Need advise regarding the purchase of an old crawler

eagle-eye

New User
I am considering the purchase of a JD 550 crawler, not sure of the year but I think its a 1978 model or somewhere close to that year. This would be a machine I would utilize only part time on my property. The machine has very low hours but it has been sitting for several years. The purchase price seems to be good but I am concerned that if it has problems from sitting so long they could be very costly to fix. It does have a winch but I was told that the winch does not operate. I saw another discussion regarding this model -year- crawler and the post advised against these crawlers because of transmission problems and the cost of fixing them. Any advise on this purchase would be greatly appreciated.
 
I would be more concerned with other details. How well does it dig? If it cant dig in it may mean steering clutch repair. You will need to fire it up and see how well it does. You will need to look for oil stains. Where are the oil stains, how much crud is caked on where the oil stains are? What is the pin wear like?

Post pictures so people here can also look at it. Pictures will help us help you.
 

Thanks a bunch for the quick reply. The machine has not been started and is still sitting in a warehouse. Not sure if I can get it in a place to dig with it but I will check. Photos are attached.
 
37214.jpg
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Here are a few photos of the crawler. Third time trying to upload worked.
 
With looking at the photos I would say it probably would be a good little dozer Having said that if you cannot get it started then stay away from it unless you have the knowledge to work on them. If it was driven into that warehouse along time ago then I would say it will drive out fine. If I were interested in it I would get me a good battery, check all the oil levels and try to fire it up. either will help you start it. A machine that has leaks will be shown on the floor. With it just having a blade then you are limited in what you can do with it. Also if you can make sure your talking to the owner of it, he should be able to give you a lot of information on it. Havent heard to much bad things about that dozer so I really don't know of its bad points. From the photos it looks as though it might be worth while if you can get it for a good price and you like I said get it running first or stay away from it. just my 3 cents worth.
 
To build the 550 JD just took a 450 and expanded it. The problem is the frame rails where they fasten to the rear housing were too weak and almost all broke at some point or another. Worked on many of them. Take a look right where the frame rails attach to the rear housing look for cracks. Other than that inherent weakness they were not bad crawlers. The transmission is hard to work on as others have stated. Normally the winch not working was inn the controls not the winch itself. If they are not used the controls would frees up.
 
(quoted from post at 09:53:44 06/23/16) To build the 550 JD just took a 450 and expanded it. The problem is the frame rails where they fasten to the rear housing were too weak and almost all broke at some point or another. Worked on many of them. Take a look right where the frame rails attach to the rear housing look for cracks. Other than that inherent weakness they were not bad crawlers. The transmission is hard to work on as others have stated. Normally the winch not working was inn the controls not the winch itself. If they are not used the controls would frees up.

Thanks for the comments. I will check the frame rails. Also thank you to the others that had replied with comments. much appreciated!!
 
That looks like a pretty nice dozer. The LH
track is too tight, that will just increase
the wear on the undercarriage components.

Ross
 

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