Hello all, I’m on here looking for some knowledge. I’m about to buy a 1977 d4d and I have very little to no experience with dozers. what are some things to look for? Any info is appreciated Thanks
Learn to assess undercarriage. Track pitch is likely a round number, Well stretched, measure several shoes on a flat surface. Numerous places on internet give a quick tutoring on how to read. Look for oil on the ground. Put it through a good workout. I near pulled the trigger on a John Deere 450C. It seemed good, but the land around the seller's property was newly seeded, I felt I couldn't work it. I brought an expert with me to pick it up & he gave it a thorough inspection. After half hour run time smoke was coming from the winch. Close inspection found a hose from the crankcase vent to the winch. Engine blow by was bad, pressurizing the crankcase. Crawling around under it, we found new paint on the transmission housing. Under that paint was steel welded to the cast iron transmission. I walked away from that purchase. I later learned a common failure of that machine began with bolts attaching front crossmember to the track frame breaking. They either get run broken, or welded as it is easier than removing broken bolts. Rigidity causes crossmember breakage & subsequent strain on the transmission case. A proper fix involves replacing the transmission case, a very big job. Best advice I can give is to find a Howard to inspect it before buying, Some sellers won't disclose problems. I ended up buying a Dresser, low hours, undercarriage with enough life left in it to last my lifetime. It still had numerous problems that had to be addressed. A hose under the transmission was replaced with a generic piece of 2" hydraulic hose it needed to be preformed in a very tight 180 degree bend, a very expensive Dresser part. Mean thing to get to to replace. Numerous expendable guides in the track tensioning system needed replacement. A few track rollers leaked their lubricant. Biggest single problem was track shoes were too wide for the frame. They damaged the blade angle cylinders. At one point a C frame pivot pin fell out, The blade assembly swung & a blade angle cylinder was ruined. These are as scarce as hen's teeth.
That little dozer looks to be in great shape. Undercarriage is good and it don't look all beat up. If it runs and shifts and steers good you may have found yourself a gem.
Best you go with a good dozer mechanic for some quality inspections.
The undercarriage on that tractor is the best I've seen in years on a used tractor - so no money required there. Make sure the transmission shifts smoothly, and that the tractors pushes a full blade strongly. Look for heavy breathing from the crankcase breather, and look at the exhaust for smoke and colour of smoke, if any. Exhaust should only show a faint trace of black when working hard, blue is oil burning, caused by worn rings or cylinder bores. Let the tractor get warm, then let it idle for 10 minutes, then open the throttle quickly and watch the smoke colour. Black smoke is good, blue smoke is worn valve guides. Listen for any unusual engine noises, check the dipstick for rust at the top of the stick, this indicates water in the crankcase, not a good sign. Look at the coolant for condition. Is it a good colour, or is the cooling system rusty? Poor maintenance of the cooling system will cost you $$'s down the track. Check the radiator fins and tubes for condition, for damage or repairs. Look to see if the core is blocked through the fins and tubes. Is the engine overheating under load? Radiator replacements are big $$'s. Lift the blade right up and check the underside, see if there's any severe wear in the plate that supports the cutting edge. Operators get lazy, and forget to check cutting edge level of wear, and they wear the cutting edge too far down, until the support plate needs to be rebuilt. Overall, that tractor looks to be in really nice condition, and doesn't show any signs of abuse or severe working conditions. Check the sold tractor sale prices to ensure you aren't paying too much.
hey thanks for the replies! one of the things that worried me was paint on the filters or are they supposed to be yellow? if not wouldn't that be a sign of poor Maintenace? I was thinking about bringing extra filters when I look at it so i could cut into the old ones and check for metal flakes but don't know the do's or don'ts on these old machines.
The engine oil filter is a cartridge-type filter, so the yellow painted filter housing is normal. The fuel filter is a spin-on/screw-on type, so the colour is different. It's not a bad idea to cut open and check the filters, but you do need to open them right up, and know what you're looking for. The engine has had a new or reconditioned cylinder head fitted in recent times, as indicated by the lack of paint. Usually this is because the tractor has been overheating and the cylinder head has developed cracks. If the engine has run hot, the piston rings will have lost their tension, and oil burning usually results. Check for blowby when the engine is at operating temperature, from that crankcase breather pipe that ends below the starter motor. Your engine is an earlier precombustion chamber model, 3304 engine - if the cooling system has become degraded, you can end up with corrosion holes in the precombustion chambers, and then a hydraulic lock when you try to start it, where the coolant has leaked through the precom corrosion hole into a cylinder.
Here is a LINK to the best video I have come across showing how to cut and inspect a filter element. It will work for any type of filter, the only thing that will change is the way that the outer case/mesh is cut apart to get at the filter media inside. Squeezing a section of the media in a vice is important to reveal what particles it might be hiding.
The engine is a 330C with the 4 3/4" bore engine, the Track work has been done by a Learner as things look but its O.K. the Tractor is a neat and tidy unit with a good visual all round stance, the engine looks loose in the frame and might need more investigation, it will need dialing in on the mounts as the drive pucks will be starting to fall to bits.
I could never tell if the engine was loose but it looks like the machine wasn't too abused. The plate around the gear shifter isn't even worn from slamming the shifter around back and forth. Look at some pics. of other dozers and you'll see a lot of wear on the plate around the shifter. It looks like an original low hour machine, even the seat looks original like it was kept in a shed. I've never seen a lock on the oil fill cap before. It may have ben repainted at some point but overall it looks like a good machine. Does it come with the engine side panels? If you want to do any bush work you need them.
It is steel or cast iron on the D4D, not aluminium like on other models. Plus there is no spring detent on forward to reverse, only the speeds. So there is never any wear there.
I appreciate all the information. I’m going to look at it this weekend and if all is good bring it home. It does come with side panels and also has hydraulic outlets on the back
Incidentally, as tctractors points out, the engine is a D330C model, the early version of the 3304 - so, on that basis, it's not going to be a 1977 model. The 4.75" bore D330C engine was introduced in late 1968, and was only installed for the about the first 3 years of the D4D's approximately 10 years of model run, so your tractor is more likely to be a late 1960's, or early 1970's year of build. A tractor serial number will enable us to ID the year of build. The side panels assist in keeping flying trash, sand particles, and small sticks from entering the airflow to the fan, which causes radiator core damage - unless a radiator trash grid has been fitted.
Here’s the serial number
83J production started in 1968, so what about 1969-70 for a year of manufacture.?
Close, actually 1971