John Deere 350 Straight - My Emotional Support Bulldozer...

[bulletpruf]

I have had some trials and tribulations (read: fiascoes) in my attempt to find a reasonably priced dozer here in Texas. I looked at a lot of junk, turned wrenches on several machines, and even ended up with a running and operating 20 ton Cat that I got for free (and it was worth exactly what I paid for it).

Anyway, I upped my budget and decided I wanted something that was small enough to move around behind an F350 on an equipment trailer, something with good parts availability, something that I could buy for $10k or less in running condition, and something that wasn't super difficult to find. With those parameters, I started looking for a John Deere 350, preferably with the 6 way blade, and I found one about 30 minutes south of where I live in San Antonio.

Owner was asking $10k and I got it for $8,500, and he delivered it, too. I think I overpaid a bit for it, but I'm not going to lose sleep over it.

Anyway, it's a '67 model 350 Straight (i.e, not a 350B, 350C, etc) that runs and operates. Weight is right around 11k lbs, and it's equipped with dry steering clutches (350C and later came with wet), a PTO (optional), a reverser (optional on the early 350's), 6 way blade, low hours, and nice undercarriage, although it currently has loader shoes instead of the single grouser dozer shoes. Edit - these came with gas and diesel 3 cylinders. This one is diesel.

Plan is to address a few issues and then bring her to my buddy's ranch to do some cleanup, road building and some site prep for a building or two.

 

[kfgoeckner]

I have a 350c. Great little machine that is capable of doing alot of work and is easy to haul. And is a great emotional support,and stress relief machine. Much better than a stress ball.

 

[bulletpruf]

So, the dozer has several issues that need to be addressed. First, it would die after running for a few minutes, but if you waited, you could start it back up. Second, the track tensioner on the left side is stuck fully extended and won't release. Third, the clutch pedal return spring is broken and has been replaced by a bungee cord on the pedal itself. Fourth, the engine runs a bit rough at low rpm. Fifth - the 6 way blade control is extremely sloppy. Sixth - it has loader tracks and it really should have single grouser dozer tracks. Seventh - I don't know when fluids and filters were changed last, so I'm changing everything, and that ain't going to be cheap! There's a bunch of other stuff to do, but those are the big ticket items.

Last weekend, my buddy and I decided to tackle the fuel delivery issue, and I pretty much chased my tail the entire damn day. It was hot and sunny, and I should have pushed my road race Javelin project outside so we could work on the dozer in the air conditioned shop, but I didn't and we paid for it.

Anyway, I had pretty much convinced myself that the fuel delivery problem was caused by the injection pump, because it's a common issue with the Roosa Master pumps in these machines. The governor flex ring disintegrates and that plugs up the return fitting on top of the injection pump, pressure gets too high in the injection pump housing, and then it stops pumping fuel to the injectors.

Anyway, I confirmed there was fuel in the fuel filters and, in my mind, that meant that the problem had to be something downstream of the fuel filters, which is just a fuel hard line and then the injection pump. But when I took the cap off the injection pump, there was no debris to be found.

I then removed the inlet to the injection pump and cranked the engine over and, to quote Karl from Sling Blade, "It ain't got no fuel in it." In other words, the fuel pump was only pumping a intermittent dribble to the injection pump.

Then I removed the fuel line at the fuel shutoff valve under the seat and virtually no fuel came out; the brass shutoff valve was almost completely plugged with fine debris. I removed the valve, disassembled it, and completely cleaned it out.

Then I drained the fuel tank of the 15 gallons of diesel that was in it, and a fair bit of crud came out.

And I used a wire bore brush to clean out the pickup tube that goes into the fuel tank; it was almost completely plugged, too.

And after bleeding the injectors - royal PITA - we put it all back together and she fired up and ran really clean after the air was purged out.

FYI - the seller told me that he thought the fuel delivery issue was because of trash in the tank. I guess I should have listened to him...

 

[timbertime2]

Bullet, take your 6 way linkage off and buy new from John Deere if you have lots of money. If short of money braze the wollered out holes up with bronze rod. Then align the linkage on a drill press and drill new holes, add new roll pins. And your good for another 59 years. I have a 350 with a winch and another 350 with 3 point hitch.

 

[bulletpruf]

Bullet, take your 6 way linkage off and buy new from John Deere if you have lots of money. If short of money braze the wollered out holes up with bronze rod. Then align the linkage on a drill press and drill new holes, add new roll pins. And your good for another 59 years. I have a 350 with a winch and another 350 with 3 point hitch.

Thanks for the input. Any idea how much a new one 6 way control sells for?

Scott

 

[Jim.ME]

Thanks for the input. Any idea how much a new one 6 way control sells for?

Scott

They would be a Deere only item to fit your 350, no aftermarket I know of. The last I heard was a price of about $1500 for a linkage kit and I don't think they are available anymore. I am not sure all the individual parts are either. I see you are on the jdcrawlers site as well. Give Lavoy a phone call. If there is a kit available, I expect he would know. Control rebuilds have been discussed many times there and most go the braze build up, re-drill route, and make pins as needed.

Edit to add: I just looked at the parts catalog and checked the numbers on my JD account. It looks like the original AT23459 kit has been replaced by AT64924 Kit. That shows a price of $1376 at the dealer I use. That is no guarantee that kit is still available, you would have to have your dealer check.

 

[bulletpruf]

Bullet, take your 6 way linkage off and buy new from John Deere if you have lots of money. If short of money braze the wollered out holes up with bronze rod. Then align the linkage on a drill press and drill new holes, add new roll pins. And your good for another 59 years. I have a 350 with a winch and another 350 with 3 point hitch.

Thanks for the input. Any idea how much a new one 6 way control sells for?

Scott

They would be a Deere only item to fit your 350, no aftermarket I know of. The last I heard was a price of about $1500 for a linkage kit and I don't think they are available anymore. I am not sure all the individual parts are either. I see you are on the jdcrawlers site as well. Give Lavoy a phone call. If there is a kit available, I expect he would know. Control rebuilds have been discussed many times there and most go the braze build up, re-drill route, and make pins as needed.

Edit to add: I just looked at the parts catalog and checked the numbers on my JD account. It looks like the original AT23459 kit has been replaced by AT64924 Kit. That shows a price of $1376 at the dealer I use. That is no guarantee that kit is still available, you would have to have your dealer check.

Thanks for checking on that! I need to stop by my dealer this morning to pick up a few more gallons of Hy-Gard. I'll see if I can get a price on that.

Thanks again,

Scott

 

[bulletpruf]

Dealer says the kit is no longer available. Same with the individual parts. If anyone has a used handle or parts, please let me know.

 

[crawlercollecter]

Dealer says the kit is no longer available. Same with the individual parts. If anyone has a used handle or parts, please let me know.

Yellow Iron Salvage in Missouri might have 1-573-378-6407

 

[bulletpruf]

Yellow Iron Salvage in Missouri might have 1-573-378-6407

I think I have found one already. Thanks