Stay away from the used 350 and 450 Deeres with shuttle shift trannys. If they very many hours on them, the discs are probably already glazed, and you don't want to the the sucker who came along at the right time, trust me. This problem was recently discussed here. Don't let it happen to you. The CAT D3 of yore has a rock-solid torque convertor. That's where I stick my money if I wanted powershift.
John Deere 450J LT gets my vote for top contender for small frame dozer. From a mid size up ie. CAT D6 and up I switch over to CAT for best of breed........my .02
farmer
Hi !
I own a 1966 350 straight dozer with a 6 way blade ! very nice machine easy to fix
very versatile hydraulic reverser I love it !!
parts are pretty easy to get
Last edited by Andre Grondin; 04-24-2012 at 09:12 AM.
Sorry,NOT true at all.I've had 350 and 450 B's,C's and D's the last 34 years with absolutely no issues from the reversers,tranny's, or anything else for that matter in thousands of hours. I use mine regularly from basement excavations to stumping and heavy pushing,it's definitely NOT just a topsoil princess for sure.IMHO the very best small dozer class alive.You can keep your powershift trannys and that goes for Deere also.Originally Posted by Bluetop Man
Just remember when the old lady laughs at your expense for trying to sell what she thinks is a worthless piece of garbage"There is an a** for every toilet seat ever made"
Formerly Skull-Finder-{found the skull to the famous mastodon in Hyde Park,NY in 2000
Agreed 2X..350's and 450's are a great machine. I have owned numerous of each over the years.
What deere 450c's with shuttle problems? I picked up mine with a blown motor, had been setting neglected for several years. Every mechanic told me the same thing, if its a wet cluch machine, dont worry about the tranny, its fine. They were right. I did the main clutch because it was apart, and all the springs were shot, but the tranny and shuttle were fine. Machine has 7k & some odd hours on it. In my area deere is the number one in the under 100hp dozer category, and they are thumping cat hard. we are not just talking new stuff. I'm talking 350c&d, 450b,c,d,e,g, 550g are super common, a couple 650g's, and some 700h's, 750c's, and about to be an 850j. Some of the 550g's are in the 13k hour mark and the owner has no intent to sell, works it daily.
I like my 450g, no problems.
Deere 450
I'll throw another vote in for the Fiat 70CI. Go forever and the parts are all available
Would you like to pay the repair bill on mine?Sorry,NOT true at all.
Glad all you hats are having such good luck with your C model Deeres. But sh*t happens with the main clutch pack. Ask any Deere mechanic. I'm just sayin'...
**** can and will happen to ANYTHING mechanical there bluetop.I just asked myself your question.The answer is there simply is no problematic history with the main clutch pack.
Just remember when the old lady laughs at your expense for trying to sell what she thinks is a worthless piece of garbage"There is an a** for every toilet seat ever made"
Formerly Skull-Finder-{found the skull to the famous mastodon in Hyde Park,NY in 2000
OK, have it your way, just keep a check on that line pressure accessed at the gauge tap near your right foot. Dimes can be used to shim it up should a factory spacer not be handy. If it ever drops below spec and those discs get the slightest bit glazed over, that is the beginning of the end. Best of luck to all who have had good luck so far with a design to be avoided IMHO. The basic design originated with the Ford tractor Select-O-Speed transmission, and later the developing engineer went to Deere, who used it in various applications, some successful and some not so successful. If you are one of those people who had good luck with early Deere heavy equipment, lucky you, that was not the norm in this neck of the woods.
I do concede that the above may not be so much a problem if you are operating your own C Series machine. But, Oh, God, let a hat get on it...don't ask me how I know this...
If you want to know if one of these dozers is already infected, simply put the blade against something immovable. Throttle the RPM's into the power band and push. The engine should die. If it does not, but slowly accelerates instead because the discs are slipping, the virus is present and no amount of vaccination can cure the problem.
I can't recall if this test is in the shop manual, but I believe it is.
Anyway, good luck to all concerned. They are great little workhorse machines when they are up.
I have a 1993 CAT D4C Series II. Sweet machine. There is not much left on the grouser height which actually makes her a great dresser machine! Hardly leaves any tracks in the fine material. I am using her on a rock fill job pushing quarry rock into the excavated muck hole. A few passes and she can push the entire truck load in, even the big 24" shot rock. And she is easy on the diesel as well.
My JD 650J has been a great first machine for me. It is easy to control and work on and it has been very reliable. I would recommend this machine without reservations.
I can vouch for the Case 455/450C crawlers. They run the same trans as the 850 and the motors are pretty well bullet proof. Very well balanced and operator friendly machine.
Whatever machine you get, it all depends on what the previous history is as to how reliable it will be. I have had mine since new and has 10000 hrs up and no major parts replaced, but any abused machine will prematurely fail.
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