My new little Case 350B dozer

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I picked this up about 50 miles from my house yesterday. Case 350B with a 6 way blade. I've been wanting one for a while. It's been sitting in a field for almost five years, he said it ran great when he parked it but he can't get it to turn over and he'd been working on it for 4 days. All the fluids looked brand new and full. We settled on a price and it took my brother and me five minutes to have it purring like a kitten. There are a few minor issues with it but nothing major at all. Needs a battery, Starter button was bad(thats why he couldnt get it to turn over), Left side idler pulley bearing is shot, a couple small hydraulic leaks, I think something was chewing on the hoses. A few track adjustment need to be made. The under carriage is about 75-80%. What do y'all think?

I think it's swell. You do know you need more stuff right?

 

[Sawyer Rob]

Well Rob you have the tractors and trailers and the dozer now all you need to complete the quest is a mini ex and a 5 yd dump. A complete man should have all of these things...and perhaps a Leatherman attached to his belt.

WELL, you haven't seen my whole fleet yet! lol lol

SR

 

[varmint]

I liked the designated washer, at work! I'll bet he'll know his way around equipment as he grows up.

 

[City Farmer]

How much does that nice little dozer weigh ? It is a real bonus to be able to pull it with a p/u.

It's about 8600lbs and it takes my trailer to the max. The trailer has good breaks and tires but I still go slow and keep it under 55. Slow & steady wins the race for me.

 

[City Farmer]

Nice looking machines Rob! I won't part with mine for nothing. It's amazing how much work these little dozers can do. I have all the covers for mine but the kill cable is frozen. I have to get off the machine and turn it off by hand. I found a place online that had them in stock for $200 but there's no way I'm paying that for a cable. I'm going to pull it off and soak it in some oil, hopefully it frees up.

 

[City Farmer]

Fast forward a couple years and my inexperience making track assessments really showed through. I was able to put about 60hrs on it before everything went down hill. The track, drive sprocket, seals and final drive shaft was/is completly shot. I hung up the phone when they told me a new chain was $1800. I didn't ask if it was for one or both but that's a lot more than I wanted to spend (I'm cheap). I got some 1"CRS for the pins and 1-1/2" pipe for the bushings. I sent the pins to heat for case hardening, $102.50 for 70 pins 60Rc. I hard turned the pins. The bushing were a serious pain, only .003" was coming off. I had to make a shim die today too. They wanted $.50/.025" shim and I need about 250pcs. I finally got all the new parts so I'm hoping I'll get one side finished 100% by Sunday.

 

[Gordon Gould]

Pretty amazing what you are doing. A lot of nice work there !! And to make you feel better I am pretty sure the $1800 would be for one side. While you are doing this make sure your links are not worn down to much and are still tall enough so that the roller flanges do not rub on the track pads and the centers of the top and front idlers do not rub on the new bushings. Of course the rollers and idlers are probably worn also.

 

[City Farmer]

Gordon, your spot on. It's a whole lotta work. I've split my fair share of tractors but wrenching on a dozer is 2x harder. The head of almost every bolt breaks off and I've been cranking handles non stop. The links and top idler look good but the rollers are completly shot. By eye, they're worn about 5/16-3/8". I've been thinking about the "fix" for those. $179/roller (we need 10) and there's only one is in stock at Coleman Equipment. This might be an opportunity for me to buy a mig welder.

 

[City Farmer]

Here we are 5 weeks later and I'm finally getting this thing back together. To get the best pricing, I had to order parts from all over. I'm out of time and I need to get it moving again. The whole UC has been replaced, final drives, sprockets, spacers, bearings, seals, rollers, pins/bushings and one new chain. The chain tensioner was shot and rusted out of the housing. It had to be pressed back in and welded all up. I have a buddy that seen it in pieces. He put it in the truck and brought it back rebuilt. If I'm lucky, I'll have it done this weekend. I'm going for 100% mechanical, then in the far off future, I'll paint it. If I had to do it over again, I would've just bought a new chain and been done with it. Rebuilding the chain is up there with one of the worst jobs I've done.

 

[Gordon Gould]

I like that track tensioner. Those are the kind of buddies to have. It will feel good when you see it move !!