JD 750b

I'm going to look at a JD 750b on Tuesday after Thanksgiving. Other than the normal U/C concerns are there any issues with these dozers. He stated that the dozers has new pads and rails and some new rollers as well. I'm not sure about the paint. I'd rather see it without a new paint job though. From the sound of it even though it was listed for sale by owner it sounds like he buys them and fixes them and resells them. I had actually called him about a different dozer. But, he did inform me that it needed new pads and rails on the right side. He said the ones on the left were in good shape. But, if I was still interested in it he would fix it for $2000.00 more than he had it listed for. So, I was wondering what your thoughts on this 750b were.

Happy Thanksgiving,

James

The hydro transmissions on these crawlers can be a nightmare. Put it up against something that won't move, make sure both tracks spin. Drive the crawler in a straight line and be sure it don't wander left or right. Smell the trans oil, it has a separate tank in the back, if it smells burnt or is black, run away from it.

Generally the undercarriage is the biggest concern on a crawler... until you start talking about older hydrostatic crawlers. Having a JD mechanic check it out and doing an oil sample from the hydro's would be a smart investment that could save you from throwing thousands of $$$$ away.

OK, the gentleman sent me some photos of the dozer. It says 750 on the side not 750B. So I'm not sure of the age or series yet. It has pedal steer. Did all of the 750 series have pedal steer? I has a 4 way blade I believe. Hopefully I can post a couple of photos. So, maybe you all might be able to identify it better. The only thing I see is the drive appears to be pointed on a couple and flatter on the ones I can see. Thanks again. Hope everyone Has/had a Happy Thanksgiving

James

Thanks for the heads up. Were all of these Hydrostat and pedal steer? I also read on this forum or another one about what you mentioned about tracking. But, they also mentioned that some tracked really well at 3/4 or better. But would drift at slower speeds. Would this be a deal breaker? I believe the valves aren't balanced. Thus the yawl in the track. Sorry if the terminology isn't correct. I looks pretty good shape. He said it was the original paint as well.

I could get an oil sample done on it. As, I do that on my airplane. But, one thing is that I don't know of a single person that's a heavy equipment operator especially a dozer operator. So, unless I could somehow find one that free lanced I don't think I'd get much help there. I would rather spend the money up front and get a better dozer to start with. But, even then you could have troubles. I read somewhere about a guy that bought one that everything checked out on it and two weeks after he bought it the engine cratered. A week and $8K later he had it running again. He did all the work himself. So, you just never know unless buying new.

Hope you had a Happy Thanksgiving,

James

drive sprocket teeth should all be worn the same. It could be that a track was put on this drive sprocket that is not the original track that fit it. Thus having a different pitch between sprocket & chain, you get uneven wear like this, which I have never seen before. If this is the good side, you need new spockets & chains on both sides.

Go to the JD dealer and see if you can pay a mechanic to check it out for you after work or on a weekend. $8K is cheap repair for a dozer that size! The hydro's shot would probably be double that.

I have run many 750 Deere . Your question on were all 750's pedal steer , NO . But unless you have two right arms you will soon learn to love a pedal steer . Also myself i would not want a wide trac, but that is me . The hydrostatic drive is GREAT when it is working correctly but if it is going out HUSTON you have a HUGE problem and will be a money pit with no bottom. and like others have said the ware on the sprockets is not wright. I ran one of the first 750's years back in the oil patch , Now it was brand new and it was a lever steer with standard tracks 10 foot blade with tilt and a Hyster W6 F winch . What all i put that dozer thru was unbelievable . For the size of it i was amazed . I was building lease roads and locations along with moving drilling rigs in and out dragging frac teams in and out . I did a lot of work for Berdet drilling and moving there huge idaco rig was a challenge as they had a Cat D7 G and at times it was all that 7 wanted . On one rig move the 7 layed down and died and Walley called me in to help move . weather was bad with lots of rain and MUD they loved MUD I had to use two snatch blocks on the winch line to drag tis rig thru two to three feet of muck and mud and it took a lot of tugging to get it 2900 feet back in off the road but the 750 did it in fine style . Also i worked with Halliburton a lot and with the 750 i could push one pumper and drag two sand trucks or what ever was next in line to go back in , The head guy Kenny said that i was the only one that ever tryed it and got the job done as most times i got called out it was for a two or three frac jobs a day with the same team so speed in and out was a must . Location building was another rush rush job and on a good day i could get two locations built along with the lease roads . spent a lot of hours on that dozer . After i left that company i went to work for another company and my job there was to be incharge of all mobile equipment and get this new company up and running . and i bought for that company four 850 deere's ad four 750 deere and four 550 deeres and four D6D all with winches and the deeres out preformed the Cats Now how long they would out preform the Cats will never know because te oil patch went down hill only after three years but in the three years we had to replace the undercarriages on all but never had a real mechanical problem with anything other the the 550's Now they were JUNK .Those dozers were all slipped seated as every truck and every dozer had two drivers and two operators so you know they were run hard and put away wet. I have gone and done checks on a couple for guys like you and you really can't tell much UNLESS YOU RUN THEM FOR NO LESS THEN 20 min. hard That is about how long it takes to get one really good and warmed up . One thing on these is that IF you tilt the blade while you pushing and it labors the engine and slows you down then it is out of adjustment or you have a problem with the pumps . If they do not track wright they are either out of adjustment or one side or the other is getting weak . Look under the back and see how big a puddle is under it . Does the engine labor whiel pushing as you move the control foward or back . That system is suppose to compensate ground speed for power with no change in engine RPM . You run them wide open all the time and control your ground speed with the lever . When wright they handle like a skid steer and can be as fast . The first one i ran i had some dealing with the engineers as they would come and make checks on that one and they told me to try and BREAK IT . we only had one small problem with a charge pump one time . Again myself i really like the 750's IF IT IS good. But they have some age on them now . Last one i ran was a few years ago and it was a J model , yea it was sorta ok but i still like the old ones better.

James I do not know where you are located and you did not say what the man is asking but a 20 year old hydro is a problem fixing to happen. Unless you are buying it cheap look farther. Not many jacklegs to rebuild that hydro when it goes out and their are two in that machine. Me The best CHEAP 20 year old dozer is the td15c ih dozers that man can pick up for 10 to 15 thousand all day long.

The asking price is $18K. He said he has ran it and it ran fine. He said he'd pay to get an oil and hyd. sample done. He said that he wouldn't want to sell me a bad one. But, he said he can't see into the future. I was going to go tomorrow to look at it. But it will be Wednesday now. He said come run it all day if I'd like. I'm going to post another thread about what I looked at today if you would like to give me your input or anyone else for that matter. I told them I'd try to let them know by tomorrow. But with the 750b I hope they don't sell before Thursday. So, that I can compare them all.

James