Next week I get to start a project I'm excited about. There's a guy I've been doing a lot of work for recently who has a couple properties, a bunch of old tractors (Deere B, International H etc), and I've been bringing his machines back to life. He's at the point in his life he's ready to liquidate some assets and slow down. He's got an old Cat dozer, I don't know much about it yet. It's got a blade and a pony motor, and a 3 point with PTO in the back. Odd machine. It hasn't moved since Christ was a corporal, and he wants it running. He says he doesn't believe the engine is seized, but he couldn't get it turning over with the pony motor when he parked it. A million years ago. It's all overgrown with a giant scrub oak and sunk into the dirt almost up to the track rollers. That whole undercarriage might have seized into a solid mess by now. I'm heading over there this morning, I plan on soaking it with PB, and letting it sit like that for a few days before I do anything else. Anyhow, no real crises to report yet, just posting up about this fun project I got coming up!
Sounds interesting. Keep us updated with some pictures!
3pt. Hitch sounds like it could be JD or another farm tractor brand. The pony start is odd though.
All the catalog attachments wouldn't surprise me a Cat 3pt was available for D2/4. A kiwi D2
Lot of the d2s were rope start might want to take a starter rope with you
It's a D4. 40's 50's maybe. I think the guy got his 3pt confused with one of the other gazillion tractors he owns. Does have an PTO though. Anyway here's a few pics. It's sunk into the dirt a few inches, the tracks are super tight, the pony motor turns but the big motor seems stuck. More to follow!
Couple more that didn't post the first try.
Boy, a machine that sat around here as long in the rain forrest of WV wouldn’t be visible. Looks pretty good to me.
There is a rope pull pulley right under the air cleaner. For the pony engine?
Yes.
6u Serial # early 1950 sweet ol' crawler you got.
Narrow gauge D4 with two speed PTO!!!!! Nice find.
That is a cool piece…doesn’t look too buried at all…with the cold here in Maine, the freeze/thaw cycle would have that on the belly pans in a few years (not to mention the trees/scrub growing thru it!). More pics please!! That pto is a game changer!!
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I already dropped a big can on it, and I haven't even really got into it yet
If you inquire, IIRC they will sell you a 55 gallon drum. See if they sell it in totes as well....
I made some progress on the D4 last week. It's not sunk in quite as badly as I thought - its actually hardly sunk in at all, so that's not an issue. I got the injectors out, and poured a 50/50 mix of acetone and ATF in there, and put em back in, hand - tight. No real problems there, surprisingly. They all looked fine - no indication of rust. I found a small wasp nest in the tool box. One of those bastards got me before I even knew they were around. I swear some Raid is the most important thing on the truck this time of year. I got the gearshift loose enough to shift the gears. When I put it in 1st and low on the PTO, I can put a pipe wrench on the PTO and creep the machine, so the drive isn't frozen solid. AAAnd I even got the pony motor to start. Fortunately, the owner drained the carb when he parked it, and shut off the gas. So, all I had to to was replace the fuel lines, and put some fresh gas in, and off we go. I'm going back on Thursday to see if I can get that engine turning. Oh - the oil level was fine also. I didn't check the radiator yet though. That's for Thursday as well. I got the blade lifted up and chained, so if we have to pull it out with something we can. He doesn't have anything heavy enough to pull it, but whatever - that's what he wanted. Maybe if the drive is free I can get his 4020 to move it if need be. We'll see. Anyway that's all for now. Stay cool yall - it's HOTT out there.
A 4020 should be able to do it. A cousin pull started his electric start D4C with an IH 966.
Not much progress today. It was 2 weeks ago I put some oil n stuff in the cylinders, put a pipe wrench on the PTO, and cranked it up with a jack and left it there. You can see the marks I left on the fan and shroud in the pic. The engine moved those marks about 1/8". That might just be slack in the bearings. I can lash it back and forth and get the lines to line up if I push one way, and I get what the pic shows if I push the other way. It's a hard stop either way. We're going to leave it for one more week and see where we are. Next week, I'm planning on taking the side panels off and having a look in there. I actually shoulda done that today, but...
OH, I almost forgot - I got my first DOT violation today. First stop at a check point. I've been driving for 7 years or so now, and only just today got stopped. The Staties had set up an "impromptu" checkpoint on 285 going to Denver, over on the shoulder. They took it easy on me. No fines just a written violation on my out of date inspection sticker and my DOT number was only on my driver door. Also - I was the last truck there. They waved off every truck behind me because they were wrapping up and leaving right after me. That might have had something to do with my luck as well. I knew my stickers needed attention. I've already ordered fix. Anyway, onward and upward.
