New 420 owner, lotsa questions.

[Ray III]

Name is Ray, I live in upstate NY. My father runs a machinery repair and fabrication shop on 22 acres, partially wooded, great home for a little bulldozer. A couple years ago a guy I know bought this 420c, serial number 109,464, and brought it in for some work. I thought it was the neatest thing ever what with how small it was and how it worked so good being 50 years old. Fast forward to last spring, I got some money saved and wanted a Pocket Dozer of my own, and the guy comes around again saying he is trying to sell his. Guess who bought it.




I have already fixed the exhaust and painted the caps black (fuel cap red), apparently a previous owner found out that JD ag yellow is not JD industrial yellow!

Apparently it is in excellent mechanical condition judging from what I've read on this board. My little brother and I took it straight into the woods and it laid brush down in a hurry! I graded a bit of road too. Clutches seem to be ok, engine has a lot of balls, I can spin her right around on a dime without tracks falling off. 5 roller, 5 speed with gear type reverser, PTO and drawbar, Deere dozer, seems to have all the good stuff. $3,500.

So

What the heck is the deal with the 2 valves to control 1 dozer blade? I am trying to figure it out, especially since it annoys me that I have to hold it down for a few seconds before I get downforce. Is this normal? I am guessing that when you unlatch the handle (using only bottom valve) the blade acts like a snowplow and will raise but only floats when you lower it and when the handle is latched you get downforce. I can't tell because some fool welded the latch in place.

What do you do when you need the blade to angle to the left? The arm doesn't seem to be able to pull out of the right side. Is there supposed to be a pin in there or not?

The grousers are pretty worn down, I can spin the tracks (weee!). Do you normally get a whole set of tracks, or just replace all the plates?

I was wondering why people like the 5 rollers so much. As long as it does not tip over forward what is the difference? Do the additional grousers on the ground give more traction even though the ground pressure is less?

Found someone from eBay who has fenders but wants $300 for them. Is that reasonable?

The bung on the bottom of the fuel tank-- is it supposed to be level or angled toward the starter slightly like it is now?

Thanks for anything you can answer.

Ray

[Stan Disbrow]

Hi,

Cool!

As fer as the two valves go, how would you do it with only one and have a double acting cylinder? The modern spool control valves still have two valves inside. It's just that these old girls have two single-acting valves out in the open with control rods to the lever. You can adjust those rods to make the thing act as you'd like. Sounds like some one busted the float release, then welded that and readjusted the rods to give float without having to release the thing.

The 5-roller is necessary for the weight of a loader, and I always felt also for the heavy model 62 blade you have on that one. With no blade or bucket or one of the lighter duty blades, four rollers are fine. I think they'd tend to tip up on that front idler with the extra weight without the fifth roller, though, and you don't want to to that on a regular basis lest you crack the idler.

The 62 blade will angle both ways. There is supposed to be a pin in each arm, which are box section with slides inside. You might have another weld job, though.

Don't know about the fender prices, although that does sound a bit high to me.

As far as the tracks go, you have to figure out the wear on everything before addressing the grousers on the pads. BTW, those are snow/mud pads and have alternating heights. One pad will have high spots on the outer thirds and the next will have the high spot in the center third and so on. Looks like you've lost half the grouser height, which makes them a lot like the ones on my 420c.

I don't know what you're referring to by 'fuel bung', though. I don't have a bung in my fuel tank on my 420.

Stan

[emmett]

Nice looking toy you've got there.

I have the same model also with a 62 blade.
Blade is heavy.. need all 5 rollers.

Might want to straighten that muffler stack out...



I'd pay the price for those fenders if you can't find cheaper.
Major safety issue to drive that dawg without fenders.

If you get both fenders for $300, I'd say you have a deal.

You could fab your own... but getting the bolt-holes (against the boat sides) right will be a challenge.

We're practically neighbors.
I'm in Waterbury, Vermont...

Good luck with her..

Emmett

[Howard Yoder]

Them pads would work good on a loader but for a blade you should have a heavier grouser. If your rails are good which they appear to be (can't tell for sure by the picture) then just find the pads and get a 3/4 drive impact it isn't a bad job. You have a good looking dozer there. The gas tank looks normal according to what I can see in the picture. Have fun.

[Ray III]

Thanks for all that info, especially Stan!

I will look at the adjustment of the valves. You mean the rods with yokes on them?

Definitely plenty of weight on the front, I was just thinking the smaller tracks are fine if it is purely a tractor. Where we were clearing the trail in the woods, it follows a ridge with a VERY steep drop-off in one area... I went over the edge at one point and before I could stab the clutch and brake it had teetered over and was pointing downhill at a rather uncomfortable angle. Decided right then that the tracks were not too long!

I'll put a chain on that blade and try to yank it out of there, see if there is a hole that got plugged up in the inner section...

Are the fenders pretty heavy duty or just sheetmetal? I did almost get whacked a couple times when the tracks grabbed branches.

Meant to say the boss on the bottom of the tank, not bung (what the hell's a bung?) Where the water separator screws in. The separator is angled toward the starter a bit and not straight down. Reason I ask is I thought it would be neat to put a T in there (which won't fit unless it's straight down) and attach a nipple and clear plastic tube secured vertically to the side of the dash, with a little floating ball to show the fuel level. Not really vintage, but it's not like I'm bolting a wing to it, right?

[Stan Disbrow]

Hi,

Yes, these things started as 3-roller and they just pulled stuff. Then, they added a light blade, then a heavier one, and 3rd parties started making all sorts of stuff (most of what you see popping up in the upper left of the site is 3rd party goodies). So, the thing grew a 4th roller, then eventually, a 5th one. By then, one could put so much stuff onto the base machine that one couldn't *find* the base machine!

Yup, your first 'teeter-totter' can be a thrill, for sure!

The fenders are made from pretty heavy sheetmetal. It's not like the hood, for sure. I'd say you do need a set. You'll be getting whacked with a lot of stuff without them.....

A 'bung' is the screw-in plug type thing found most commonly on top of an oil barrel. These crawlers have a couple on the final drive housings to access the steering clutch adustments. If you have a differential style reverser, then there's a couple on that as well for adjusting those clutches.

So, when you wrote 'bung', I read 'bung' and thought: 'I have four on my 420c, but none of them are in the fuel tank!', and so asked 'what bung?'....

The fuel valve unit is straight on all my machines, so yours must have been whacked at some point and they put another one on (can't imagine that the thing survived being whacked hard enough to torque the hole onto an angle).

Stan