pricing for old broken dozer?

[swick1]

My cousin has a 50's John Deere 440 dozer that has been sitting for 20 years with a broken final drive and a tarp over it. The machine is pretty rusted up. I would like to get it going again but it seems like a running machine is around $3000-4000 on ebay. I'm pretty sure it's a gasoline engine. What should I offer for it and how much do you guys think it would cost to get running again? Should I just suck it up and buy an already running unit?

It looks like this but rustier:
http://www.tractorshed.com/gallery/tphotos/a4683.jpg

 

[bigbull338]

its not worth more than $1000 to $2000 as is.if it was me id offer him $1500 for it.

 

[Denny Ruebush]

I took a 1956 D6 Cat from barely running to purring. A lot of hard heavy work, hard to find parts and required way more money than I thought but you can get in so far you can't look back and have to trudge ahead. My next will be a GOOD running machine.

What about the engine on that 440? Is it locked up, rings gone, bearings shot? Way to many bear traps setting around to be offering money until you at least get it to run.

 

[rtimgray]

I would see how much it weighs to determine how much it's worth - around here, scrap is about $250/ton right now. If the machine weighs 3 or 4 tons (my guess, I think they are fairly small machines, but I don't know if I've ever seen one in person), then I would guess it is at least "worth" $750-$1,000, if you have a truck/trailer that can move it. If it's a project that you want to get into and learn about old iron, have a place, tools and time to work on it, - go for it. If you need to get something up and running quick and don't want to do a lot of work on it, I would pass on it.

The only other thing to consider would be if you could find another 440 of the same/similar vintage for a relatively low price and you might be able to make one good machine out of two bad ones - but I would consider this a long shot at best.

Good luck with whatever you do and take care.

 

[DT86]

I would see how much it weighs to determine how much it's worth - around here, scrap is about $250/ton right now.

YES! Take it from somebody whose father once bought an older dozer with a "few" problems. :mur: PLEASE do not pay more than scrap prices.
BTW, anyone in the market for a large paper weight?..Boat anchor?..Um, Yard Art?

 

[swick1]

I think $500 is a good starting price point. Thanks for the information. I won't go over $750.

 

[George2615]

If its been sitting for 20 years and you can buy a running one for 3-4K go with the running one. The one sitting for 20 years is probably worth scrap metal price as mentioned.

 

[LD1]

I agree with others. Scrap price and no more.

That way, you can get it home, give it a good look over and determin what it needs to fix.

If could very well take $3-4k to get it in running condition. In that case, scrap it and your not out anything. But deciding to scrap vs rebuild is something you need to decide. Go through EVERYHTING and decide if it is worth fixing.

But if you pay scrap price, you have got nothing to lose to get it home and look it over.

According to tractordata TractorData.com John Deere 440C industrial tractor dimensions information
That 440c WITHOUT the blade weighs 3.5T in gas form. Probabally another 1-1.5T for the blade and associated stuff to make it a "dozer".

So, check prices in your area and see what 4.5-5T would net you. Around me, that would be $1125-$1250

 

[Grandad4]

The real money in repairing tracked equipment is in the undercarriage. The UC is also a "wear item" that must undergo re-builds periodically. Considering you already know part of the final drive is bad, you could about expect the rest of it to be a money pit also. If you plan to get something that's reliable enough to do real work, I think you'll need to be looking for something newer/in better shape.

 

[ultrarunner]

I used to like fooling around with old equipment when I had the time... I also found it could be lucrative because sometimes it didn't take much to get it going.

I would start by letting your cousin and his wife know you are looking for a project and mention the Dozer... see where it goes.

Don't bring it home unless you have the time, place and patience and certainly not if your plans call for a Dozer sooner then later.

I don't know the configuration... 6-way blades and a ripper are a big plus... it also means you will most likely figure on replacing all the hydraulic lines...

I'm sure it will be a challenge just getting it moved... the tracks are most likely frozen solid and that is not counting the rest of it.

My Dozer tracks will get real stiff in 6 months... now I run it every 6 weeks or so just to keep things freed-up.

 

[swick1]

Considering you already know part of the final drive is bad, you could about expect the rest of it to be a money pit also. If you plan to get something that's reliable enough to do real work, I think you'll need to be looking for something newer/in better shape.

I think you hit the nail on the head here. I bought a JD1026r TLB and have been doing work for people in really tight spots. I wanted a cheap dozer for a big job that I have coming up because I figured I could buy an old one for about twice the cost of a rental. I think i'll just do the rental and not have to fool with rebuilding the whole undercarriage. Otherwise i'll find someone else that has already done all the work for me and I'll just get an older rebuilt dozer for around $5k once my truck is paid off. That would be the cheapest and fastest way I think, since they will never get back their labor costs.

