Scarifier on 440?

[Stan Disbrow]

Hi,

Here's an interesting question:

Do you think that a 440, with heavier final drives than a 420, could handle having a scarifier mounted onto the rear without busting the poor, old thing?

I have the opportunity to add my uncle's 440 to my dad's 420 (oh, no! the rampant machine collection disease is apparant!). However, I don't see much point in having another crawler/dozer on hand unless it were to have a power blade and a scarifier to make grading our mile-long driveway easier.

Up until this weekend, I was thinking about a getting a JD350c so equipped, not a 440. Then, my aunt mentioned that they were going to be selling off a lot of my late uncle's toys, and wondered if I might want the 440. I'm the only one in the family that has the machinery 'disease', you see.

Anyway, the thing is 800 miles away, and I can't see going after it unless I have at least half an idea that I can run the thing with a scarifier on it. Plus, I know this one has the manual blade, so there's yet another set of bits I'll have to come up with to make the 440 into what I have in mind - adding a power adjust blade.

I'm on the fence here, so what do y'all think?

Stan

p.s.

I forgot to add that my aunt is wanting $4k for the thing and that I'm uncertain as to it's current condition. It was in pretty nice shape the last time I ran it, which was about five years ago, and I don't think that my uncle used it much at all in the past few years. What worries me is that one of my ham-handed cousins might have used it!

Stan

[Lavoy]

The only way Deere mounted a scarifier on a 440 with a blade was the #24 scarifier and a 3PT hitch. There were aftermarket scarifiers for the 40-430, but I have not seen one on a 440 although the mounts would have been the same. I do have one of the aftermarket scarifier drawbars, but none of the rest of the components.
If it has the maunal 6 way inside arm blade (#63) I have seen people add a hydraulic cylinder on them to make the tilt, but the tilt mechanism was never designed to be left loose, and the tilt bracket is obsolete from Deere, and very hard to come by used. Power 6 way blades do pop up on occasion, and they are a neat way to go.
Lavoy

[Stan Disbrow]

Hi,

Thanks! That's what I thought - that one would use the 3-pt hitch on a 440 the same as one would on a 420.

I'm unsure as to just what Deere did differently on the 440 final drive housings vs. the 420. I know that I'd not put a scarifier on a 3 pt on the 420 for fear of cracking the final drive housings. However, I do dimly recall that the 440 housings were improved. I just can't recall in what way, and is it enough extra to handle the load off the rear without cracking them......

I had a JD350 for a few years, and clearly recall how those were built. There was a much better scarifier/ripper set of options for that machine, and I'm thinking that I'd be better off with one of those.

Then, too, there's the whole issue of finding a 64 power blade should I go for my uncle's old machine (I know better than to try adding cylinders to the manual blade). Heck, there's the issue of running 800 miles each way to simply get the thing. By the time I go through all this, I'd probably wind up spending as much as for a local 350 equipped the way I want it.

Stan

[Lavoy]

Stan,
I use a ripper on my 420 with no problems. My brother has a 420 with a #90 loader and the factory ripper. Loader crawlers weigh about 9,000 lbs, but the ripper will stop it dead.
440 finals are definitely heavier, but probably the biggest difference is that they bolt to a large pad clamped to the rear crossbar for added strength. Really about the same setup as a 350, just on a smaller scale.
64 blades are not the easiest to com up with, but you do see them on occasion.
If you have someone on the other end that can load the crawler, usually you can not afford to go get it yourself, it is cheaper to have it delivered, especially if you are not in a hurry.
Lavoy

[Stan Disbrow]

Hi,

Thanks again, for refreshing my memory. I can picture the 440 finals in my head now that I've read your description. It's been a while since I've looked at a 440, as in 20 some years. I was just looking at the underside of a 420 this past weekend, as I was going over everything before putting the old girl back to work.

It would actually cost me about the same to go get it as to have it hauled, dollar-wise. In my case, this is going back home, so there would be more to the trip than just getting the machine. I also wonder about getting it loaded, since my aunt never was someone that would even sit on a machine. I have one cousin that could handle it, *if* the machine isn't suffering fron sit-itis. If it is, then he wouldn't be able to get it going again. He is OK at using stuff provided my uncle were on hand to guide him, but I'm really the only one in my generation that inherited the ability to 'carry on a conversation' with a large chunk of iron.

I do have to take a trip up there in the fall, anyway, so what I might do is have my aunt hang onto the thing until then. I can make sure it's something I can use (i.e. hasn't been hurt or worn out since I last saw it) and then get it going if need be. Then, I can hunt down someone to haul the thing if that's what it comes down to.

One last thing, I'm tripping up a little on terminology here. When you use the word 'ripper' are you referring to a rather large, single-tooth unit or one made up of multiple (five for these machines, as I recall), smaller teeth mounted on a crossbar?

I've always referred to the large, single-tooth unit as a 'ripper' and the multiple, smaller-toothed unit as a 'scarifier'. Where I originally hail from, the mountians of New York, the rippers are used to crack shale and the scarifiers used to break the crust of a dirt road bed. It's the dirt road job that I need to be able to do, given that the new place has a mile-long dirt road to be maintained.

I used to have a 1936 Austin-Westin road grader, which was another thing too large to move down to NC, and it had a scarifier on it, so I never wanted to have one on a crawler before. My experiences with keeping an old road grader up and running makes me somewhat disinterested in acquiring another one, you see! They appear to be a lot more fun than they actually are.....

Stan

[Lavoy]

In this case I was using scarifier and ripper interchangeably, but scarifier would be more accurate. The large single shank rippers are also called sub-soilers.
Lavoy

[Stan Disbrow]

Hi,

Well, after a bit of thinking and a few phone calls Up North, I've pretty much decided that I'm going to pass on the 440c and go for another 350 with a 6-way blade. It'll be easier to add a scarifier to a 350, and the whole rig will work better for what I have in mind, anyway. Plus, I can get a 350 locally and not have so much of a transport problem.

Also, after reading some of the news on this board, it appears that it is becoming increasingly difficult to obtain new parts for the old iron, while it's still no problem at all for the 350 (especially since I'm thinking about the 'C' version of the 350). I think I'd be best off to use the 420 for the lighter-duty jobs and a 350 for the heavier ones. That way, the 420 will stay healthy.

So, that leaves a 440c up in the Lake George region of New York State that's available should someone have an interest. My problem is that I can't tell anyone what shape it's in. I have not laid eyes on it in at least five years. It was decent enough as a user then, but a lot can happen in five years. I have one cousin up there that halfway knows his way around equipment, but he doesn't know enough about crawlers specifically to tell me much.

I plan on taking a trip up next month, so I'll know more then. In the meantime, if anyone has an interest, drop me a note and I'll put you in touch with my aunt. My uncle wrote out a list of what he had, and what he felt it was worth, before he passed on, and the 440c is listed at $4000, which is what my aunt is asking for it (of course).

Stan