John Deere 440 crawler

Slowpoke

Well-known Member

I found a 440 on Craigslist that has set for 20 years, because the forward/reverse clutches are worn.

Does anyone have an idea of the cost for parts to replace them?

How much trouble would it be?

It has a front loader and 3 rear rippers.

Does having rippers mean it has a three point hitch?

Asking price is $2995.

Thanks.
slowpoke
 
It does not have a 3 pt. run off the hydraulics with pivot arms. If is has a reverser and you cant see it function then stay away from it. parts are almost impossible to find. If the reverser is bad it still will move both directions but it will be in the hi side which means you wont have much power to dig or push heavy objects. If you can find one that works fairly well at that price then it id go for it. Not a bad little machine if used right. just my 3 cents worth.
 
well at the moment i am working on a J D 440 dozer . And so far we are not having a problem getting parts from Mother Deere for it . You can look up the parts ya need on there online parts web page . And if the part number shows up then parts are still out there. On this one we needed the input shaft and we got a brand new one for it . Now i am not working on the reverser just the engine and a few other things as we go . Tomarrow the engine will be in and maybe running if i can get the wiring harness built fast enough . The only other thing this one needs is sprockets and pins and bushing and it will be good to go.
So look up the parts online and then call your closest Deere store and have them look up the price by part number . I can tell ya this you ain't going to fix it with out spending some bucks .But if it is working good and has good tracks then it is worth something . Otherwise it is worth 150 bucks a ton.
 
Not being familar with crawlers, I thought a reverser was to reverse the direction of the machine.
The seller says he used it for 10 years.
Anyway, since it is sitting with weeds & brush around it, I doubt if I will spend time just to see if I can get it running...But since it is only about 10 miles away, I might have a look.
 
Unless they are worn out, the fwd/rev clutches can be adjusted. Ours got to where it wouldn't push very well awhile back. All it took an adjustment, and it's as good as it ever was.

That said, our dozer has been used ALOT over the past 26 years. In that time we redid the undercarriage, rebuilt the motor, and the steering clutches. Currently it's down undergoing a repair to the right final drive, and reline the brake on that side. When that's done I've got to pull the other side, and reline the brake there too.

I said all that to say this. Unless the fwd/rev clutches were run loose, and allowed to slip, for awhile, they should not be 'worn out'.

For the price, I'd have no problem taking a chance. Even if the clutch discs are worn out, and nothing is available from Deere, you can have new ones cut. We did this when we redid the steering clutches on our machine, and the cost was less than what Deere showed on the books for new ones from them, and that was around 16 years ago.
 
A reverser is a device that lets you shift from forward to reverse without shifting the transmission its self. Basically its like shifting an automatic transmission. Some are mechanical and some are hydraulically run. Really are nice to operate. Normally any motor parts from those old crawlers aren't that hard to come by, When john deere went to the 440 from the 430 they beefed up there final drives so as long as you keep the oil in them and your tracks adjusted properly they will last for a long time. The sprockets, rails, rollers can be found. Not cheap but out there. As with any dozer it depends if you can work on them or not. Dozer places are very expensive if you cant. They are basically pretty simple. Depending on how big it is will determine how big your tools has to be. Condition is 100 percent of the cost. My 440 was a gas dozer. In 1st gear you could put it against a big tree and it would spin the tracks. Seemed to have a lot of power but when the reverser went out and could not be adjusted I tried to find parts but was told deere didn't have any parts for them. Wouldn't spin the tracks as it was on the hi side. Deere made dozers 40/420/430/440/1010/2010 and I have had them all at one time or another. Each one has a bad flaw to them. If your lucky enough to find a good running one that hasn't been abused then you will have a nice little dozer and each one has its own purpose. Just cant over use it. As usual its just one preference.
 
There is no high or low side it is forward or reverse you can put a strait shaft in it to do away with the reverser but you are better off fixing it there are several places to get parts other then John Deere you can look up j.d.crawlers, or farmer johns or others you didn't say if it is gas or diesel unless the undercarriage is in really good shape that is kinda high for one that has been sitting for 10 yrs if the undercarriage is in really good shape you probably are ok at that price
 
I don't believe I've ever thought of saying this, but in this case I will, " Run Forest Run". Economically speaking, crawlers are the biggest money pit you will ever come across dependent on three factors. 1) Condition, because it does not run you cannot make even the wildest guess of it's true condition. Loaders are hard on the front idler and bottom rollers as well as the reverser problems the owner mentioned. Sitting this long it is more than likely the steering clutches are rusted/ set up and need attention. 2) Cost, what parts are available and at what cost, being that old their is always one part NLA . 3) Time, can you and are you able to do the work necessary to complete the repairs necessary in a reasonable time frame.
A pig in a Polk such as this hides more defects than you can see.
As far as cost go I look at it this way :
1) original price $2995
2)parts (guess) original price $2995 X 2 = $5995
3)labor (guess) $2995
----------------------------------------------
Total $11980
Or would you be better served to take the same total of money and buy a much newer machine that is running and put it to work now ? In its current condition the most I would give is scrap value if I were buying it !!
I have a 1956 Cat D 4 that I bought in a similar situation. Wish some one would have told me to take off my rose colored glasses...LOL..I'd sell mine for the original price and the cost of parts, but doubt if anyone would pay that..
Sorry to be such a pessimist .
 
