I've obtained an old Cat D7E with a 13.5 foot angle blade from an online auction. It has the number 47A3316 stamped on it. It also has a tag with this number stamped on it: Here is a photo of the left side: And here's the best photo of the right side that I have: Here's a pic of the control panel: Are one of the two numbers the unit's serial number? Is there a serial number vs year manufactured chart that could give more info on the original dozer? I need a year of manufacture for insurance purposes.
47A3316 is the serial number of the tractor, and it was built in late 1965 (1965 production was 47A2693 to 47A3551). 65G2287 is the serial number of the Model 173 hydraulic control.
That's cool. I have never operated one with the direct drive. 5th! Yeehaw! I can see one instance for 4th and I have been there. It was about a foot of untracked snow on a smooth road.
Thanks, OzDozer. Is there some list of serial numbers to year decoder ring that you used?
Yes, there are serial number record books available from a couple of publishers, and the likes of auction houses and dealers use them - but current copies are very expensive to buy - $400-$500. AED is the one I use, and it's an old copy - 1998. These books do have errors and typos, they're not 100% accurate - and even factory records are sometimes inaccurate. But they're as good as you're going to find. Cross-checking between books is a good idea. Current editions don't go back any more than about 30 years on average, so you need to hunt down previous editions of the books that are "obsolete" and discarded. I've been sneeringly referred to as a "dumpster diver" for my machine information by one individual on here, but I can assure you, a lot of good valuable machine information has ended up in dumpsters. eBay is usually a good place to try and find the serial record books. No-one that I know has a free comprehensive production record online - but if you join ACMOC (Antique Caterpillar Machinery Owners Club), their forum hosts production records up to the mid-1960's.
I find it strange that forward gears are faster in direct drive (5th). On power shift the reverse gear is faster. I always flew out of the woods in reverse, to see the roach coach gal.
I don't have a need for the books, it's just something that I was curious to know. As for dumpster diving, one man's trash is another man's treasure! I recently recovered a couple of very nice Snap-on torque wrenches from someone's trash (plus other stuff). Needless to say, I check his trash often!
Chidog, I think you'll find the 4 reverse gears on the direct drive D7E are faster than the corresponding 4 forward gears. But 5th forward is "transport" gear, designed for speeded-up travel between job locations. Track wear is increased to a certain degree in reverse, and increased speeds in reverse add to that wear again. But if you're on good contract rates, high-speed reverse is a winner. As a contractor on largely contract rates, I always operated my powershift D6's and D7's in 2nd reverse. But I had one half-crazy operator who would use 3rd reverse - and he'd even throw the tractor into "angel gear" going back down the slopes of dams! (ponds). He was hard on the tractors, but he used to get some amazing dirt-shifting production out of them, that no-one could beat!
You mean “Mexican overdrive”………
I've worked with a few high gear ops. I got em beat using mostly 1st gear, if I used 3 in reverse normally it was at reduced rpm, but not at lunch time.
Here are the speeds for the direct drive transmission for this D7. For each corresponding gear, the REVERSE speed is faster than the forward.
or the left pedal on that 980 on the Damn job
Was he making you any money or any extra profit just went into new undercarriage costs? I think Nige mentioned quite awhile ago that operators on some jobs would get fired for going in 3rd gear reverse.
Yes, his extra production made me a lot more money, and that covered the higher wear rates that this operator incurred. Nearly all my work was contract work, I got 23c per cubic yard moved in those bad old days, so the more yards you moved in every hour, the more you got, and the lower the fuel cost per yd moved. This guy could outproduce any other operator by at least 25%, but the track wear rate wasn't 25% greater, maybe 10% at most. Most of my undercarriage wear came from the conditions the tractors worked in - lots of abrasive sandy clays, and mud in pond extensions.
That's my kinda guy . . .
Sometimes you have to crunch the numbers and kick SOPs into touch if the financials stack up right, despite the fact that it goes against everything you’ve been taught.
We had no problems with track wear. Our " New tracks" were already almost worn out when we got them.
