440IC steering clutches

[djt5278]

Picked up a 1959 440IC dozer with 4300 hours a seized motor and a locked track. Tore it down and freed up the motor and am waiting on parts, so in the meantime I wanted to get going on repairing the drive. Previous owner said the left track did not move when it was parked five years ago. The left steering brake lever will not spring return when you pull it back, it just stays where you leave it. Right side feels fine. No way of checking what happens with power until I get the parts, any ideas on where to start?

 

[Jim.ME]

Sounds like a teardown is in order. First step is get the service manual for it (John Deere # SM2023) and an Operator's manual (JD# OMT54858 for serial numbers prior to 448000, or OMT54859 for serial number 448000 and after). The manuals can be new from JD, used from eBay, or good reprints (like SV Cummins I've had good luck with peacefulcreek's reprints) of the actual JD manuals of the part numbers I listed.

Those were dry clutches so they often were plagued with rusting issues which could be the problem as it sounds like things are sticking in there. Soaking in oil or diesel is not a good thing for dry clutches.

 

[M-MAN]

I would suggest visiting jdcrawlers
website.

 

[Keith-OR]

Soaking in oil or anything else is a completely waste of time. That is not going to free them up!!! I've replaced 4 finals on John
Deere 1010 crawlers so far, got to the point I can almost do i with my eyes closed. Your gonna have to pull the final to free up
stuck frictions and steel drive plates. More than likely will have to replace pressure plate.
First thing ya need to get service manual, I bought mine a Peaceful Creek manual off ebay, seems a lot cheaper than from their
website.
Ya can get some really good advice and parts from Lavoy on WWW.jdcrawlers.com. Lavoy even has manuals and most parts ya might need.