Any ideas what this machine has been in? look at the AC compressor and the coolant hose is even stained. There is some exterior rusting but not real bad.
Here's the machine, it's been in some kind of chemical is my guess
Possible exposure to sulphuric acid could be the cause?
My guess would be running in an area of high iron content in the soil.
Hmmm, would that stain rubber?
In our area, I've seen red clay dust stain components, including rubber. Even a pressure washer won't remove the stain.
A cursory "googling" indicates either sulphuric acid or iron as potential causes for the rubber stains. Just curious, are you able to obtain any history on the dozer?
I'll see if I can get a sims report from Cat. No history at this time. Clay dust would not be a problem but sulphuric acid might. I'd hate to win the bid and have every bolt you touch break off!!
I used to work at a plant that had a giant sulphur block. they had a couple excavators and a couple loaders as well. The machines all had stains like that despite being near new. They turned into junk after a few years. that sulphur eats away everything, especially when it was snowing and the snow caught the sulphur dust. Now yours there doesnt look exactly like that, but that plant was worst case possible.
Iron ore leaves a red rusty coloured stain like that.
When I first saw the title to this post, I thought you were going to tell us a really scary experience you had on a dozer. I can't help it.
Ha ha , the seat looks fine
My guess would be iron ore dust. It will stain pretty much everything, including rubber. We use a waste rock for driveways from the iron ore mines that dotted the landscape around my area. When this material is dry it creates a fine reddish-purple dust that coats everything. Here's a pic of using it on a driveway. View attachment 89272 I am curious to see it's service history if you can get it. D6R XL, very nice tractor. I had an XW that was a proven performer. When the larger dirt projects get kicked started I would like to get another one.
We used to handle foundry slag which would rust everything. Worse than salt.
Oil refineries produce sulphur and sell that off to people who resell on the world market. There is an outfit up here that uses loaders to handle the powder. As long as the weather is dry, you only get the staining. Seeing though that this is the Pacific Northwest and it only rains from the middle of September to the middle of July, that outfit replaces machines every three years or so.
Some of you guys were really close. I talked to the owner who has owned it since new, they had the machine in Hawaii for 2 years building a golf course in red oxide dirt.
Could that be from washing it with hard well water? My house has white vinyl siding and the well water here turns it kind of an orangey colour I've heard it could be from limestone with a high iron sulphide content and it can be washed off with bleach or cleaners containing bleach like Vim.