but not a great one. A person that could get one for $5000-7000 would be getting a better deal I think.

[Stan Disbrow]

Hi,

Sounds about like what I was thinking. In the range of $15k for a truly decent one. Then, too, a few years back I was looking into the JD ReLife program and it was over $30k for one, and you had to have a C or D to ship back. But, that got one a brand-new machine with your serial number on it.

Stan

[CuttingEdge]

Dare I say it...I was looking at a Cat D3 and was surprised that they still made that model, but its size is kind of misleading. At 80 HP, it is twice the size of my 350D which for me, is a good size for the logging I do. (Small scale and my own woodlot). It is scary to think that today, to get a small dozer you must go with no-name brands, and to get ones with 3 point hitches and pto's...Chinese models. I feel left out, and yet Caterpillar is laying off employees all over the place because of a lack of sales and you cannot help but wonder if their decision to leave the smaller sized markets has something to do with that?

I also think the rebuild program you speak of is in some ways has the same problem PondHogVT and Lavoy run into. They rebuild their crawlers to such high standards that it is hard for them to get the price they really need to justify their rebuilding efforts. They just can't let stuff go because they are not hard wired that way, yet they are competing in a market full of cheap dozers that are just that...cheap.

I was tempted to buy a $3500 350B loader crawler, and while keeping a few thousand in my pocket was tempting (I am super cheap with my money), I ended up going with the more expensive one. I am happy with it, though in the end I did end up putting some idlers on and did other maintenance stuff).

[Stan Disbrow]

Hi,

From what info I could gather, the ReLife program was in response to several State agencies who wanted to keep on using small machines but could not simply buy new ones to replace aging ones.

So, that tells me someone made a big mistake dropping the small machine from production.

It takes a lot more effort to run an Equal-to-New rebuilding program than it does to run a manufacturing line. You have to add on an Un-manufacturing line....meaning tear everything apart first. Then, every bit needs inspecting and analysis on top of that.

But, of course, the costs are a tad lower in the end as the most costly bits wind up being reused. Well, most of them anyway.

In my professional electronics career, I have been an engineer on several ETN programs, mostly for government agencies. Several times, dealing with trying to renew their older stuff led us to resume making new items instead.

Part of the problem is, for many things, the markets run in cycles. Sales drop off, so we stop making it. Then, the things wear out and demand returns. So, we make it or an equivalent again. Demand is then good for a while, but drops off again. And, there is the cycle.

So, I had been wondering if Deere might just put the 350 back on the line. But, so far, no. And it has been several years now, so if they were going to be motivated to do so, I think it would have happened by now.

Me, I do not want anything other than a 350. It is the right size for me. The old 420 still does OK, but she is getting pretty tired. I would like to retire it. Plus, I am fond of the 3-cyl engines in the way so many others are fond of the 2-cyl.

Stan

[Lavoy]

Keep in mind, I never restore for resale, there is no market, never will be. Any of the ones I sell that have had some work done to them is because I can't kill the Thanksgiving turkey after I petted it, so they usually go out at what I have into them because someone else wants it.
Deere dropped the small crawler because there was no market, just that simple. A few guys or a small firefighting market does not justify continuing development of a product that does not sell in a volume large enough to justify further development. The other factor to consider is a large tracked skidsteer will in many, many cases out work a 350 hands down, and gives the option of loading, lifting and a ton of other attachments that a crawler can't do.
If you still want a small crawler new, they are out there. Ford/New Holland, Fiat, and several other manufacturers make lots of them in Europe. Deere has a gorgeous little crawler in Spain still in Deere green and yellow. Where there is demand, there is product, there is just no large scale need for them here in the US.
If you want a smaller more modern crawler, there are lots of Mitsubishi's around, and looks like good parts availability.
Lavoy

[CatD8RII]

Gotta agree with Lavoy that the main reason Deere stopped 350 production is due to the increased capabilities of skid steers. They were always so clunky till the late 80's/early 90's. With all the attachments available they are hard to compete with in versatility. Deere and Cat even markets the heavier tracked skid steers as "compact track loaders" They really moved in and filled the niche for much of the work 350s were accustomed to and could do it much faster.

