Another 350C question

[cberlin]

Mine is a 350C. I replaced all the oil except the hydrolics for the blade. It still will not turn left. If you pull back on the right lever it turns right, if you pull back on the left lever it keeps going straight unless you are backing up a hill or pushing a little dirt. If I pull back on both levers the dozer will stop. It will spin the tracks in 2nd gear and stall it if you get a good load in front of it and pick up the blade (I'm clearing trees right now). My question is that from what I've read I need a new "brake band". Do you replace them from the top under the seat or from the side by taking the track off, the sprocket off, then the final drive housing and come in from that way? If I come in from the top it looks like I'll have to take the roll bars off, the fuel tank off and the battery box and blade hydrolic box off and that means take a WHOLE bunch of hydrolic lines off. Anyways what is the easiest procedure for replacing a brake band?

Thanks for the help in advance guys.

[Paul45]

Have you tried the adjustment procedure exactly how the manual tells you? It may be just an adjustment? but if it is the brake band then you need to pull the final. You dont have remove the hyd. tank or batt. box.

[jdemaris]

Mine is a 350C. Anyways what is the easiest procedure for replacing a brake band?

Thanks for the help in advance guys.

The only way I know to do it is to pull the final drive off. Are you sure the brake band isn't unhooked or out of adjustment? I'd take a look in from the top before pulling it all apart. 350Cs had MANY problems with the self adjusters not working properly.

[cberlin]

Had a guy that used to own the john deere dealership in town here come look at it and we adjusted it up as much as we could without it "turning over" he said. I assume it has some sort of cam in there that you can "flip" kind of like the brakes on a semi. I know looking/comparing it to the other side it is adjusted WAY up past where the other side is.

[jdemaris]

Had a guy that used to own the john deere dealership in town here come look at it and we adjusted it up as much as we could without it "turning over" he said. I assume it has some sort of cam in there that you can "flip" kind of like the brakes on a semi. I know looking/comparing it to the other side it is adjusted WAY up past where the other side is.

I worked for four Deere dealerships since the 1960s and up to the mid 90s. None of the owners of any of those Deere dealerships knew how to fix much. Maybe your owner-friend is different??

Yes, there's a bunch of parts in there that can get unhooked from the ears of the brake band. We had to disable the self adjusters in all the new 350Cs we sold since they tended to overtighten by themselves. I'd make d*mn sure that your steering lever is actually hooked to the brake band before tearing it all apart.

[cberlin]

When you take the plugs out of the top of both clutch housings you can see the right side "adjuster" moves/shifts quite a bit when you pull the right lever, I mean maybe 1/4". The left side also moves/shifts but only about 1/16". Just doesn't seem like there is a whole lot of "squeezing" going on in there compared to the right side. All this leads me to believe everything is hooked up right but that it is just that wore out. Believe me there isn't many people on here that know less about a dozer than me (this is my first) but just how it acts it seems like it is hooked up but just not stopping the track.