Have been looking for a small excavator for myself and stumbled onto a 76 Deere 350B dozer Im thinking of picking up. Hoping to use it largely for grading out some old access roads on the property, and ultimately to skid logs out of my back acreage. I like the looks of the 350B, seems real common so parts should be easy to find? And its small, so it'll fit in my tighter woods. I'm going to look at it Thursday - is there anything in particular I should look for? I havent actually seen it up close yet, just from a distance so I dont have too much info. The current owner has owned for 20+ years, last year he said the engine developed a "skip". He had the injection pump gone through/rebuilt but that did not resolve the issue. Hasn't done anything else since. He says it still starts and runs though. I'm not even sure what a "skip" is, but any ideas what it might be? A sign of a serious issue, or possibly something simple? We havent talked price too much yet but I got the impression he doesnt have much interest in fixing it and I believe I can get a decent deal on it. Ive also done enough research to know a decent deal on a dozer can turn into a huge money pit in no time... Any info on these dozers at all would be appreciated - Im a complete dozer amateur so anything helps.
It's a pretty small dozer, about 12,000 lbs. so isn't going to do major work. Check if the trans. oil is leaking into the reverser. There's some other things to check too if you're really interested.
Undercarriage is worth more than machine if bad...make sure it is good..skip is not a term i use. Could be a stuck or burnt valve.
I definitely understand its small, I don't intend to work it very hard. No stumping, clearing forest land, nothing like that...mostly just grading previously built roads/my driveway and skidding logs out. Nothing commercial, strictly just hobby/maintaining my property. Can I get into the reverser without a bunch of tools and work?
Yes, I'll check this as best I can. Basically just looking to ensure the chain, sprockets and rollers are good? I can see/feel the chain and sprockets easy enough...but is there any particular way to check the rollers? If they're worn out will it be obvious to the eye? Or when I move the dozer they'll be noisy?
Nope reverse is a bugger....doable...everything on 350 is fixable...but is it worth the time...depends on cost and your time
Make sure inner pins and bushings good not just outside bushings. Rollers can be looked at for wear...and rust coming out of bearings. Check front idler for wear and wobble...also check steering both sides. All costs add up quick on a dozer. If the sum is better then all good.
350 are usually pretty tough machines...but most are worn right out by now
Just be aware that if any major repairs are needed on that machine that many of the "hard" parts are obsolete which means they are no longer available through Deere. They might not be available used either.
Do you mean parts like rollers, sprockets, etc?
No, I was referring to transmission, frame and final drive parts. You can get clutches (wear items) but not clutch housings or gears if they are needed. Track stuff can be purchased aftermarket.
Ah ok, makes sense. The Deere 350 seems to be very common around my parts...at any given time there are several on craigslist it seems like, so Im thinking used parts must be readily available if anything major is needed? Well we'll see, Im heading over early tomorrow morning. I'll post back my findings and snap some pictures if I can.
There's a bunch of bolts that come loose on the trans. and the bushings for the cross bar joining the track frames can get sloppy. If you look in the archives on here or the internet there's probably info on what to check on JD350.
What Dave said plus make sure it steers. Steering clutch linkage on those machines like to seize if the machine sits for a long time.
some pictures and we could give better answers
Quick update on this...I went to see this almost a month ago now. Unfortunately the battery was stone cold dead and we couldnt get it started. It turned over slowly, but never fired up. Current owner really doesn't want to mess with it but said I'm welcome to come take a look on my own, so Im planning to head back next week with a fresh battery and fuel and see if it'll fire up. The undercarriage looked pretty beat to me...but Im thinking for <$2000 it might be worth fixing it up a bit for use around my property. I'll snap some photos when I go check it out again.