Case 450 188 diesel

[dstanek]

Looking at buying this dozer. Went and looked at it. Undercarriage seemed pretty good. Good sprockets pads pins and rollers. Starts good, steers and operates good as i can tell. The concerns i have are these. Made awful lot of clacking noise from engine area at idle. Couldnt tell where or what it was coming from. Went away after engin revved up but comes back at lower rpm. Was leaking coolant around water pump seal. Bad water pump clacking noise?? Smokes a bit while running. Not black but like worn engine smoke. Last and biggest concern was jb weld on block. See pic. He is asking 5k for it. I want one for my 40acre farm. Hobby use. U can see the jb weld patch below. Should i stay away or buy with assumption ill have to braze it up? Advice please. I really like this dozer thanks

 

[dstanek]

Oh yea it has 6 way blade on it

 

[dstanek]

When i ran it oil pressure stayed right at 40lbs. Ran it for about 20 min so dont know if it got warm enough to drop or not

 

[dstanek]

I also want to say that clacking noise was pretty loud and discerning at idle. i almost walked away right then till he revved it up and motor sounded good but smokey

 

[marloweg]

188 blocks are hard to find i had 4 450 and none never made any clunk sound for 5 grand i would pass . but it's your money old dozers are a money pit kind of like owning a boat

 

[Nordic]

I wouldn't buy it until first finding out what the noise is, in case it's serious. If you suspect the water pump is making the noise just remove the belt and restart. I have used JB weld a lot in the past but found that it is only a matter of time 'til it fails and you have to redo. There are better products available, however. if you can weld or braze cast iron you're good to go on that repair.
My first Cat purchase became expensive to repair after only a few hours of use. The problem was hidden at the time of purchase.

 

[dstanek]

Thank you for the advise. I'm going to pass on it.