International T340 Capabilities

[sammygunns1]

I’ll try to keep this short. I have some land that has some trails I’ve been wanting to widen, and cut some new ones. Not a huge project but requires a fair amount of dirt to be cut and moved.

Near me I have found an IH T340(gas) with a Drott 4 in 1 loader. I’m not looking to knock over 200 year old oak trees but I will need to cut into a good bit of dirt. Would a T340 get the job done?

 

[old]

I’ll try to keep this short. I have some land that has some trails I’ve been wanting to widen, and cut some new ones. Not a huge project but requires a fair amount of dirt to be cut and moved.

Near me I have found an IH T340(gas) with a Drott 4 in 1 loader. I’m not looking to knock over 200 year old oak trees but I will need to cut into a good bit of dirt. Would a T340 get the job done?

Simple answer is yes but it will be slow going and could take a good bit of time with a machine that small but then again it isn't a D-8Cat

 

[sammygunns1]

Bump

 

[Powered By IH]

Bump

Old gave you a spot-on answer. It might be slow-going.

 

[Jim.ME]

Bump

It likely can do what you describe but I expect it will be slow going as has been posted.

Purchase price aside, be aware that operating an old crawler to do actual work will likely not end up as inexpensive as it looks. That can apply to repair parts needed and amount of labor to keep it running and fix things. If the tracks are worn and you throw one, you will have a learning experience if you have never done that task.

It has often been said "there is no such thing as a cheap crawler."

 

[Steve in VA]

I’ll try to keep this short. I have some land that has some trails I’ve been wanting to widen, and cut some new ones. Not a huge project but requires a fair amount of dirt to be cut and moved.

Near me I have found an IH T340(gas) with a Drott 4 in 1 loader. I’m not looking to knock over 200 year old oak trees but I will need to cut into a good bit of dirt. Would a T340 get the job done?

Does the Drott 4 in 1 use that odd vertical web in the middle? My off MF 200B had that setup and it made filling the bucket harder to do. As everyone said, it will work but if that style bucket; even slower.

 

[sammygunns1]

Here is the unit I found. Haven’t put eyes on it yet but it supposedly has good undercarriages, new bearings in the finals, smokes a little, and turns better on one side than the other.

Right now without making an offer lower than the asking price, it would be $8k for the crawler and the trailer it’s sitting on.

 

[the tractior vet]

Well heres my take after only one quick look at a photo . RUN , run away as fast as you can . The tracks are shot . When you see the ft. idler at the end of the track frame they are done finished . and it is not will it throw a track it is when it will . I have been around crawlers since i was a pup and ran them worked on them from a Oliver O C 3 on up to the D 9 G's and many in between . Yep we have tossed tracks off and the OLD ones were a nightmare to get back on since they had old fashioned screw style adjusters and 99.9% of the time they were froze solid and ya spend half a day with the FACTORY track adjuster wrench and a BIG rosebud torch and once you do get it to turn then ya have five to eight INCHED a quarter turn at a time backing it off . Then the fight of getting the track back on and buddy they can be a multi man fight with spud bars and chain come a longs. Next on the DO NOT BUY list is where ya going to get parts from??????? and yep you will need parts.

 

[MeanGene1]

One thing to consider if you want to grade roads- if you don't have good track loader skills, better to get a small dozer. You can make a pretty good mess with a track loader if you don't know the tricks

 

[sammygunns1]

Well heres my take after only one quick look at a photo . RUN , run away as fast as you can . The tracks are shot . When you see the ft. idler at the end of the track frame they are done finished . and it is not will it throw a track it is when it will . I have been around crawlers since i was a pup and ran them worked on them from an Oliver O C 3 on up to the D 9 G's and many in between . Yep we have tossed tracks off and the OLD ones were a nightmare to get back on since they had old fashioned screw style adjusters and 99.9% of the time they were froze solid and ya spend half a day with the FACTORY track adjuster wrench and a BIG rosebud torch and once you do get it to turn then ya have five to eight INCHED a quarter turn at a time backing it off . Then the fight of getting the track back on and buddy they can be a multi man fight with spud bars and chain come a longs. Next on the DO NOT BUY list is where ya going to get parts from??????? and yep you will need parts.

Educate me, where is the idler supposed to sit in a non warn out condition?

 

[Jim.ME]

Your picture looks like there might be an inch of travel left for taking up the slack in the track. It would better if the travel was half used up, or less.

Measurements of components tells the condition of an undercarriage, not just how it looks to someone. Most estimate undercarriage to be better than they truly are.

 

[sammygunns1]

Your picture looks like there might be an inch of travel left for taking up the slack in the track. It would better if the travel was half used up, or less.

Measurements of components tells the condition of an undercarriage, not just how it looks to someone. Most estimate undercarriage to be better than they truly are.

What part of the tensioner are you looking at? Just trying to learn some things

 

[Jim.ME]

The rod the idler bracket is mounted on.

 

[spacechem]

"Would a T340 get the job done?"

Well, as the comedian said, "Every place is walking distance if you've got the time."

IMHO, you need to ask yourself two questions:
1. What is the value to me for the trailer if I wind up junking the crawler?
2. How many hours of rental (of a more modern and capable machine) will $8000 cover?

 

[Powered By IH]

2. How many hours of rental (of a more modern and capable machine) will $8000 cover?

That's a very good question, plus then you don't have to keep up with maintenance and adjustment.

 

[Stan Coryell]

What's parts availability look like?

I think you're looking at a boat anchor.

There was a guy on Facebook Market Place trying to sell a Deere 350? dozer. He used it on his property, finished with it, and was trying to recoup some money. I think he wanted $8k then $5k for it. Not unreasonable. It was up for the better part of a year. I don't know if he ever sold it.

Point is: even with much better parts availability, he had a boat anchor.

I'd entertain hiring it out or a month rental before tying up $8k.

 

[used red MN]

Educate me, where is the idler supposed to sit in a non warn out condition?

Amount of threads slide at the top end of the red line vs the amount of threads slide at the top end of the blue line. The thread slide adjusts the axis or center of the front idler, it needs to move more forward to tighten the track.

 

[RedMF40]

I don’t know how much of a skid steer $8k will buy but you might consider looking at them. I’d stay away from antique machinery for getting any real work done. Looks like they stopped making the T 340 in 1965 and it’s possibly older.

 

[used red MN]

Amount of threads at the red line vs the amount of threads at the blue line. The thread adjusts the axis or center of the front idler, it needs to move more forward to tighten the track. View attachment 162495

Sorry I don’t think the area I pointed to are threaded, that is the bar it slides on when adjusted. The lines do show you the proportions of the slide area that remains for adjustment. The red line here points to what is the threaded section. I personally can’t tell you if this machine has a threaded track adjustment. Later crawlers use a piston that is filled with grease. More grease is pumped in with a grease gun to adjust the tracks.

 

[sammygunns1]

Thanks everyone for all the different inputs. I think the general consensus is to keep searching for something with a bit more parts availability or consider a rental.