1985 JD450D shifting problems

[MILESBOY]

Hello everyone, just got lucky in finding this site. Got a question about a 1985 JD 450D that i dont even own yet. Looking at buying this dozer, a one owner thats been setting idle for about two years other than being loaded and moved and unloaded back in the winter. Its been one of those deals where you hear about this dozer that might be for sale since a death in the family and you go check it out and it is but nobodys interested in getting it ready to sale. So heres the problems, needs a starter, new seat and arm rest , batteries, and theres a bungee chord rigged to hold the clutch pedal up . Got it running this morning and took the bungee cord off and it doesnt seem to have been serving any purpose(pedal stayed up) but i couldnt get it to go into gear while the engine was running so i killed the engine and put it in 2 gear and cranked it and used the LNHR(may have this out of order never owned a dozer) to start movement. Took it on test run and shifted thru all gears with no problems several times until i back it up to where it was parked on slight rear to front slope and to be sure it had corrected itsself somehow i went thru the gears but it give the same problem again, wouldnt go in gear(grinding) with engine running tracks are pretty tite wondering if this slope its parked on and tight tracks could be causeing this or clutch linkage needs adjusting. But the pedal seems to me to be engageing and disengageing closer to the top rather than the bottom.

[digitup2]

check adjustment for collar shift unit as it will make a big difference if it enters all gears cleanly and completely.This sounds like your problem .If this crawler has sat a lot check the coolant for PH level or just change the coolant never run old coolant in a wet sleeve engine as the small Deeres and many others get cavitation problems with old coolant .Digitup.