440 roller rebuild/replace question

[Mark1331]

Hi everyone, I am new here so bear with me. I recently bought a 1959 JD440 dozer to help clean up my land. I freaking love it. Overall it runs great and I have been very happy with it.

I noticed the other day that one of the rollers, the one right next to the right back sprocket(the big gear looking thing, hopefully I'm calling it the correct name) is floppy when there is no pressure on it. I can see some wear spots on it where I assume it is hitting the sprocket. Nothing bad at this time, but definitely has spots of fresh metal where it has been rubbing against the sprocket.

Is this roller rebuildable? If so, please advise where I can get the parts, or where I could have it done.

If not, I understand if I buy a used one I will need one very close to the same wear dimensions. Can anyone advise how I measure this? And, what is an acceptable range of dimensions when considering a used roller?

Thanks for this site, incidentally. I have found it very informative and it really helped me in choosing to buy my JD440. I've never owned a dozer before and I feel reasonably comfortable owning and possibly repairing as necessary thanks to the wealth of information here.

[Lavoy]

Rebuild is too expensive to consider unfortunately. Jack the crawler up first and feel the rest of the rollers, you may find that you need to replace more than one. We had the same thing happen on two different crawlers, got the track off, and both times, there were 3 bad rollers, not one.
As far as diameter, I think you would want to be 1/8" or less.
I have new sealed lifetime rollers on hand, other option is to replace 5, and save any good ones left on that side for spares.
Lavoy

[jtrichard]

1/8" diameter for bottom roller is pretty small there Lavoy

[BigV]

Buy some new rollers from Lavoy, is your best option.

If you have a lathe or you're very good at welding, I've repaired them for machines that are far more "obsolete" than our JD's. When I say repaired, I mean I made them marginally usable.

It is possible to weld them up, and turn them on a lathe for concentricity, and then use them for a while longer.

It is also possible to weld them up, and just run them. I have had someone get me to weld them up- for a David Brown that had been converted to a crawler back in the late 60's- and he came and got them and ran them. He's still running them. Someone very cheap and very reckless had me weld up a set for an oddball Case 350. In both cases, the arrangement agreed was that I was doing a bandaid fix that would be utilized until the correct parts could be gotten. I don't do this anymore because people get the machine running again and they don't want to do what is right, instead they do what is cheap.

There is a local construction company called Wells and West. I looked at machine they were using on a site in Western NC, and the rollers had a length of concrete style rebar bent around them and then welded on. They sold that machine like that, as well.

Remember that the cost of doing the job right and the peace of mind knowing it is done right is worth all the money you think you're saving up front plus everything you pay when the bandaid comes off, the machine has to be field repaired in a swamp or recovered with a drag line and crane.

As the KoO would say: Turn in your beer can collection. Fix it right.

If you can't tell by looking on Lavoy's parts page, he is more than competitive with an Ag JD dealership, and he outright beats any construction JD dealership.

[Mark1331]

Hey guys, thanks for the information. Sorry for such a slow reply.

I'll definitely check the rest of the rollers, and may be purchasing a few. I'm not quite sure about what to measure for the diameter, but I'll be checking back in once I get to where I find out for sure what all I'll need.

[Tigerhaze]

. I'm not quite sure about what to measure for the diameter, but I'll be checking back in once I get to where I find out for sure what all I'll need.

I don't know that I have seen specs for roller diameter or flange wear readily available, but there is a tool you can buy from one of the users on this site that is used to measure them.

http://www.jdcrawlers.com/messageboard/ ... ight=gauge

You can also do this on a more visual basis- a really worn roller is going to have a much deeper distance from the top of the roller flange to the wearing surface and thinner flanges than a roller that is less worn.

[Mark1331]

I appreciate that. There is a lot to learn with tracked equipment But honestly this is the best purchase I have ever made equipment-wise so I have no complaints if I need to put a bit of money into it and learn some new things.

I may contact that vendor once I am able to work on it, hopefully this winter.