I ran across a good deal on a nice looking 953. Except for the fact it needs a motor. The problem is they need it moved quick. My question is, is it possible to pull The planetary's or something to get a rear engine to freewheel? I have done this with a excavator in the past. Thanks.
Hopefully others will weigh in , but I think you can pull the axles out of it and it will roll.
Early machines had an on-board hand-operated brake release pump so releasing the brakes is simple. For later machines you need a volume bucket and some fittings to connect to the machine brake system in order to release the brakes.
Remove the small circular covers from the centre of the final drives and pull out the sun gears. BUT beware, the machine will now freewheel.
Cmark, that reminds me of seeing M-60 dewat tanks moved to Chiriaco Summit, California (George Patton Museum). They had no tracks. They were moved-in on low trailers. The ground was almost flat. The first unloaded tank rolled on its track wheels across the parking area, thru a hedge, and smashed a single wide house trailer. No tracks = no brakes.