I got the head off, and one cylinder got water in it. I'm looking for some rebuild parts for this tractor, but coming up empty handed. Tractor number is 6U1931. I believe it's a D315 engine. The only liner kit I can find is a p/n 8H2000LK but that looks like it's for a 4V / 5V and up, not a 6U. I'm assuming 6U is earlier than 4V. I found on some old tractor forums that Florin Tractor out in CA was good for antique cat parts, but they've gone out of business it seems. Does anybody have any pointers on getting antique Cat parts?
Try General Gear in Idaho.
What you have is a D318, it shares the same bore & stroke as a D315, liner kits are the same. I know Cat has liners and gaskets, Get yourself a parts book off eBay and a service manual. They are your best friend, cheers
Thanks Tom and Bcat, I reached out to General Gear in ID, and they didn't have the parts I needed, but gave me a parts book! I think I'm going to be ok. The liner kit I mentioned earlier for the 4V/5V crosses to the 6U, so it turns out that was the right one to begin with. I'm going to buy one and check before I buy all 4 just to be sure. I'll give my cat shop one more try today and if they don't get back to me, screw em, I'll go aftermarket. Thanks a bunch yall!
Got your tractor # mixed up. You have a narrow gage D4, 4v & 5v are power units serial number’s, sorry about that, cheer
Took a little vacation from it, but back at it today. The head is off, and he definitely got water in cylinder 2. Lots of rust in there. Engine locked up tight. The other 3 cylinders look ok. So the only thing I can think to do is drop the oil pan, and knock out the piston and liner from underneath. I may have to torch the connecting rod. In any case, I need to drop the pan. There's a spring pack in the way. I'd have to raise the front of the machine, take the springs out, and then drop the pan. Here's the problem: with a jack under the radiator, I can't fit my wide load under there. So here's what I'm thinking- get a steel I beam, about 5 feet long, put that under the rad, and raise both ends, support em on dunnage. So the weight of the front of the machine is supported by that beam and I can get under there and pull the springs and drop the pan. I'd like to hear your thoughts. I'd need that beam to be plenty big enough. If it bends, I'm a pancake. Any other ideas how to safely support the machine so I can get under there?
I recently freed up a severely locked up ‘75 International MV446 dump truck engine; cylinder 2 was at the bottom of the cylinder and would only move about 30° of crank rotation…scoping it showed massive amount of rust. I tried automatic trans fluid, filling the cylinder and soaking it with Marvel mystery oil (for 10 months!) zero luck. Decided to add Evapo-rust directly into the cylinder thru the spark plug hole; let it sit for four hours and then sucked it out with a Mighty-vac hand pump, could see the fluid was changing color so I knew it was doing something, refilled with fresh Evapo-rust for another four hours and to my amazement was able to roll the engine over 360°! At that point it was a matter of changing oil and getting fresh fuel to it…still runs great! Certainly not recommending that’s your finally (or correct!) solution, but I can tell you first hand within a few hours that cylinder will be cleaned up enough to rotate the assembly; which will likely make disassembly more straight forward…or throw the head back on a hammer it some more!! Send some cylinder pics so we can see the mess you’re looking at…that is certainly a cool piece worth wrenching on!
I'm certainly not above trying some evap o rust. If I can get that piston and crank moving, these engines have side panels in the block, I assume, to facilitate changing pistons and liners without dropping the pan. The panel wouldn't work in this situation because the crank throw is towards the far side of the block and I couldn't reach. If I could rotate it 90, I could get that rod cap off through the panel, and I could make a sleeve puller easy enough. I wouldn't have to get under the thing at all, which would be my preference, if I'm honest. It's a heavy little piggie. I'm going to give it a try! It's funny you mentioned using a piece of wood. I had tried other methods to get the piston moving, like putting a long bar on the PTO and leaving a jack under the end of the bar, soaking the cylinder in ATF/acetone, putting some diesel in there and letting it burn for awhile to heat it up a little. Nothing was working. So I went back today and went old school on it. I tried whacking it with a piece of 4x4 in there. Splintered the wood, and engine didn't move at all. That sucker's stuck. But yeah I'll try evap o rust.