I was out in the County yesterday and came across this old dozer. It sits maybe 50 yards off the dirt road but was well hidden by a couple cedar trees. I caught a glimpse of it as I drove by and had to go back for some pictures and a video. It is a a 1953 TD18A International Crawler. It is a retired US Navy Machine that found its way into the Arkansas back woods at some point. Looks like it blew a head gasket or something and was left to rot. Really neat old crawler with a Bucyrus Erie hydraulic blade. A made a short video with my phone. Thought I would share!
I've often wondered, there are a few threads on here about abandoned gear. You do occasionally see abandoned stuff in UK, but not much. If it has failed to such an extent it is uneconomical to repair it tends to get broken for parts or weighted in for scrap. There must be a lot of monies worth just rotting away, gradually releasing fuel and oil into the environment. Why don't the owners scrap it? If the owners didn't half of it would get stolen for scrap here. Graham
I guess it is because most of the US is pretty big and empty and there is plenty of scrap metal that is closer and easier to get. This piece might be pretty far out in the woods. You can drive for hours around here in certain directions and never come to a town or even a house. I know of junk in the woods that has been there well over 50 years.
Not a lot of wear on pedals, shoes, blade. I wouldn't be surprised if it was a low hour machine. At this point I bet it's restorable, but it would NOT be easy! For a number of years blades, and loaders were supplied by other manufacturers such as Bucyrus Eyrie, or Drott. TD 18 A would be 18 ton, in the range of the nameplate on the dash. I'd love to have it. Willie
I thought the same thing about the hours Willie. If it has original undercarriage its probably 40% maybe better. I am surprised it wasn't hauled off when scrap metal was high. It sits 50 just yards from an accessible dirt road, altho it is aways out in the country. It was a fun treasure to find. I kinda think maybe it was sold in Government Surplus auction and bought by the County. It broke down building a road out in the county and there it was left. I would love to see it saved especially with its Navy heritage. It would probably need a different motor? Anyone that wants to save it I am sure I can determine the land owner and I will drive you to it!
Some of the military surplus stuff can't be sold. Locally here in VT we often see military surplus machines loaned to towns, or non profits such as volunteer fire departments. When they are done with them they must be returned to the original entity. I know people who have tried to buy. The only one I do know about was a pair of five ton trucks that were salvage value only. A friend got them free from a fire company. Will it ever come back to bite him? I don't know. He took the front axles out of them to build a monster truck. It steered from both ends. Willie
When the fire department and other entities turn them back to the feds they go on a GSA Auction. They have a yard near here at Willow River, MN. We used to get some great deals on the live on site auctions held twice a year. Now its just a holding area and all sales are on line. Stuff normally sells overpriced for what it is. Looks good in the pictures but they don't usually show the defects.
ya TD 18 where bad for head gaskets going. they had a 2 head's and one would get hot. i think they did a update with a much bigger water pump to help keep stuff flowing.
The engines are still around. I've seen a couple of TD 18's pop up for sale. As far as buying it, I don't think anyone is going to fuss. I doubt it would be an issue as far as being military surplus.
As I recall they started on gas and when warm they were switched to run on diesel. Problem was if you didn't warm them up to near operating temp one of the heads would crack. At any rate I've seen lots and lots of this stuff sitting in the brush with various plant material growing through the frames, blades and around the cabs. The land owner has the last say on the disposition of the scrap if you could find them. When scrap prices were high you could make a little money if you could push the unit on a truck and haul whole to the yard. if you had to cut it up on sight a lot of your money went to torch gas, lifting equipment, labor and trucking costs. Now days scrap is running around thirty to forty bucks a ton. Eighteen tons could at best get you seven hundred and twenty dollars. Not much room for profit on that machine.