1010 dozer

I was offered a very clean 1010 dozer. It's a one owner with 1500 hours.the hour meter is an add on. It's gas and the owner claims it eats engines.He has 5 heads and misc. from engines it has had. This engine has just under 100 hrs. All have had the crank and bearings go out.Any idea of what is going on? He was a heavy equipment operator before retiring. Does JD still service parts for the actual machine? I need a small dozer at times but don't need a moneypit.

Proper dip stick in the engine ? Same machinest making the same mistakes? Wrong oil viscosity? Oil pump drive slipping? Oil pump relied valve sticking or spring problems? Air leaks on suction side of oil pump? Operator working on extreme steep slopes? Over advanced timing and or lean mixture causing detonation and hammering the rod bearings to bits?
Iirc the bel housing on a 1010 has the same bolt pattern as a 420,430 and 440 two cylinder. Lots of 440ID with 2-53"s sitting around.

Keep looking, the 1010/2010 dozers were not any good from the start, if you want a small Deere dozer go with a 350 or 450..

I may have a 440 gas for sale before long putting cluthes in the right side right now in my spare time hope to have it together this week end don"t know where your located I;m in central OH.

The bellhousing on a 1010 does not have the same pattern as a 420-430-440.A few things will
interchange.Final drive housing,rockshaft
assembly,gear shift housing, and maybe one fender on an RS,but the engines and tranny's are different.

Carl....If you don't want a money pit, then stay away from the 1010..As the story goes..... Deere quit sending out the 1010/2010 in late '64 and substituted the 350/450 in their place..Any machines left were parted out.. This was told to me by our Deere rep. in the mid '70's...350 was a bit underpowered and weak in the engine dampener plate springs and steering clutches.. 450 was Deere's saving grace..The biggest problem is that nobody outside of Deere technicians could make the transmission work properly..Harsh shifting or slipping/heating of transmission..An occasional adjustment to the pressure/speed of shift screw would make it a great machine..

1010 crawler is a great little machine. Do not believe all the silly stories you hear. 1010 wheel tractor had many issues, but most did not exist in the crawler. In fact, the 1010 had many new innovations for Deere Co. First full size engine with wet sleeves, first overhead valve engine with positive-type valve seals, first hydraulic clutched “power-shift” reverser, and first Deere diesel to use a rotary fuel injection pump. The 350 that followed was bigger but not necessarily better. In fact, the 350s had many problems the 1010s did not.

I also would not believe every BS story that a Deere rep. has told. I worked for Deere dealers from the 1960s to the 1990s. Half of what those reps and Deere traveling engineers had to say - was nonsense.

I have a 1960 crawler-loader with a gas engine. Still has the original steering clutches. I got it from the original owner. 15 years ago his barn burnt down with the 1010 inside. Every bit of rubber, plastic and pot metal melted. Dealer wanted $8000 to fix so the owner sold it to me. I pulled the engine apart and resealed with new sleeve o-rings and gaskets. I honed the sleeves and put in new rings with Hastings repair shims. Crank, block and bearings are still original with many hours on it. Runs perfect.

Main short-coming to the 1010 series is lack of aftermarket parts support for the engine. All comes from Deere and most all the engine parts are still available. Not a huge issue. Fix the engine correctly the first time and it will likely last you a very long time.

350 followed the 1010 and was a heavier machine. 350 had just as many problems and probably more. As to someone’s claim about dampener problems? Nonsense. The 1010 flywheel spring-loaded dampener held up fine. My 52 year old crawler still has the original. Early 350s used the same dampener. Then – Deere changed to a drive plate and separate spring setup and had endless problems with it. It was our #1 repair problem with 350s. Finally when the 350D came out - Deere fixed it.

I had a 1010 gas engine sitting along side a 420 gas engine. Same bolt pattern. Also, almost same size as far as cubic inches goes. 420 has two big cylinders making 113 cubic inches. 1010 has four little cylinders making 115 cubic inches.

I've got your nonsense..... One of my oldest customers had a 1010 ordered...He HAD to take a 350..I wish he were still alive so I could get the info straight from him.. I remember him talking about this years ago..

I"m with you Roy let them send "all" the 1010/2010"s to New York....

I assume production of the 1010 ceased when the 350 was ready for sale to the public. So, I assume if someone ordered a 1010, and they were no longer in production - he'd be offered a 350 in its place since it was then - the smallest crawler Deere had for sale.

Not much different as when the 350D got dropped and the 400G took it's place (or whatever the model was). Just because production stops on something, and something new takes its place - does not prove the older design was somehow "bad."

I could rattle off many problems with 1010 wheel tractors. Not with the crawlers, though. I cannot think of any serious design problems. I saw many 1010s get hammered and cracked to pieces when abused. Later -I saw just as many 350s get hammered and cracked to pieces. All in all, I can remember many more catastrophic failures with 350s then with 1010s. The "new" torsional isolators that constantly failed and froze up the engine kept us busy for many years. And then when the new "wet" steering clutches came out in the 350C series -we again had an almost full-time repair job.

1010s were smaller, lighter built, and less powerful then 350s. That being said, for their size they were built just as well. Only "oddity" with the 1010 and 2010 crawlers was the diesel series. It was Deere's first rotary injection system and the only Deere to use the Ricardo Comet indirect injection system. There was a big learning curve for users and mechanics. No actual serious design problems though. Just mis-use problems and poor parts support for the early ones. Now? The later 350s have poor parts support and many major parts are no longer available from Deere Company.

LJD, no offense to your likings ,,but I have had nothing but bad experiences with these models,,in every way...

Details? It you claim the 1010 has design problems, please name some specifics.

I am kind of amazed at the "blanket" statements condemning 1010 crawers, submitted with NO facts, no specifics, etc.

1010 gas crawler, more or less, used the same track system, same steering clutches, same trans (as far as strength goes), and same size engine as the older two-cylinder 420-440 series. 420 had 113 cubic inches and the 1010 has 115 cubic inches. And [ above what the older two-cylinder crawlers had - th 1010 had a very rugged hydraulic-cluthed "powershift" reverser. It was, and still is worlds better then any reverser ever offered in the two cylinder crawlers.

So I wonder. . . what is all this negative hype about? How come the same people aren't trashing 420 crawlers?

I've been around 1010s since they were new and I haven't witnessed any major issues. For those that claim otherwise - how about some actual facts?

I'm not going to go into "detail" about them LJD,,they just never proved out around here,,they must have sent all the good ones to New York..I'm glad they are extinct around here, I'm glad you like them..I don't...