Following....

Sounds like you might need to organize a (re)build-a-Deere/shoot-some-guns/eat-some-lobstah event in the near future.
Could be fun!

Pulled the reverser off the front of the trans and found the above. And that doesn't account for the rollers that came out of the transmission proper. Likely they came from the bearing that used to be in the front of that intermediate shaft tho. Not sure where the bearing remnants in the third picture came from, it looks to have been a needle bearing.

At the very least it will need a new reverser casting as the boss for the intermediate shaft is trashed. The nose of the intermediate shaft where the nut is all boogered up is likely trashed too.

I'll finish tearing it apart, but it's looking a lot like time to cut my losses and part it out.

Damn.

Dang


I was looking forward to seeing videos of you with a huge grin on your face building roads and pushing down trees with that.

Turns out I may have been overly pessimistic. Fella has one housing for sure, maybe two.

Waiting to find out how much he wants for one.

quote:

Originally posted by PHPaul:

it's looking a lot like time to cut my losses and part it out.

Don't give it up! We are living vicariously through this thread.

We might have to start a GoFundMe, or a forum fund, or something, if it gets to be too much for you, but we want to see the project done.

Note the "royal we."

That's the innernet for you... Raise money to watch someone else work.

I'm in for $20!

A little good news. Feller has the housing, priced a little more than I'd hoped, but I'm a cheap bastard and the price is fair enough.

That fugly nut on the intermediate shaft that I feared had trashed the threads on the nose of the shaft came off today and the threads are essentially unharmed. A little touch up with a triangular jeweler's file and I'm good to go.

Apparently that nut was REALLY soft.

Freaking excellent news.

One step forward...





When the front bearing in the output shaft went out, the shaft flopping around did some pretty severe damage to the ring gear. Pinion seems to be okay.

Waiting for opinions from the guys in the know as to whether or not I can live with the ring gear in that condition.

Damage to pinion. REALLY not comfortable running that in addition to the damage on the ring gear. Waiting on my contact for used parts to hit me with a price for ring gear, pinion/output shaft and a set of bearings and gaskets.

While waiting on responses for transmission parts, decided to go over the track frames and front idlers. Front outside end of right track frame was broken completely off, just being held on by the bolts in the stone guard.

Whoever said "My welding skills have greatly improved my grinding skills" must've seen my work, but it's back together and I'm pretty sure it'll hold. Vertical/Up on the inside of that piece working in an 8" space was...interesting.

Just how old is this beast and this sort of wear/abuse typical?

quote:

Originally posted by GaryBF:
Just how old is this beast and this sort of wear/abuse typical?

It's from 1956 so yeah, that's some of it.

The rest of it is that the guy I got it from is 84 years old and I don't think it saw much in the way of maintenance in the last 20 years or so.

Well, I did the math and the bottom line is I just don't have the pockets to fix the crawler.

At a MINIMUM, I'd be into it for $2000 plus the purchase price and I don't have those kind of resources.

I'll be parting it out, should be able to cover the purchase price and maybe even put a few bucks in my pocket.

Known expenses if I tried to fix it:

Ring gear and pinion - $450 plus shipping. Several people have recommended cleaning up and running the old ones, but the pinion has multiple fracture lines and I wouldn't trust it not to grenade and trash all the other work.

Reverser parts - $450 plus shipping. About the same if I get the parts to eliminate the reverser.

Full set of bearings for the transmission - $550 plus gaskets and incidentals.

Estimated repairs to hydraulic cylinders - $200, and that's if I make do with the pitted rods. At least double and probably triple that if I replace the rods.

Another few hundred for the inevitable gotchas, new fasteners, muffler, genny overhaul, starter overhaul, etc.

Time to run while I still have a shot at breaking even.

Nooooo. We need this.

quote:

Originally posted by GaryBF:
Nooooo. We need this.

Yeah, I hate it too, but I realized I was running around like a teenager trying to buy a car and that means I'm in WAY over my head.

I even (briefly) considered finding a seasonal job to fund it.

But think of all the money you could make, charging people to push dirt around.

quote:

Originally posted by V-Tail:
But think of all the money you could make, charging people to push dirt around.

If I can get even half of what I think the individual parts are worth (I'm soliciting second opinions from folks in the know) I can break even.

That'll be a record for me...

Bummer.

quote:

Originally posted by PHPaul:

quote:

Originally posted by V-Tail:
But think of all the money you could make, charging people to push dirt around.

If I can get even half of what I think the individual parts are worth (I'm soliciting second opinions from folks in the know) I can break even.

That'll be a record for me...

How’s the parts demand? Are many running them or restoring them? Any JD Dozer clubs?