Your right, high/low is accomplished the old fashioned way, by shifting gears in the transmission. That being the case, there were machines made without the reverser, and there is still a reverse gear in the transmission.

If it's not still on the dash, there is a warning from the factory to never put the reverser in reverse, and the transmission in reverse at the same time. I don't know what will happen as I've never tried it, but if Deere says don't do it, I'm not going to do it.........
 
NCWayne:

I think I know why the factory warned to never put the Reverser in Reverse when the Transmission is in Reverse. It may be possible that when the Transmission is in Reverse and the Reverser is put into Reverse, the Reverser REVERSES (SWITCHES) the Transmission Reverse into a FORWARD gear.

I recall an incident that occurred at one of the Mines I worked at many many years ago because it was one of the strangest things I'd ever seen happen. They had an old Dozer, I have no idea what the Make or Age of the machine was, but the 'current' color scheme was Yellow but the paint chips showed that it had been painted 4 or 5 different colors in it's lifetime (I guess they used whatever was available) . I don't know if this machine had a "Reverser" on it or not, as I never worked with it, but the temporary Operator had motioned me over as he was having problems with it. The temporary Operator had put the Transmission gearshift in Reverse (we checked it several times) but every time he let out the clutch the machine trammed FORWARD. We just shut down the machine & RED TAGGED it until we could find someone that knew more about THAT machine than either of us did. I'm sure glad we were on flat, open ground & not near a cliff or open pit.

Doc
 
I think there was a fellow on here by the name of Lavoy that had JD crawler parts, might google Lavoys John Deere and see what came up.
 
S,
Go take a look at it!! Three years ago a friend told me about an HD3 Allis that was in an estate sale. Went to look at it and told the owner if I could get it running I would bargain with her. Spent about 40 to 50 hours getting it in running condition and bought it deducting for my time to get it going. As a novice the only thing I did not notice were the tracks, bushings, and pins were very worn. Currently I am replacing the tracks as time allows. HTH PS-I also have an R2 (gas) Cat-'41 that runs like a charm.
Mr. T. Minnesota
 
Way out of line for a 20 year parked crawler. Cost is impossible to determine until you know what parts you need, but clutches are readily available. It does not have a 3PT, scarifier is an option with the loader, but a nice option to have.
Lavoy
jdcrawlers.com
 
Tractor,John Deere 440, Loader - $2950 Cupertino, Ca

I don't know how to transfer a photo of the machine, but here is the sales copy.





image 1























? craigslist - Map data ? OpenStreetMap

(google map)

condition: fair
make / manufacturer: JD
model name / number: 441 Loader


?safety tips
?prohibited items
?product recalls
?avoiding scams





This'little Giant'served me well for over 10 years faithfully but when the forward-reverser clutches failed I parked it in front of my home as"yard art"as a reminder to its loyal services it provided me with.
Over 20 years have expired since then and my dreams of resurrecting this"johnnie popper"have taken me onto other still uncompleted projects
Its Gas powered,2 cylinders hasn't run since then but when the Ateco Loader front end attachment needed something moved or picked up it didn't hesitate doing its job up to nearly 4000 pounds of weight.
The rear mounted 'tool bar' has 3 rippers that would bury themselves in the hardest of compacted soil and shred the ground with the greatest of ease.The PTO on back ran any attachments I ever hooked it up to.
Its weight is over 8,500 pounds and scrappers have hounded me for years. Because of that I've set the asking price double the scrap price just to find one single buyer who will resurrect this tractor to its once glorious state.
ARE YOU OUT THERE ??

Contact Jim @ [ show contact info
Lv. your number slowly and clearly 2 or 3 times
{I dont hear to well}
 
photo
a221910.jpg
 
The last I knew, a 350 JD sized Komatsu was around $72,000 new. Any decent used small dozer will cost you approaching $10,000 and I'd be darned suspicious of the shape of anything that cheap. I'd be reluctant to pay more than $500 and I'd try to get it for half of that. That thing is WAY overpriced. There is one reason and one reason only that those old small dozers were parked. They are worn out so badly they won't go another foot! If you buy it, buy it with the notion that you will tear it down to the bare frame and rebuild it from the ground up. The estimate posted below is a pretty good place to start, but don't be surprised to spend more than that. Any of these old small crawlers are handier than a shirt pocket, but as said below, you will pay for the privilege. You have to decide if it is worth the price. You always will put more money into rebuilding crawlers than they are "worth" on the market.
 

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