 

[flusher]

My cousin has a 50's John Deere 440 dozer that has been sitting for 20 years with a broken final drive and a tarp over it. The machine is pretty rusted up. I would like to get it going again but it seems like a running machine is around $3000-4000 on ebay. I'm pretty sure it's a gasoline engine. What should I offer for it and how much do you guys think it would cost to get running again? Should I just suck it up and buy an already running unit?

It looks like this but rustier:
http://www.tractorshed.com/gallery/tphotos/a4683.jpg

I restore vintage tractors (1940s, 50s, 60s)--a lot smaller in size that that dozer, but the issues are the same:

-- Do you have equipment of your own (or maybe a friend's) to transport the dozer and any heavy replacement parts to your shop?

--Can you handle the restoration yourself and/or with the help of friends who'll work for beer and pizza?

-- Do you have a shop with suitable equipment (hoists, cranes, jacks, jack stands, etc) that can handle the heavy stuff?

-- Have you identified a source of replacement parts (new, new old stock, used, etc)?

If you answered no to any of these questions, forget about it. You'll be wasting your time and money.

If you really, really want a dozer, find one that's running, that hasn't been rusting away in the rain for 20 years, and spend your money wisely.

 

[MikeD74T]

My brother has a 440, I doubt it weighs more than 5000 lbs as I trailered it easily on my trailer. 7k cap.
If you get & need tracks look for someone with old rock drills on tracks, some are the same pitch & seldom have much wear. MikeD74T

 

[creekbend]

A neighbor down the road from us had hired a logger to clear cut 80 acres of pines. A couple of months ago, I engaged the dozer operator, and asked him if he could possibly remove some large stumps on our land. We both agreed to terms agreeable to the both of us. Well around three weeks ago he called me and informed me that his dozer, a CAT-D6, broke down and had to be repaired. After getting his dozer fixed, he started the work on our property 4 days ago. After working less than an hour, his dozer threw a rod clear into the block. He offered his regrets to me in not being able to finish the job because after all the money that he had spent previously in fixing the dozer, he was not going to invest anymore money in his 1970's dozer. I feel sorry for him and now another operator is coming over next week to give me an estimate.:tractor:

 

[LD1]

My brother has a 440, I doubt it weighs more than 5000 lbs as I trailered it easily on my trailer. 7k cap.
If you get & need tracks look for someone with old rock drills on tracks, some are the same pitch & seldom have much wear. MikeD74T

Are you talking about a 440 dozer/crawler? or tractor?

 

[20 20]

I'll agree with the others about finding out the value of scrap in your area. I would take it one step further though, I would NOT pay the full scrap price, maybe half. You'll be the one that has to haul it and get it out of where it is. If you do find out it can not be fixed then atleast you might break even. Dozers can be a real pain and one that has been sitting for 20yrs could end up being a home wrecker

 

[jenkinsph]

I think you hit the nail on the head here. I bought a JD1026r TLB and have been doing work for people in really tight spots. I wanted a cheap dozer for a big job that I have coming up because I figured I could buy an old one for about twice the cost of a rental. I think i'll just do the rental and not have to fool with rebuilding the whole undercarriage. Otherwise i'll find someone else that has already done all the work for me and I'll just get an older rebuilt dozer for around $5k once my truck is paid off. That would be the cheapest and fastest way I think, since they will never get back their labor costs.

I have had a Deere 450A in the late 70"s and an Deere 850 new at the time. Having worked with older and new dozers they can be costly to operate, I would stay clear of the old stuff as you will never come out on them. Buying a $5000 dollar dozer is simply getting a new job as a mechanic and parts are expensive, none of which makes you money. Rent one when you need it, that is the cheapest way for most people.

 

[EddieWalker]

If you can buy one that is running for $3,000 and this one is a busted up rust heap, I would offer $300 for it at the most and probably feel like that was too much. $500 is too much in my opinion. Especially when you consider the time it will take you to find the parts, tear it apart, fix, replace and clean what is broken. If you figure your time is worth $10 an hour, not counting parts, you will lose money on just what your time is worth compared to what it would cost you to buy one already running.

Eddie

 

[DAY]

Go halfsies with the cousin- he supplies the dozer and the dough, you supply the sweat. You will both learn a lot in the end. . .

 

[MtnViewRanch]

The secret to this old equipment is that you really need to know what you're looking at and know how to fix it. Just because it is old doesn't mean that it is warn out. We have a 1943 Cat D6, we are the 3rd owners, yes it is warn, but not warn out and for ranch work it is just fine. I have a 1962 Case 310 dozer, 6 way blade and rippers, I restored it a few years ago. We have less than 10K in both of these tractors. They both do what we need them to do at our place.

When it comes to old machinery, if you really don't know what you're looking at and have to deal with, you probably should stay away from it. There's always a chance that something costly can break, but if you are naive enough to purchase a known problem to start with, well good luck to you.

Here are a few pics of our crawlers.