That being said, most skid loaders cannot do the heavier work (pulling and heavy digging) as well as a 350. Doing this with them shortens the life expectancy pretty quick.

As far as pricing,C's and D's in decent shape seem to bring a little more for the wet clutches. 10 for a D in decent shape is not a bad price at all IMO. You can see a D thats been sitting on ebay for a while now at 16500, which is on the high end for a machine with no attachment (again just my opinion). It looks fair, although the blade lift points have been repaired for some reason, the pivots look a little loose has original adjusters just judging from pics.

One other thing to consider, if Deere did make a new version of a 350, it would surely be hydrostatic, have a bunch of plastic, electronics, emissions and I'd bet it would cost darn near 100K. (I still might want one )

[Stan Disbrow]

Hi,

Yes, the skid steers have come a long way, that is for sure. I often wonder why no one offers one with a low-mounted dozer (as opposed to the blade on a loader). Seems like a logical option.

I still would rather have a 350 myself. So, I will keep on looking for one. I did see that one on eBay. It seemed a bit overpriced, but that is eBay all too often. It doesn't ever sell, so there is a clue. It is a fair distance away from me, so I haven't gone to eyeball it. Yet, anyway.

Between the eBay and other online site prices (of things that don't readily sell) and what y'all have said here, I have a much better idea of where that ballpark is now.

It is in Fayetteville, NC at Fort Bragg as it turns out! (MLB has a holiday game there this 4th of July) Only 20 miles away from me.

Stan

[CuttingEdge]

The skid steers definitely was the rock that put the tipping point of the tracks over on the small dozers production of the bigger USA makers that is for sure. They do have a lot of attachments and if someone cannot justify buying the attachment outright, they can probably be rented. Still there are just some stuff that the smaller dozers like the 350 excel at.

My best friend has a large Deere tracked skid steer and it is a powerhouse, yet I got to take my dozer over to his place and put in a road for his new home. The skid steer just cannot do that. Nor could it ever pull wood out like a dozer. A surprising thing though is compaction and mud. Its better then a wheeled unit, but when we were working in the mud together (my dozer/his skid steer) I was not sinking at all, and yet he was top of the tracks deep in it. With that flexible rubber and bogie wheels, it just does not have the flotation a steel tracked set of tracks has. It also loses its tracks surprisingly often, and it has new sprockets and rubber tracks.

Vastly different machines. Myself, I grew up with a John Deere 1010 gas job with 4 way outside blade and so I admit, I got an out-of-control-bulldozer-fetish!

[CuttingEdge]

One other thing I thought of today is another vast difference between a skid steer and dozer is the distance from cutting edge to the operators eye. Weight wise, my buddy's John Deere Skid Steer is 8000 pounds which is only a ton or so lighter then a John Deere 350, he has a birds eye view of his bucket. For fine work, that is just great, like finish grading, scooping up rocks, spreading etc, however for certain tasks it is nice to be back away from the work like pushing over trees and stumps! Getting a face full of dirt, or having branches fly up in you face is not fun, nor safe.

They are vastly different machines in what they do, and how they do it; I think we can all agree on that, its just people often look at a bulldozer and think "all it does is push things." That is true to a point, but its value is how creative you are in other uses.

When I bought my log trailer with a grapple loader, the salesman was surprised when I started rattling off things I wanted to do with it. Moving big round bales of hay, placing trusses for new buildings, picking rocks, digging waterlines, and towing it behind another trailer so that I could pull twice as much wood with my dozer (the log loader in the center so I could load both trailers...he was not able to sell it for 2 years because people were not thinking outside the box.

I have had my 350D now for a few months and can't imagine life without it.

[JD430C]

I used to have small crawlers around, but I got rid of my JD 550 last fall because of my tracked John Deere skid steer. Its faster and I can do a better job with it. I use it for everything, land clearing, road building, stumping, driveways, etc. It doesnt like mud or snow but is a tank if it can get traction. Dont think I will ever get another dozer for dirt work.