Its amazing what a decal will do to an older cat. Take a look at the photo and tell me what this machine really is... Maybe a 955K? or earlier? The ROPS looks funny with the forward slope--maybe an aftermarket, poorly installed, and the caps over the rear sprocket dead axles with the 4 bolts look like those on my 1957 D7. I'm sure there are guys out there who can tell the model, year and serial number of a Cat by just looking at it. Any idea of what it really is in model and year? Thanks! Jon.
At least a K series. The H had a totally different loader linkage among other things. K’s actually became L’s at a certain serial number. A look at the engine water pump would offer a hint.
Post the Serial Number and remove all doubt.
What is that blade/bucket setup
Appears to have the side dump bucket option.
That bucket is a Custom Shop attachment. Finding a Parts Manual for it is let's say challenging. I recall that we had a similar attachment on a 938H.
New to me
They were an off the shelf option back in the day; the parts book for my 922B loader has the breakdown for the side dump bucket. I guess there would hardly be a need for them these days with zero swing excavators etc.
As shown in my 955L 13Xxxxx Parts Book
I stand corrected. Obviously they were far more common back in those days than they apparently are now.
Yes, it looks like a side dump. I am just looking at a "for sale" listing so I don't have anything like a SN yet. However, I get suspicious when the decals are wrong and the description just says "runs and drives". Unh- that sentence just begs the ending "but doesn't steer", or "the tracks fall off". The side dump bucket is probably fairly heavy since it has to resist a lot of loading a regular bucket would never see. --and, as I suspected, a lot of very experienced guys here are saying, "back in the day". But it does tell me that it has a 3rd valve installed so can be used with a log grapple or a 4N1 bucket. I took a look at 955H machines on the net, and as DB2 said, the bucket linkages are different. So it isn't as old as those machines. But with the side dump, it is probably a fairly early K....Did they start the 955K in the early '70's? And the 4 bolt dead axle covers started disappearing sometime about then--Even my 1969 D4D has the bigger 8 bolt (+/-) dead axle covers. Anyone care to comment on problems with the old 955K's? Were they too early to have foot steering? powershift transmissions? Light track chains? I'm looking for one for my stump ranch so it would have a pretty easy life. What about the funny looking ROPS? Is that a Cat standard or a bad aftermarket installation? Your comments are invited! Jon.
The K's appeared in '67 and became L's in about '71. The 955L decal may well be correct, without a serial number there's no way of telling.
I think the final drives were part of the upgrade in the L series. The K’s weren’t exactly stout in that regard.
I think early Ks had brake pedals coming up thru the floor and Ls hung down from the dash
Not sure about the 955 but on the 977 they switched from lever to pedal steer sometime in 63 or 64, my 63 977H is lever steer, the 64 is pedal steer… so the K series should most likely be pedal steer…
Pedal steer came in with 955H s/n 60A8413 in 1964
It's a K or an L but no sense guessing until you get a serial number. I think you can see the foot pedals in the pic. What are you talking about on the ROPS with the forward slope?
The rops over the operator is not level (parallel) with the fenders. The forward sweeps are sloping forward much steeper than is normally seen. It looks to me that none of the rops mountings are rubber mounted- just bolted. Possibly a reasonably decent job done by a fab shop who copied fairly decently except for the finer details. Jon.
The ROPS is definitely not home made but that's the least of things to worry about.