JD 350C rattle

The dozer had been sitting for several years and when I first ran it as the oil heated up the dozer would not climb a grade. Reverser oil level was good. I exercised it for 2-3 hours and now I can get the tracks to spin. Then the rattle developed.

My problem is that at low RPM (<800)there is a rattle in the area of the flywheel. It sounds like someone is shaking a can full of ball bearings. I pressure washed some hard caked mud and stones from between the lower case of the reverser and belly pan and that helped eliminate the tin drum sound, but the rattle is still there. When the machine climbs the rattle disappears. Going down hill, or in no load situations the rattle is constant.

I suspected the torsional vibration damper, but according the JD during the relife rebuild they replaced the spring unit with the newer 350D style rubber unit. Will the rubber vibration isolator make this noise? I have heard that the rubber units were also prone to failure and that they would lock-up. Is this true?

One disclaimer - I left Deere around 1992 - and can't comment much on what happened since then - from a Dealer's perspective.

I assume the rattle that I am hearing is the spline shaft moving wihtin the spline coupling as the cylinders fire and the torque pulses. I should probably check the reverser pressure to make sure that the engine is loading up properly. I'll do a filter and fluid service to make sure the proper viscosity oil is in there too.

The machine seems to be running better the more I exercise it, so I assume there is/was some type of sludge gumming up the valves.