Case 310... good price, bad undercarriage, whats my options?

Hey guys, I finally done it, I just don't know if It was a good thing or not yet :lol:

Dad's had a early 60s gas Case 310 dozer rotting in his shed for years, I fell in love with it as a kid and have been trying to talk him out of it for a decade. He finally told me the other day "if you can find a use for it, come get it" So I'm buying a trailer next week and going down to get it.


So the price is certainly acceptable... but it is completely out of track adjustment on one track and the other one is close and the adjuster is froze up. Pins have all been turned once and are worn out on both sides. It also needs steering brakes, it turns one direction sluggishly and the other way not so much. Not sure about the condition of the rollers or the sprockets. The engine was overhauled in the mid 80s and doesn't have many hours on it since. It started and ran good as of about 18 months ago, hasnt been running since.

Its got a 6 way blade on it and other than the bottom of the battery box being rotten, its pretty solid.


Whats my options for track parts? We checked with case years ago and the prices were scary, are there aftermarket parts available that are cheaper? It will see fairly light use so I'm ok with lesser quality parts. Any rough estimates on what it going to cost to get this thing usable?

If it had been my dad's tractor and now belonged to me, I'd take the time and money to do everything right. (Dad always says that it's better to do it right than to do it over!)

If you have a shop corner or an empty shed where this rig can stay indefinitely, that's where I'd put it. Then you can buy quality parts when you can afford them (you don't have to buy everything all at once if it's too much $$$), and work on it whenever you can.

And no, I'm not a millionaire or anything close to it. I just have too much respect for this old machinery, and it's even more special when it belonged to someone you know or a family member. I spent waaayyy too much (in some folks' opinion) on the old 1920's-era tractor that my grandfather used well into the 1970's. It's not a rare tractor, and it's not a "trailer queen," but it's special to me because I remember how well he liked it, even when newer and more capable tractors were readily available. As I said, it cost quite a bit to rebuild but I know that Gramp would smile at how well it starts and runs now.

You can have the same for your crawler. You just have to make up your mind to do it.

Good luck with your project!

-- Maine Fordson

There are a lot of options for aftermarket tracks, sprockets and rollers. The burco brand aftermarket stuff is about as good as the OEM

Any better heavy equipment dealer can help with aftermarket parts as well as OEM

Do a google search and you should find some company's

I personally get stuff from H-E equipment

Good luck, I can get a phone number if you like.

In some cases Berco is the most expensive undercarriage, even more that Cat. I don't think there really is such a thing as cheap undercarriage though. Dave

You can extend the life a bit by shortening the tracks if there is any meat left on the sprockets,one link out of each side will enable you to keep the tracks tight,it is fairly standard practice to remove a link so you can run the tracks to destruction.
AJ

Thanks for all the advice.

Maine Fordson, I certainly agree with what you're saying, I've let a few of grandpa's and dads ol equipment slip through my fingers, I'm planning on hanging on to this one. For now at least I'm not looking to do a full restoration. I just want to fix its major issues and make it usable again, maybe someday I'll tear it down and restore it completely.


I'll check into H-E Equipment and burco. There's also a heavy equipment shop and rental store about 30 miles from my house, I'm betting they'll be a good source for parts and information... maybe labor too if I find something bigger than I can handle.

I saw in another thread that theres a crawler salvage yard in missouri somewhere? Anyone have the name or website for that place? I'm in Illinois so they're close enough to go get parts if necessary.


I'm well aware that all crawlers are a money pit (classic cars too lol), I'm prepared to spend what it takes to get this ol dozer going again, just looking for ways to save a couple bucks where possible.

Bring it home and start looking for a parts tractor.
I have seen these tractors cut up for scrap with a good undercarriage just because the transmission went south. There are probably many parts tractors out there if you start looking.

Tom

The crawler salvage yard in Missouri is called Zimmerman Tractor- it is in Versailles, MO sort of south and east of Sedalia. Their website is http://www.crawlerbulldozer.com/

I don't believe you've got a lot of options for aftermarket track parts. Berco dropped much of their small crawler support years ago, except for some of the best sellers like Deere - and even then, only certain mainstream models e.g. 350s. Aftermarket parts for other make small crawlers are getting very scarce.

I bought new rollers a few months ago from Zimmermans (somebody else already posted their link). They don't stock the rollers, but do sell them and have them drop-shipped. Made in Korea by DCF (Dae Chang Forging), part # 4070003.
Mine shipped from New Jersey to Michigan. Rollers cost me $130 each plus $200 to ship a pallet of 10 of them. At present, I think aftermarket parts are only being made in Korea and Italy.

Zimmerman Tractor
13874 Hwy 5
Versailles, MO 65084
(573) 378-7210

Thanks guys. I picked up my new trailer yesterday, probably going to go get the 310 next week if I have time. Dad lives about 200 miles south of me.

I did have him snap a picture of the case ID plate on the left arm rest, heres the data off of it... can anyone tell me what year this serial number is?

Model: G310G
Serial no.: 3032428

Thanks
Paul

It's a 1966

(quoted from post at 16:04:19 10/14/10) It's a 1966

Click to expand...

Thanks, that's good to know. We never really knew what year it was, just 60 something.