John Deere Dealer Wants $16K—Burnt Dozer Saves Thousands

Get yourself a pair of Brunt boots like we wear Use code CCE10 at checkout! https://bruntworkwear.com/CCE10 John Deere wants around $16,000 for a 650G final drive—so we pulled one off a burnt dozer and rebuilt it ourselves. A viewer needed a final drive, so we drag a burnt 550G out of the weeds, pull the final drive, tear it down on the bench, and go through the whole reseal and re-bearing process. We check serial number breaks, drain the oil to see what we’re working with, press the hub apart, replace the metal-to-metal seals, inspect all the gears and bearings, and then put it back together with new seals, shims, and proper torque. We even fire up the plasma table to build a special lifting/press tool just for these 550G/650G finals. If you’re confused on left-hand vs right-hand final drives, we cover that too – always think about “left” and “right” from the operator’s seat, not standing in front of the machine. We now have rebuilt left-hand final drives to fit John Deere 550G–650G (all serial numbers) on the shelf, and we’re working toward stocking more John Deere dozer parts: bushings, pins, final drive seals, etc. If you’re needing a 550G/650G final drive, give the shop a call and we’ll see what we can do. 0:00 – Intro & Today’s Plan 0:34 – Walking the Junkyard: 450G, 550G, 650G 1:13 – Story of the Burnt Insurance Auction Dozer 2:04 – Why Burnt Machines Can Be Parts Gold Mines 3:06 – Firing Up the Big Forklift & Clearing Space 4:40 – Getting Set Up Around the Final Drive 5:25 – Sandals in the Dirt & Shop Banter 5:38 – Pulling Sprocket Bolts & Marketplace Comments 6:16 – Left-Hand vs Right-Hand Final Drive Explained 7:44 – Draining the Oil – Good News or Metal Soup? 8:50 – Oil Condition Check: Water vs Clean Oil 9:45 – Hidden Jack Screw Trick for Steering Clutch 11:20 – All Bolts Out – Time to Build a Special Tool 12:20 – Drawing the Plate & Plasma Table Cut 13:53 – Test Fitting the New Tool on the Final Drive 15:40 – Welding the Lifting Lug & Forklift Rigging 16:40 – Brunt Boots Sponsor Read & Hard Hat Jokes 18:05 – Cracking the Final Drive Open 19:24 – Inspecting Bearings, Races & Big Bull Gear 21:07 – Pressing the Hub Apart (Maxing Out the 35-Ton Press) 24:04 – Seals & Inner Seal Condition – Definitely Due 25:21 – Cutting the Old Bearing Off the Shaft 28:07 – Parts Arrive From John Deere & Plan to Rebuild Both 28:43 – How the Metal-to-Metal Final Drive Seals Work 29:40 – Heating the New Bearing in the Grill 31:19 – Wood Load “Safety Third” Story Break 33:05 – Loctite 515, O-Rings & Bearing Caps Going On 34:41 – Installing New Race & Flipping the Case 36:18 – Dropping in the Pinion & Bull Gear 37:56 – Using the Bearing Retainer to Pull Everything Together 39:42 – Shim Stack Too Tight – Backing It Off & Measuring 42:06 – Home-Made Shim Trick to Get Backlash Right 43:40 – Final Loctite & 205 ft-lb Torque on Bearing Caps 45:21 – Big Freeze Plug Tool & Torque Sequence on the Pan 48:00 – Final Torque to 125 ft-lbs & Gasket Shrink Check 49:27 – Finished 550/650G Final Drive & Parts Availability 50:40 – Merch, Patreon & Brunt Boots Sign-Off 51:21 – Hard Hat & Lunch Bloopers