1953 JD-40 John Deere Bulldozer

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1953 JD40 John Deere Bulldozer, 2 cyl., hyd.blade - was $6500 ... now $5500!!

1953 JD40 Bulldozer with 3 roller tracks; 2 cyl. gasoline engine; 4 speed manual transmission; live pto with on/off lever; and hydraulic blade in excellent mechanical condition for only $5,500.00.

We belive that John Deere made this tractor about 1953, because it only has 3 roller tracks and later they made 4 roller tracks and 5 roller tracks.

We bought it for $2500 about 12-15 years ago and the engine ran good but was lacking power; clutches and brakes were worn out and the drive sprockets were in bad shape, but what do you expect for $2500.... Later, we had an accident and put the tractor "out of sight" in the pond and this caused us to have the John Deere Dealer, Spoor and Parlin of Athens, MI totally rebuild the engine, dry out everything and install new or repair everything that needed it. They installed new bearings wherever necessary; new clutches and brakes, new padded seat plus they cleaned up and dried out everything else in the tractor. It ran like a new tractor when we got it back.
Over the years we have had Spoor and Parlin service and repair the tractor. Their care and service has been wonderful and they have found parts for the final drive, repaired the leaking blade cylinders, and many other things. We figure that we have spent more than twice what we are asking for the tractor but it runs good and we can use it when we want to.

You can see in the photos that the tractor is painted "yellow" but its original color was "JD green". I have talked to a couple of people that restore JD 2 cylinder tractors and it would take time and $$ to make it look like new again. If I keep it, I may paint it green myself...it is the color that it should be.

JD40 4speeds forward

This tractor has one mechanical problem that we have not fixed and that is "there is an area of the flywheel teeth that allow the start to spin free". We get around this problem because we have a crank and just manually rotate the engine past this point but in the long run, we should put a new gear on the flywheel.

The blade has hydraulic cylinders that raise it "up" or push it "down" but it does not "angle". Originally it had a mechanical angle adjustment but this has been welded shut. You can see some of it in the photos. Also in that photo you can see a little of the engine "crank" handle. Using the tractor just a week ago we discovered that one of the hydraulic cylinders is leaking again when you apply "down" pressure on the blade, so we lowered the price $1,000!
JD40 right side blade

We had the starter, generator and battery changed to 12vDC. We also installed a VDO hourmeter and voltmeter.
JD40 gauges

If you are interested in owning an early John Deere crawler, that will acutually do useful work for you...
...call me, Jack Watson, at 517.206.3206 or email jack@hi-tork.com

Contact Us

Tekonsha, Michigan

Phone: (517) 206.3206
email: jack@hi-tork(dot)com

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