I am looking at a Deere 770 I am not sure of the year. My question is the fact of 11k hours with the post of the Deere engine with a connection rod sticking out of the side of the engine made me think of the hour meter reading. The engine starts well warm/cold slight blow-by from the breather no unusual noises...What say ye...:usa
A Houston outfit I worked for once bought some Deere graders once, probably in the 80's. According to one superintendent, they soon went back to CAT. I've heard they are light on the back end, and have frequent transmission problems. And now Deere parts can run higher than CAT is what I hear. Then I know a guy locally who's owned two in a row and run the crap out of both and will not pay the surcharge for the CAT label. They are reportedly much better on fuel consumption than CAT. Problem is, they seem to bring about half of a CAT grader of the same size and age. If you have to fix anything major, it's money you may never see again except by running it out. That's self-limiting if there are constant fixes.
I've not had any personal experience with a Deere with that many hours so can't say firsthand. I'd think it would depend a lot on service and workload. You probably can't verify either. Looks like quite a financial gamble. But then so is buying on with half those hours for twice as much money....
my neighbour has a 770 jd and has had a good run out of it, the only problems he has had have been through lack of maintenance(read neglect) there are plenty of 670b's doing hard bush work in the northwest, as far as parts being expensive, i dont think there that bad compared to galion...lol... they seem to be better value for money than cat equivalent! the big cost of repairs in outback australia is labour more than parts, the good fitters all get paid too much by mining companies. goodwin
Sounds risky to me. All I can say is I love my 770, but it only has just under 2000hrs but its twice the grader my old Champion was
A JD 670B went at auction today in Ft. Worth, TX for $21,000 U.S. No year model or hours given, but it looked good in the photos at Ritchie Bros. website, which is down right now or I would post the link.