My dad welded bar across high & low range selector in old 977 & 955 H Cats. Your Left track is on backwards on that D7. Nick
Well, the ol' girl got delivered Saturday afternoon. First order of business was helping the trucker get the lo-boy hooked back up (parked on a narrow road on a hill). I was able to provide a little "lift" to get the system back together. It was then onto pushing in a road (or, pushing over trees while also cutting in a road!). After about thirty minutes of kicking the crap out of a bunch of trees, I noticed that the blade was swinging freely. I backed out to level ground and saw that both of my pins were gone (they WERE there, but since they had no retainer, they went on walkabout). An immediate trip to TSC procured a couple of new pins, this time with retainers. All in all, I got in about two hours of pushing things around before I had to leave (I had to leave on Sunday morning). I got an amazing amount of work down in those two hours. I noticed a small leak on one of the finals, so I was going to check the level. I was expecting a 1/2" female socket, but was instead confronted with a large female hex socket on the plug. Of course I didn't have a tool for this plug and I don't even know what it would be called. Or, the size. Can anyone give me a clue on the tool used to remove the final drive plug?
View attachment KIMG0407.JPG Something like these?
Yes, but the ones on the finals is something like 1-1/2" to 2" across.
What was it your were saying earlier about not having a need for books.? If you had an O&M Manual there is an illustration of the Hand Tool Group that originally came with the machine for the operator to do all the basic maintenance. #10 is the part you are looking for - 5S-9569 - Socket (Drain Plug)
Well, that's called a hex driver. Sounds like you need a big one. The special tool in Nige's picture appears like it may be tapered though, you may need that . . .
SLK001 - If you have a final drive leaking oil, you need to check the looseness of your sprocket by levering on the sprocket teeth with a big crowbar. Any side-to-side movement of the sprocket mean your sprocket bearing adjusting nut needs to be tightened up. Also, check the final drive oil for metal chunks or a slivery appearance. You check for metal chunks by draining a small amount of oil into a pan and tip the drained oil off slowly, looking for metal chunks in the bottom of the pan.
They are indeed tapered, designed to cope with a worn internal hex in the plug.
I'll do that. And where does one get a 5S-9569 - Socket (Drain Plug)? The Caterpillar site doesn't know what I'm talking about when I plug in that number. I'm getting an electronic version of the original operator's manual and also the service manual for this serial number.
Cat Parts Store doesn't have an illustration but it comes up as a good number. Also available from various aftermarket stockists HERE
Hex Key for D4 drain plugs I need help finding the right hex bit for the drain plugs on a D47U. I have been using a plumbers shower drain socket but they are kind of flimsy. I went to... www.acmoc.org
Is the D4 and the D7 drive plug the same size? When I looked at the plug, it seemed HUGE, like 1-1/2" to 2" across. I didn't have time to actually measure it (it was raining quite hard and the ground was starting to really mud up). I know... I SHOULD have measured it, but then hindsight is 20/20. I'll get the OP MAN tomorrow and hopefully it will give me the dimensions.
When ordering parts for machines of the era you have....you'll need to tell the parts slingers to look in the legacy books, without those books you'll get parts for the present day machines...which never fit. The people behind the counters that sold parts for the machines of this era are mostly retired or worse. A good set of reprinted Cat books (or originals if you can find them) are going to be your best friend where parts are concerned. I believe the part Nige showed you is the tool you need to get the plugs out of your finals. They aren't that pricy at Cat...I think approx. $25.00 bucks if I recall.
Apparently 5S-9569 services to a newer Part Number - 212-8146. I found details of the 212-8146 in a Cat tool Guide. The hexagon size is 1" on one side and 1-1/2" on the other. See below.
Serial Number 47A3316 is a "1st Generation" 47A-prefix D7E. This group of tractors was from first built up to machine Serial Number 47A3395. A Parts Manual will help you bypass the germs on the Parts Counter germs at the Cat dealership and ask for parts directly by number. The Cat publication reference is UE034319.
I plan on getting this service manual: It says it is for S/N 47A1 thru 47A3395 and S/N 48A1 thru 48A6392. Also, the corresponding OP MAN and the parts manual.
Anecdotal evidence suggests that brand of manuals is a mish-mash of poor quality photocopies. Finney on the other hand do some pretty good reproduction manuals - https://finneyparts.us/manuals/ Genuine Cat O&M and Parts Manuals are available for download from Catpublications.com. I haven’t found a source for a genuine service manual yet but am still looking. EDIT: Here's a link to an original Cat Service Manual for tractors S/N 47A1-Up on eBay .