Some relatives contacted me a few weeks ago and said they had bulldozer for me if I wanted it. I quickly found it is an R5, and I said what the heck is an R5? Never heard of it! Well, now I am a little more educated but I have a lot to learn still. About 20+ years ago my dad's uncle bought this machine as a farm dozer. He rebuilt the original engine and probably did many other things that no one knows about. He was well known as a talented shade tree mechanic, so I am lucky in that regard. They never got around to putting the blade on after it was delivered, but the blade and pins are all there. His health declined and he passed away before it was finished. The family was happy for me to take it on as a project to finish and put to use in his memory. It has a hydraulic dozer blade on it, 12v electric start, 12v inline fuel pump, and a PTO on the back with a chain sprocket (I think it was marked Leroy, Olean but I forgot to take a picture). Tag was on the back right of the machine showing the serial number 4H698 dating it to 1937. Sprockets and pads look good. I didn't look at all the links and rollers in my excitement. The fuel tank was empty and looked rusty inside so I ran a fuel line to a gas can. Cranked over with a new battery but wouldn't start. Narrowed it down to no spark. Found a manual online for the magneto which showed me where to find the contacts, so I cleaned some corrosion off of those and it fired right up! Prior to this, the oldest machine I've operated is my 955L, so I took an educated guess at the controls and slowly eased it out of the tight barn. Thankfully, that went well. I drove forward, turned left, turn right, and went backwards. Not sure if the parking brake works but we will get there. The right lift cylinder for the blade was gushing fluid from the rod seal. It sounded good to me. It appeared the ammeter and oil pressure gauge were functional. I will add a coolant temp gauge asap. I can't afford to make more problems for myself. So I'm currently setting up a truck to haul it to my place where I can start working on it to get it back in working condition. I have some small jobs for it around my 23 acre property. Probably a couple hours a month of run time, if that. I live just a few miles from the National Pike Steam Gas and Horse Show near Brownsville, PA so maybe I will have it hauled over there for a show or two once I get it looking nice. Questions: Does Cat maintain records of who the original purchaser was? What year did Cat start marking bolt heads with Cat logos? (Not really related to this) What type of equipment would this PTO of been used with? What age range does the dozer blade equipment date to? Was it a "kit" sold by a company or cobbled together? Suggestions for proper gasoline and additives? I found the operator and parts manuals on ebay for not much money. No luck on a service manual yet. Any directions on finding that are appreciated. How should I go about repairing the leaky lift cylinder for the blade? I just rebuilt a cylidner on my 955L myself, and it was pretty straight forward because I was able to get all the parts from the Cat shop and instructions were available. I don't think I need the instruction part, but where do I go to find the right seals for something like this? Any suggestions for a mechanical temperature guage that will look appropriate on this machine? I don't want to just slap something from autozone on it. Here is an incredibly poor video of it starting and moving. i.imgur.com/zN2elK9.mp4
I would love to see more pictures of the cat! I suspect the hydraulic system was added at some point as well as the electric start. A friend has a 1946 Caterpillar 15. Probably a bit smaller than your machine. The 15 has a rear winch and the winch rope runs up the rear of the canopy across the top to a bracket that holds a block that is used to raise and lower the blade. The 15 is crank start only. The cable setup is similar the the one in this thread: HeavyEquipmentForums
Great pics/love the old stuff…keep ‘em coming!! Regarding fuel question (and I hope the real HEF mechanics will verify this!)- I suspect you will need to add lead to the fuel- as I was always told the valves/valve seats in the old machines need the lead to create a “cushion” between the two…otherwise metal on metal will trash one another. I haven’t looked in awhile, but most automotive stores sell a lead additive you mix into your unleaded fuel. And when buying unleaded fuel I suggest starting with “boat gas”; which typically is a non-ethanol fuel and try to get the highest octane you can find. Or I run VP Race fuel in our “other toy” and have always had tremendous results; consistent clean burn/etc… VP also caters to the old cars and offers a leaded fuel: https://vpracingfuels.com/product/vp-vintage-leaded/?c=215& Expensive- absolutely! BUT in a sealed can the claim is it will “last” for 2 years. Your other option is to go to local (small) airport and buy 100LL (LL = Low Lead) aviation fuel used in prop planes (but will soon be phased out). Of course 100LL is another quality fuel that will “store” very well and take the mixology out of the equation. Wish you the best with the old machine, especially knowing how much it will mean to the family!!
I was thinking along the lines of using lower octane fuel, as standard gas octane rating in the 1930s was in the high 60s and low 70s. I will have to try and get a scope in one of the cylinders and see if I can spot an inserted valve seat.
Got it moved! shoots flames out of the exhaust. Running rich? I need to get a manual to check timing and all that. Dug around in the barn it was stores in and I found the whole oil bath air cleaner and the top hat for the air intake that holds the glass mason jar, so thats exciting. I am thinking about removing the “falling object protection”. I’m a little in love with the original look. Things to do: 1 - clean the fuel tank to make it useable and find a cap for it 2 - check timing, carb adjustments 3 - hydraulic hoses, radiator hoses, fluids 4 - rebuild the cylinders 5 - fix up and mount the air cleaner, looks like im missing the 6 - mount the blade
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WOW- a functional piece of history right there! Congrats on the move, always exciting. Sounded good in the video (extra “points” in my book for that!!), certainly wasn’t as happy after the exhaust took a dump and blocked opening, but still kept going!! I bet you’re spot on with the backfiring being timing; curious to hear if that uses points? Magneto? Might be worth peeking at the valves to make sure nothing is hanging open… After seeing you on the machine, I can see why you’d remove the canopy- maybe just try removing the roof first to get better visibility- upright bars might keep you from getting slapped with tree branch?? Plus in the summer you might want top back on for shade; but I completely understand “the clean look” you’d get without any of it!! Man, that’s cool - Thanks for sharing!
It has an Eisemann CT4 magneto, which I had to get acquainted with to get it started. Great info on those magnetos here: https://oldcroak.com/eisemann-cm4-ct4-magneto-instructions/