Can I come into the sandbox and play with y'all?

[Stan Disbrow]

Hi,

I just tripped across this site by accident, and it looks like a place to hang out to me.

I have a 1958 420c, 5-roller, with 62 blade and differential-style direction reverser. I grew up with this machine, since it was my dad's. In fact, of all the machines I have, this one is #1.

My uncle had two JD dealerships, one in Copake, NY and one in Pine Plains, NY. He started them in 1950 and sold them off in 1982 when the mainstay, dairy farming, went away.

This 420c was sold by him, equipped as it still is, to a diary farmer that used it - get this - only to clean out the barn. The farmer traded it back in in 1965 for a wheel tractor with a loader.

That's when dad bought it from his brother. Dad had a new house to build, on top of a mountain of shale, and the 420c did all the work - roads, foundation, swimming pool, etc. It's a great machine and I wish Deere would build a modern equivalent on the 4000 series - I'd buy one tomorrow if I could.

I've had the thing in storage for a decade. Dad passed away on Christmas day in 1995, and I was renting here in Raleigh, NC at the time. In 1997, I sold the place in NY and bought a place in NC, but it only had one acre, so the crawler had no use at all. Not that this stopped me from trailering it down and sticking it in the back corner of my racing shop.

Late last year, I got out of racing and sold all that stuff off and bought an old farm. I now have a place to play with tractors again, and finally got the poor, old 420c fired up last weekend (it had some sit-itis) and moved it to the new place - it was the last piece of the moving puzzle.

As the year progesses, I'll get loose with a couple cans of paint. It's never had any in all these years, so it's about time. That's really all that I need to do beyond general maintenance. That's one thing about machines owned by a machinist (what dad was) - they know how to care for them.

So, this event got me to looking around the web to see what was up in the old tractor world, and here I am.

Oh, and for a few years there, dad had the 420c and I had a '68 JD 350 with 7-foot blade. The 350 is long gone, but the 420c will not go anywhere - not as long as I'm still kicking.

I also have a 1950 'M', a 1959 430w and a 1998 4500 w/460 loader (the 'new' tractor). So, do I qualify?

Stan

[Lavoy]

Stan,
Sounds like a good start. As the disease progresses, they begin to multiply.
Lavoy

[Jimmy in NC]

Stan-

Are you still in the Raleigh area? I'm in Cary and the crawler we play with is down in Garner.

Also where did you race at? Every Friday you'll find me hiding at Wake Co. Speedway.


Jimmy

[Stan Disbrow]

Hi,

Yes, they *are* a disease, aren't they. I already have the multiplication problem. We just bought a X495 riding mower last month. I know that's not quite in the same league, but it *is* Yet Another Tractor!

Besides, I'm always on the lookout for unloved iron alongside the road, so I never know when Yet Another Tractor will show up. I don't know if I'll get another crawler or not, though. I think that the 420 will do whatever I need done. However, if the right deal should come along, well......

Yes, I'm still in the Raleigh area, just North of Lillington on the Cape Fear river. That's the new place. My old place, where I raced out of, was over in Clevelend, in Johnston County, which is next door to Garner. In fact, we had a Garner mailing address.

I raced Legends at Wake County Speedway in 96 and 97. After that, I raced the Legends car on the road courses, like Summit Point (WV) and Road Atlanta (GA). I rarely get to Wake County Speedway these days, but when I do go, I tend to hang out in Billy Gomez's pit.

Stan

[Jimmy in NC]

Stan-

You are just down the road. Shop where the crawler is, is on 401 just north of Revel's. We're actually a little south of Garner. If you ever wana stop in and swap stories feel free.

Also next time you are at wake couty feel free to come down to the #62 pits (stock 4 Woodard Racing) I'm there 95% of the time on Friday evenings and am usually wearing a well 'loved' JD hat.


Welcome to the board.

Jimmy

[Lavoy]

Jimmy,
No wonder you haven't got that 420 back together yet, you're too busy fooling around with a race car instead of this serious stuff.
Lavoy

[Stan Disbrow]

Jimmy,

Hmmm. Might be even closer than you think. The wife's screenprinting business, PKD Screenprinting, is on 401 practically across from Wake Tech (that's our local community college, so other folks reading the mail might understand the reference). Now, if you're a bit North of Revel's, then you're not far away from the screenprinting shop.....

In other news, I've been poking around the site this afternoon and reading up on various troubles folks have/had with their machines. I'm feeling particularly happy about the condition of mine now.

Stan

[Lavoy]

Stan,
Any time you are feeling at all depressed about your crawler and have a few hours to spare, I will tell you about some of the honey's I have possessed, or been possessed by, not sure which is more accurate.
Lavoy

[Jimmy in NC]

Stan-

Anytime you feel like you feel down stop by the industrial equipment dealer on 70 in Garner. It's at the corner of Timber Dr. and Hwy 70. Go look at that lil MC and you'll feel better instantly.

While fighting the starter on the 420 and riding arround I decided to stop in and see what I had always thought was a good looking little cralwer. Boy was I wrong. Ofcourse a critical eye comes after looking at them and working on them. My eyes have alot to learn yet I'm sure.


Jimmy

[Stan Disbrow]

Lavoy,

Yes, I can bet you have a few stories to tell. I grew up in a tractor shop and have seen my own share, although there were few crawlers in our area. You'd have worse crawler stories than I do, I'm sure.

We did have one guy with four 350's, though. He dug ponds. He'd take two onsite - one to work with and one to yank the other out after it'd sunk in the mud. He usually had one back home - to replace the sunk one - and one in our shop getting the muddy water removed from all the places that are supposed to be filled with oil. He had one in the shop about every other week. In fact, I learned more about the innards of crawlers from his 350's than I did dad's 420.

Jimmy,

Yes, I've stopped and eyeballed that 40c in front of Moore's (the JD industrial dealer) in Garner. It's not one that I'd want to own. Then, again, they did find that buried in the dirt and pulled it out with a trackhoe, so I think I understand why it's in the shape it's in.

Mine is missing a lot of it's paint, but otherwise it's in decent shape. The undercarriage is good, the roller seals hold their oil, the final drives have little time on them, etc. Dad used it hard from 1966 to 1970 cutting shale to build the house. Then, in 1977 we went through it and rebuilt nearly everything, including the tracks.

After that, it spent most of it's time skidding trees and plowing snow. It did have one issue back around 1990 when one of the steering clutches developed some rust film and wouldn't break free. I took the time to put all new bits in then, on both sides.

Dad moved it to their retirement place in 91 and it basically just sat. After he passed on, I got it running again in 96 and moved it down here (I moved in 94) where it sat in the back corner of the race shop. So, I had to clean the gunk out of the carb and put a new battery in it, and it lives again.

I have only one issue, and it's not serious. I have to change the oil in the direction reverser and transmission about every six months or so. There's a slight seepage between the two, and the oils will mix over time. Back in 76, the reverser was one of the things we overhauled, and that seal has always seeped just a little. It has nothing to do with useage, it just does it slowly over time. I'm not going to tear the machine to bits for that, though. In fact, it tells me when it's time as the shifting of the DR gets a little stiffer when too much 90 weight gets into the hydraulic oil.

later!

Stan

[DiggerLarry]

Stan,

I am in the NW Charlotte area. I have a few tracked wonders about the place here. If you are ever in the area, give me a shout.

Welcome to the sandhills box.

Larry