Need more info on my JD 690B excavator

I was wondering if anybody was well versed with a JD 690B excavator? On my serial # it has 690BA 007452T...what does the A mean and do the rest of the #'s represent anything else..namely the "T"? Does anybody know what year this is? Maybe a site that would give me a little more insight on it? Anybody have all the parts, maintainence and service manuals laying around that you want to give to a new owner of a 690B, cuz you just don't have the heart to throw them in the trash Thanks ladies and gents for the info.

looks like that would be between an 80 & 81 yr model ebays a good place for manuals for anything dont know what the T or A means, most had turbo'd jd 6404 engines, maybe thats where the t comes in , but most older machines have a t at the end of the serial # ...hope this is any help to you..

This might be interesting:

http://www.deere.com/en_US/docs/construction/non_current_products/excavators/690B.pdf

I'm not sure why I didn't give everybody a little more important info, duh, I should know better.:beatsme Yeah, it does have the 6404 Turbo but on the engine serial it has two "T's after the 6404, not sure what that means. One guy told me that with having the "A" after the 690B, he thought it might have some "A" model components on it. It has the wide grousers, 30", and bout 10' to outside to outside of tracks, no pilot controls(maybe where the "A" reference comes into play), 2 speed travel, house lock, two separate hydraulic filter canisters, one for the cooler part and a double stacked filter inside of canister right off the hydro tank. Not sure what else might help for extra info. Side question...it takes 9 1/4 quarts 80 90w gear lube for the swing gear resevour(sp)....cuz I didn't specifically measure out that amount....how do you know when it's at the right level when you look into the fill port? Should it cover the big swing gear, come up 3/4 to it, half up...JD man said he didn't actually know..just what the amount was suppose to be. Anybody know that answer? I can only imagine that it would be the same for all older excavators. Hey Track..how did you come up with that conclusion? Thanks Adrian

Many years ago I was intimate with 690B's, I have since intentionally killed most of the brain cells retaining those memories. I do know that quite often Deere used a letter after the model to designate the factory location of manufacture, so that might be part of the answer. Oh, and all the "B"'s had mechanical controls, long sticks. Operators in those days didn't have Ipods (couldn't have heard them anyway) and they didn't need to go to the gym after a long day filling trucks. Oh, and with those long gear pumps swishing hundreds of gallons a minute in a circle doing nothing, they drank fuel like pigs. Ever see an 890B? Dinosaur. Cheers and thanks for the flashback!

:drinkupdon't go trying to scare the ba-jesus outta me lantrax:tong who needs therapy when you got jack daniels I guess I'll just have to let the ole 690B pillage me for a few years. The old equipment makes a fella appreciate new technology, but on the other hand...that old stuff just plain worked. I mean if there was no fuel, fire or fluids you weren't gonna move and use it. Now... gotta be an electrical engineer/nasa scientist/whatever else just to finger out why that dang thing won't start. I like technology, but it wasn't made for people that use the equipment to make money, the dealers and manufacturers are raking in the dough. Anyways, does anybody else know the "how full the oil needs to be on my gears" question.

Not all 690B's were mechanical linkage. I don't have the serial number available but I've worked on a B series that had pilot controls.

excavator said:

Not all 690B's were mechanical linkage. I don't have the serial number available but I've worked on a B series that had pilot controls.

Click to expand...

I stand corrected! I should have said "To my knowledge" none of them I ever saw or worked on had anything other than long mechanical sticks that went through the floor.

Cheers :drinkup

We used to own a 690B. Yea it was old, loud, much slower than todays machines and had the mechanical wobble sticks. But it was like the energizer bunny it kept going and going. We replaced some hoses, fixed a few leaks and replaced the main boom pin in all the years we had it. One quirk that many had was one travel motor engaged before the other one and was just a bit slower. It always made slow left turns if I remember correctly (maybe it was right turns). I tried to fix that a few times until I found two guys with the same machine and they said it was "normal"

yep later ser# b's had the hydraulic pilot controls

HI !

I do own a beast like that and I have all the books that goes with it , she is a killer keeps tiking no mather what , slow mecanical but reliable
and no fr...g code and sensors .