Being an adult sux sometimes...

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This is my snow removal device. Heated cab and power steering don'tchaknow...
 
I dood it:

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John Deere (duh...) 420C, a 1957 model going by the serial number. Engine should run with a tuneup, trans needs work (thought to be a bearing) and the left front idler wheel is flopping around a bit, probably a bearing or a shaft. The rest of it, tho in it's working clothes, appears to be in pretty good shape. I have all of the tin except one battery box cover.

Hauling that thing back 350 miles from Massachusetts with my 1/2 ton Tundra was fun. Pull it fine, but you needed to plan ahead for stops. Single-digit gas mileage was cringe-worthy, thank goodness gas prices are down a bit.

Now the fun begins!
 
One of my "imaginary friends" has a John Deere 420C crawler he'd let me have quite reasonably. Needs a bearing in the transmission, but otherwise ready to work.

I'm not at all sure I want to tackle that big a job: You have to drop the tracks and pull the final drives and clutch packs to work on the trans. IF (big if...) all it needs is that bearing, I'm sure the part could be found. But by the time I paid him for it, drove 700 miles round trip to go get it, spent the Winter fixing it I'd have $2000 or $2500 in it if everything went smoothly (when's the last time that happened, especially on a 60 or 70 year old bulldozer?)

Just can't make it pencil out. I can hire a big dozer and a professional operator for half a day (if that) to do everything I want done around here and it wouldn't come to half of that.

Ha!.......you bin watching too much Alaskan Mechanics on TV :)

Trouble is its not just the cost of buying and shipping and repair but you also have to factor the cost of routine maintenance , emergency repairs and also the cost of sourcing scarce parts for your vintage dozer .

I too spend hours agonising over various options these days ....its a senior thing lol Now I always do a FOR and AGAINST list side by side ......that usually shows what the sensible option is ;)
edit....

You went ahead and doo'd it ! afterall . it looks a fine little beast .
 
yep , the smaller the machine the more fun they , the strangest one ever driven was a cat d1 dozer 2 miles out to sea ... was a sand mine in a shallow bay so the sand went out in self proppeled barges , once the sand was loaded the peaks had to be leveled with the baby dozer , was fun sometimes sliding down a mountain of sand sideways heading for the hull with no cabin /roll bar etc ... anyway depending on price good score .. hope you enjoy it and it doesnt give you to much trouble fixing it
 
now THAT looks like a rollicking good time DE - your very own tank (which could of course also be used to move earth around or do custom body work on cars or wend your way quickly through the daily traffic jam in downtown Prospect Harbor....)! ;)
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PLEASE keep us posted on how you are progressing with this big ol' gal!

Pete
 
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Got it unloaded, some of the big chunks off it and stuffed into the garage. Momma not too happy about "her" car sitting outside, but she'll get over it. Or not...

UPS guy stopped in while we were unloading it, said "What're you going to do with THAT?"

"Fix it up and putter around with it here" I sez.

"Well, I'm looking forward to seeing it run, just remember I only have two years until I retire."

Wiseass....:laughing:
 
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