1956 John Deere 420 crawler with bucket value

I'm going to sell my crawler. Wondering what value really is. It's first year. Low serial number AND bucket version. If it's worth more than I think would like to know. A mechanical done. Runs like champ. Turns a little hard to right now. Low hours. Low wear. All original. Pricing thoughts? Thanx

This post was edited by [email protected] on 08/18/2022 at 07:20 pm.

Since no one has responded to date I'll pass on my thoughts. We don't know your background of working crawler knowledge to provide basis for your statements. This isn't going to help you much and is not intended to put you or your machine down, just trying to be "real world" with thoughts about this, and things/questions buyers may throw at you.

You haven't given a good description (4 or 5 roll undercarriage, sprocket condition, type pads and grouser height, reverser, what loader, etc.), No pictures (you would need to go down to the Site Comments Forum and ask YT Support for permission to post pictures as you are a new user with too few posts to satisfy the spam filters), No location (location can make a difference), How are the low hours verified? You say it has low hours. Have you owned it since new and know the hour meter, if it has one, has always worked and never been replaced? Not having good information to work with isn't going to get much response most people here.

420s with loaders aren't rare in my book. Sight unseen, with the info you have given here, if it is running and working it could be $1000 to $5000. Turning a little hard could be a steering clutch job coming. You say low wear. Have you measured, or had measured, the undercarriage and the results calculated for wear? I would be very surprised if the chains and undercarriage aren't near the end of life (proper measurement for wear generally yields different results from going by looks), especially if the loader was worked. Replacing the undercarriage properly would require a conversion to 350 parts and likely be in the $7500 range.

You may have a cream puff; one can't say either way at this point. Best bet watch places like Facebook Marketplace and Craigslist to see what similar is advertised for in your area. BUT remember what they are advertised for, is often not the real price that bought it.

This post was edited by Jim.ME on 08/20/2022 at 04:33 am.

(quoted from post at 19:12:13 08/18/22) I'm going to sell my crawler. Wondering what value really is. It's first year. Low serial number AND bucket version. If it's worth more than I think would like to know. A mechanical done. Runs like champ. Turns a little hard to right now. Low hours. Low wear. All original. Pricing thoughts? Thanx

Click to expand...

Yeah I tried pics but didn't go. I'm unsure where you are asking me to go for permission to add pics. It has hr meter. No reason to think not accurate but who knows. Sprockets and everything look fantastic. Still thick and round. Don't know what undercarriage anything means. No way for me to get it off the ground to look. I listed it for $6000. Guess it's you get what someone is willing to pay. You can email me for pics? Not sure how to do it otherwise. Thanx. I think 1100 or 1800 hrs. Think that's on the lightside to be talking about things being worn out?

2248 hrs on meter

This post was edited by [email protected] on 08/20/2022 at 06:59 pm.

Site Comments is one of the forums you will find further down the index from this forum. Here is a link to it you can click on that will take you to it.

Site Comments

Make a new post there asking YT Support to allow you to post pictures. When Chris sees it, he will most likely make the adjustments, to your account, needed to allow you to post your pictures (before you have the number of posts on record the system filters require before you can post pictures).

Is it a John Deere loader? What model?

What does "A mechanical done", entail?

Have you adjusted the steering clutches, by the manual, to try to correct the hard steering on the right side? Proper steering response will improve the likely hood of getting your asking price. Hard steering is going to open the door for the possibility of it needing steering clutch overhauls and subtract dollars from offers those who know these machines might make.

Have you owned it since new? 2248 hours in 66 years seems light, that is less than 35 hours average per year. I have seen too many meters unhooked or replaced over the years to take a meter reading at face value without a lot of supporting information. Perhaps the undercarriage was replaced, and a new meter was installed as part of an overhaul at that time.

If it is truly as good as you say, depending on your area and what buyer wants it, you may get your $6000. If you can prove, and provide documentation, that it is totally original and the hours are correct, you might want to consider putting it in an auction, it might bring more.

I'm guess this might be yours.

https://lacrosse.craigslist.org/grd/d/la-crosse-420c-john-deere-crawler/7516697416.html

If it is I will say the sprockets do look to be in good condition and the rest appears good in the pictures. It may have had the undercarriage replaced at some point in its life, maybe not.
Actual condition of the pins and bushings of the track chains would require measuring.

The loader is not a John Deere loader, it is a Greenville Steel Car Company loader, as shown on the loader serial number tag. It has had some stresses over the years as evidenced by the welding done at each side of the crossbar in front of the operator.

The crawler serial number tag should be on the left side of the bell housing. It is a 5-roller crawler which is good and has the 5-speed transmission.

Seeing the ad, your price is a reasonable starting point.

yes. That's mine. Good way around my adding pics!