Deere 450G Blade Pivot/Trunnion Replacement questions

[vikingsven]

I'm taking delivery on a new to me 450G series 4 dozer next week. There is some slop in the blade pivot joint/trunion that I intend to fix up, but have some questions regarding it

1) There are 2 aftermarket kits I'm seeing online. One from PVE has all the necessary components and shims, and another from 'Reliable Aftermarket Parts' that does not seem to include shims. I know PVE is a good kit but is it worth 40% more?

Reliable kit:

T147801 T180534 T180535 New Blade Pivot Assembly Fits John Deere 450G 550G 650G | eBay

Replaces Part Numbers: T147801-KIT (which consists of 1 Trunion Ball # T147801, 1 Socket w/ Gussets # T180534, 1 Cap # T180535, and 4 Bolts # 19M7963 x 4). -(1) Trunion / Ball, Part # T147801. -(1) Socket with 2 Gussets, Part # T180534.

www.ebay.com

2) Are these blade pivots supposed to be greasable? I don't see any grease zerks in pics I've been looking at...

3) Would there be any advantage to upgrading to a new ball and socket style pivot like those found on H and J-series dozers? I think I could make one work. Anyone consider this before? Any reason not to?

Thanks

 

[Steve Austin]

Those old type ball and socket blade pivots on the G series were not greaseable.
On the H series a grease fitting was added to the new ball and socket system.
As far as aftermarket parts you usually get what you pay for.
I have never tried to convert a g series to the new style ball and socket system but i thank it could be done.

 

[JBrady]

Does it look like this? I have a 550G series1 and there are grease zerks on that connecting link. I don't know why the second hole is there that has the filler plug in it. I assume you could move it over to that hole, but I don't know what that would change.

 

[vikingsven]

That's the same blade setup, but I think you are referring to the pitch link (or whatever it is called) on top. The second hole allows you to adjust the pitch of the blade to allow it to either carry more material/not dig in as much on hard ground, and dig in more on softer ground IIRC. Something like that. It's for adjusting the blade pitch between 2 options. The newer dozers have a turnbuckle I recall reading.

I'm specifically asking about the pivot ball at the bottom of the blade.