350 Hyrdaulic pump and drive problem

[bonker81]

Hello everyone,

I'm greener than the paint on the tractors when it comes to John Deere and old crawlers. I'm very mechanically inclined and have the shop to swing the work. I have an opportunity to buy a 1968 350 with a four way bucket on the front and a hoe attachment on the back. the U/C was redone, or so i'm told. I haven't seen the machine run as it's winter new england and it's currently frozen to the ground but the guy who owns it says that when it drives it'll go about 50' then slip out of gear and has problems turning. he also thinks the hydraulic pump on the front of the engine is shot. he's looking for 2K and my question is, is it worth it? i know this isn't very informative but i haven't seen it run. any input will be appreciated. Thanks in advance

[bonker81]

also, i was looking around this site and found where to get a parts manual from deere. how do i go about getting a service/repair manual and how bad is it going to hurt?

[KenP]

deleted

[Lavoy]

If it slips out of gear, you may be looking at a trans rebuild. To do this, look at the transmission, and imagine none of the rest of the crawler bolted to it, that is roughly how much work it is to rebuild a tranny. Not that you still shouldn't do it, but you need to factor that in the price.
Lavoy

[bonker81]

What does it cost to rebuild a tranny for materials? How long would it take some one who has never done it before?

[KenP]

deleted

[MattE]

Since your not going to try to make money with an old 350 this is my take on it. If its got a reverser there is a good chance you might not even use the gear thats damaged. I've seen several of these old crawlers where one gear has been locked out (depending on which gear is bad). You could always fix that later if you find out the rest of the crawler is sound. As far as the fact it wont steer that will probibly cost you a grand to redo both steering clutches. Plus the cost of a pump/rebuild.

Bottom line is a CLB is worth more than $2000 even for scrap/parts if you need to recoup your money. If you get into it and find out its shot sell the hoe, bucket, and U/C parts and your even.

offer him $1500 and see what happens

Just my 2 cents

[Lavoy]

Almost impossible to guess on parts, who knows what you will find once you get in there. A good starting point would be $500-$1000 for tranny parts. Steering clutch kits are about $650/side. Add in another $500-$1000 for incendentals, bolts, assorted gaskets, etc, and you might be in the ballpark.
As to hours, depends on tools, equipment, hoists, shop, etc., but I would assume 100 hours to do both the tranny and steering clutches.
Lavoy

[bonker81]

thanks guys. I realize i gave no information of any kind of substance but i got the feel that it's a job. I'm thinking I'm going to give it a go because it turns out one of my cousins or uncles or somehting like that knows the guy and the machine and thinks it's probably worth it. I picked up the service and parts manuals for some light reading. I'm leaning towards buying it because taking it apart doesn't cost anything. If it's junk I can break even on the attachments and good parts. If it's worth it, I'll fix it up.

[KenP]

deleted