So, to get up to speed on my JD 450 skid shovel, I "finally" got to fixing the bad hydraulic leak that would blow 5 gallons of oil out in 75 feet of traveling. It was a bear, but I found a blown piece of rubber line where it transitions from hard piping from the pump, at the transmission where it goes to a fitting was blown. Pulled the nose off, pulled both steel lines out, replaced the rubber pieces and she's now leak-free everywhere. While in there I replaced the positive battery cable too, cuz it was looking tender.
This machine is so nice for it's age, I hate to get rid of it. It's virtually new, never had a hard life. The only issue I have now is, the right side steering clutch is gone. Steers fine to the left, but right isn't doing anything.
From what I gather, doing a steering clutch in a 450 is worse than a root canal...have to pull track frame, rock guards, on and on. 350's I've seen guys cut the track frame off and weld it back on later, but not the case with the 450 unfortunately.
Anybody have any "positive", good news about doing this job, or am I just going to have to prepare myself for the inevitable?
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