New toy (essential)

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ClintonH

Burning Hunk
Jan 4, 2014
168
NW OH
Finally found the right dozer! 1958 John Deere 440C with dozer + material bucket. She weights somewhere north of 8k. The 2-cylinder JD gas runs like a top. I had to get a stuck steering clutch broken loose, now she's in good shape. We have fencerows and honey suckle to push back, along with a barn addition, new pole barn construction (5-year plan), and final grading on septic/home construction next year. She's pretty sweet--I like the ripper on the back. I haven't put the material bucket on yet but I'm sure it'll be a beast for firewood etc. in the future.

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Wow that looks like a beast and maybe could even move my house--lol lol Good for you..you will get a lot of work out of the beast...thanks for sharing...Just look at those wheels and that bucket--wow..clancey
 
A fine piece of equipment. It would be hard for me to not to restore it. I bet it would clean up nice. Just make sure you keep the tracks tight.

A relative used to work for shop that during the winter would restore heavy equipment, he was the welder. They went through a lot of wire feed to build stuff up and they had the tools to turn it down. When they bought the equipment if was rough but when it left the shop in the spring it sold for a premium.
 
That would be cool to restore as a work piece but the ground is going to get beat to crap.
 
I just noticed the kid peeking over the hood!
 
I just noticed the kid peeking over the hood!
That's the 3 y/o. He rode today for a few pushes, along with backing into the barn. The 5 y/o is the real operator--he wants to learn to drive. I'm thinking no for now.... :D
 
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Wow! Way too big to fit in a Christmas stocking.
 
Tracks need to be tight but not too tight that will destroy the undercarriage as fast as being too loose.
I have a D7E and a D6 each with newer undercarriages that we installed.D7 got it in 93 and the D6 in 87 both still working.
 
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ClintonH Those old track loaders are hard to beat. I have had a old Cat 941B for about fifteen years. My undercarriage is getting pretty wore out. One of these days it will be heading to the scrapper and I will just get by with my 100 HP skid loader. I have cleared and pushed a lot of land with that old track loader.
 
ClintonH Those old track loaders are hard to beat. I have had a old Cat 941B for about fifteen years. My undercarriage is getting pretty wore out. One of these days it will be heading to the scrapper and I will just get by with my 100 HP skid loader. I have cleared and pushed a lot of land with that old track loader.
Sell it for parts or ...
Don't scrap it i am sure someone with the same machine would love a parts machine.
I have a parts Cat 426 backhoe,950 loader,and Champion 740A grader.Not to mention parts trucks.
 
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I made the sale (to the wife) that we'd get work done and then sell it. But you know how this goes...it's like a puppy at this point--she's going NOWHERE!
 
I love it, likely older than most members but still going strong. Had a little 1953 Oliver Oc3 crawler up until our last move. It had a honkin cable winch and spent most of it’s life hauling wood. It’s a tiny distant cousin to your Deere. I was told some were made to clear snows from sidewalks with some kind of rubberized tracks. Others were built with extra wide tracks to work on apple orchard slopes on the west coast. Nice to see the old timers being put to good use.