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Putting in a new ring-gear on the flywheel is not too big a deal. Do it yourself with 8 hours work and $150 in part. Pay a dealer though, and it can cost you $600 or more. You didn't mention if this is a loader or a dozer - and if a dozer - inside blade or outside blade? You'd better run the machine before buying, get it good and hot - and see if the trans slips - and - if the engine has any oil-pressure at idle-speed. A loader or outside-blade 450 for $2000 may not be cheap in the long-run. Depends much on the undercarriage and HL-R trans. Those transmissions are getting so expensive to fix, that I've seen several 450s get scrapped and parted out lately - since they were too expensive to repair. You could pay $2000 for the crawler, and if the trans starts to slip - it could cost you another $3000 - $4000 to fix - in some cases, more. 450s for sale in the $2000 price range are not rare - if they need undercarriage or trans. work.
Theres a 450 loader for sale, right now - near me. ROPS,Good undercarriage, rear ripper, but the motor needs work (diesel). $2500 Last month I looked at a 450B dozer with 6-way blade, 1/2 worn undercarriage and the trans. slipped when hot. It sold for $1800 and the buyer is parting it out. Figured it would of cost as least $6000 to fix it otherwise. I was a Deere mechanic most of my life - and they made some good machines. But . . . a 450 can be 40 years old and uses a LOT of proprietary parts that only come from Deere. I would not own one - unless I got it dirt cheap. A 350 or a 1010 yes (I've got several). My neighbor just bought a 350 diesel with inside, mechanical 6-way blade, no reverser(clutch driven), winch, and ROPS. Pretty bad undercarriage but it runs great. He paid $3000 for it. For an older machine for occasional use, you're better off (in my opinion) with a crawler that uses more generic parts - like an old Allis HD5. Most built with truck parts, has a Detroit Diesel engine, and they usually sell cheap.
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