I'm looking at buying a 450J for logging and wondering what to look for when I'm assessing the machine. It's a 2006 with 2900 hours, and has the extended life undercarriage. What kinds of issues are common for this machine? Is there a way to test the hydrostatic drive motors? Any thoughts or pointers would be helpful.
Sorry to see no one has dropped by to help. Not sure on the 450j's. But i personally own a 2007 650j lgp. Almost 5k hours now. Should be pretty close to having the same issues if it were to have some. The first major problem I had with mine was the T.C.U or transmission control unit. It reads diagnostic codes and also can make your life hell. I've replaced two already at $3200.00 each. Then it must be recalibrated which costs more. I also had an injector pump go out, I think was around $1700-$2,000. The next repair was a hydrostatic drive coupler that stalled out in a burn pile, was about $3,000.00 or more for labor and parts. But the worst part about all of this was by far the t.c.u. units I had to replace. John Deere has a poor design that allows exposure to the computer for moisture and whatever else that can seep through, and yet they will not honor it. It's made by a 3rd party company called sauer danfoss. I contacted them about repairing and they said absolutely not, it's proprietary to John Deere. Looked everywhere for an electronic repair company, found quite a few, but all said they could not make any repairs on it. Other than that I love the machine. But it's been a money pit. Gonna be demoing something else soon. Let me know if you get it! Best of luck!
I can get you information on the electronic repairs. email me [email protected]
We never had many problems with them. Just slightly annoying to service because they're low to ground. I've put an injection pump on a couple and several speed sensors but as long as they're maintained should last a while.