Crawlers..Loader...and Dozers

So this came up in my close call thread about skid steers...and I want to learn more..hear what you guys have to say. Been kicking around for years getting some sort of old dozer..crawler..or crawler loader. Think it would be fun to work on...run...and to have some pride into keeping these old boogers running !
I had it narrowed down to a John Deere 440 ic or icd ( detroit diesel). Buy it was brought up that others such as oliver..May have different and more beneficial features like steering clutches..or steering brakes. And how the power is applied to the ground .

To me..ease of operation....parts availability and reliability ate tops. Nobody I know likes working on under carriages all the time...and neither do I!

Sp what do you guys think ?
Makes..models...with a loader..dozer blade..or an ag model . What experiences do you have ? I'm all ears !

 

My dad had that last one but with 10" wide tracks.

 

I'll be back later as this is if great interest to me as you know Mr Fuzz. Lol

 

That's awesome ! I've got a Oliver magazine that shows like 3 or 4 different track versions I think. I thought of one of these for collecting maple sap.just because there freaking cool !

 

I'm excited for this information !

 

My uncle had an older Case track loader with a 3in1 blade that was super handy. He built a lot of road on his property with it.

 

It was actually this months !

 

The OC4 is a better unit for dozer work than the HG / OC3 units. It has lower gearing. The HG / OC3 crawlers were originally designed as farm crawlers for pulling implements. When they started making the 42 gauge "industrial" models with blades and loaders, the gearing wasn't changed. Its the reason an auxiliary transmission kit was offered using a model A transmission between the clutch and trans axle. There is a short driveshaft between the clutch and trans from the factory. 19" long I think. Don't quote me on that 100%.

 

There was one on cl here about a year back can't tell you the particular model though.

 

The other thing the HG / OC3 crawlers had was coil spring suspension which is great for pulling implements all day but not great for loader or dozer work. It was common to remove them and put solid mounts in for those types of uses.

One really cool thing about the HG / OC3 units is the ease of repowering them. The frame rails are straight and the engine isn't attached to the transmission. I've seen Allis Chalmers wd40 tractor fronts grafted on effectively doubling the power to 40 hp. The wd40 has strait rail frames as well. It allowed the onion farms around here to pull 4 row planters vs 2 without overheating.

 

I was fixing to buy a nice looking Case 310 G crawler loader but the undercarriage was trashed.

 

HoneyFuzz

Speaking of the case 310 crawler....

They have the same Clark manufactured transaxle as the Oliver HG/ OC3 units with the same steering set up. No track clutches. The steering was done with an internal drum and brake band set up per track. They were attacked via linkages to the steering levers. Those levers were also how you used the brakes to stop after applying the clutch. One drum sets on each side of the special differential, that puts power to both tracks, while still allowing steering with the levers. I'll find a picture of the set up.

 

I believe the oc4 / oc46 also used the clark transmission with lower gearing bas mentioned above.

 

That's awesome! Are the brake bands easier to replace than other types?
I had no idea they used Clark axles. Interesting

 

Those are a nice size machine

 

So that 310 sounds pretty nice too then. If it's better to operate and simpler to fix..im all ears

 

They kind of have an oliver look to em too

 

Probably not appropriate to do links...but no harm in a screenshot us there ?