Hi, long time since I was on here but back again as I am acquiring a CAT931B to do some leveling of land for shed and house construction. The serial no of the machine is 29Y01532 which the system tells me it is what it is a 931B Track Loader but I would like to know beyond that what CAT knows about the build of this model? Can someone here with access to CAT systems records find out anything at all for me? That aside the current owner has done a strip down and rebuild and tested tolerances on other parts of the machine and re-built and has 140hrs on the motor now with no known issues. I am hoping he has done it well but he provided strip down and rebuild photos in recent years and it all looks good to me. He will fit a new set of aftermarket rippers and ripper assembly which to me is emergency brakes if necessary ever. Any tips for use on country with angles of more than 20 degrees I would be grateful for and any tips on this particular breed of machine. I bought this one on the refurb and being what I think is big enough to do the job without being so big as to be overkill. It wont be delivered until another month or so but I am in no hurry. I can't seem to find if they are wet clutches or dry??? Steering, braking hence my inquiry about what Cat knows about this machine??? Thanks for helping, Regards, MX45
Nige or someone with access to SIS should be able to pull up the build sheet for you. Be aware the build sheet can show what came as standard and also what was put on as an option. It did on my machine that came with a backhoe and optional piston pump for the backhoe. It showed the standard pump which was obviously removed. I don't have my serial book handy but would guess your machine is around 1984 give or take. Most came with dry brakes but some were converted to wet brakes. Wet brakes were an option from the factory so there's 3 options. An easy way to tell is look under the steering clutch compartments. Dry brakes have a square headed bolt with a jam nut to hold up the brake bands. They are protected by a short piece of pipe around them. The wet brakes don't have the bolts. Loaders are more top heavy than dozers. Best to go up and down slopes instead of across them. The triple grousers won't dig in as well. I think it will have the newer 3204 with direct injection. Not sure if it would have the improved slightly longer lift arms which increased reach and dump height. Do you know if the engine was rebuilt with 3 ring pistons? That would be an improvement over the Cat 2 ring pistons. Post some pics. of your new machine when you get it.
Hi Dave, Thanks. I have been looking for a while at different options and this seemed to be a fit. I was certainly persuaded by the amount of work and re-furb the previous owner had done. He has provided invoices for new track bolts, nuts, chains, sprockets, alternator, starter, various seals and o rings, new head and yes the 3 ring pistons which I read about which certainly will be an improvement. He has 140hrs on a new hour meter. Previous history is a bit unknown. I have photos but too large to attach. I have to figure that out again. He has supplied photos of the various stages of the pull down and rebuild. I have a small tracked FUDA dozer but it is too light and under powered to do any serious cutting into the hard clay and rock. I also have a MF3090 but while it has power with a blade it does not have the traction to move heavy materials and shudders on load. I will only break these for the work. So I needed in my book a machine albeit slow and old but strong enough to progress the work. In a few months I will see how I go.
Photos.
More Photos
And Photos.
I think he did a pretty good job!!!
Comes with newly supplied and fitted rippers as below.
See attached. Not that it really tells you much. Doesn't even give an engine Serial Number.
Thanks Nige, Something is better than nothing. The seller is also supplying service and owner manuals so may be some notes there. Your thoughts on the photos of strip and rebuild?
Looks fantastic. The machine was completely stripped down. I think it has the piston pump but the hose connections are different than mine. I think it has dry brakes but I don't know if they look different looking in the compartments. If it runs as good as it looks is probably one of the best 931B's out there.
Thanks Dave, fortunate to have come across it I believe. I will send photos once I have it of the whole package.
It shows a gear pump. I'd have to pull a side panel to look at my pump although your pump looks to have case drain line which is common on piston pumps.
They will be worth their weight in gold. Factory did a mediocre job of converting service books to the online version. From what I can see it looks like a dry arrangement. Wet arrangements had these yokes slightly offset (bent) to account for the slightly thicker clutch arrangement when done by factory, or so the book reads anyway... As Nige said the product configuration doesn't really tell you much. By all means use it as a guide but do not rely on it. It will have errors.
That 931B has dry steering clutches. If someone did a rebuild job on any tractor like that, that I bought, I'd be kissing his feet. I have never seen a rebuild so thorough, and so well documented. I only hope I can get somewhere near that level of rebuild/restoration with my 931B, as that bloke has done with yours! Not trying to be nosey, but what kind of money did this almost fully rebuilt 931B cost you? I've only just started on mine, and I've got over AU$7000 in parts and reconditioning, just in the engine alone, so far! That doesn't include any assembly time and effort on the engine, I'm only about to start on that! I have yet to get into the transmission and steering clutches. I hope I don't have to pull the clutches out, I know the brakes are locked on with corrosion. These little Cats are brilliant for what they can do for their size, and a 4 in 1 bucket and rippers simply adds to their versatility. Be careful when the bucket is right up, the weight overhead reduces their stability, so take care on uneven ground, keep the bucket low when moving around, and keep your work area as level as you can get it.
HI Oz Dozer, thanks. I am blessed I think and I think the previous owner is just moving on and has access to heavy equipment being a heavy equipment manager. Advertised it really did not show the level of rebuild other than relatively new paint. I asked for some invoices to match the 931 and show work being done in some part. I was taken aback at the apparent detail. Now the tranny was not pulled apart and re done but checked for tolerances and put back in place with new seals as I understand it. The time taken, skill and cost would be very large. Before I say how much what do you think it should be? I simply don't know what it should be. I think every thing you buy is what it is worth to the seller to sell and you to buy. I just asked him what he wanted as it was advertised with/without rippers and explained my need for the machine so he knew I was genuine and ready to buy. He gave me a price which I thought was very fair. So many machines are given a spray paint or advertised as great condition and even digital photos wont make them any good. I will be happy when it is delivered and it will live with me until I am gone. It will no doubt last longer than me but I am really looking forward to doing some shovelling with it to remove some top soil and pile it up and start on a shed pad where the shed to house it and other toys will be built. I missed out on some other equipment at similar cost but I think the quality of this piece and heavy build and tracked will be great.
If you got that 931B, complete with new ripper, for anything less than AU$50,000, you got the bargain of the year. I paid AU$5000 for my 931B (1980 model and 25Y series with the 3F/1R transmission), and it is the biggest wreck rebuild I have ever undertaken! I probably paid about $3000 too much for it! The engine had two cracked pistons (but it did run quite well - just the pieces of aluminium from piston skirt in the crankcase had me greatly concerned), the transmission oil cooler had put water into the transmission oil, the bucket is in a sad state, the starter was totally shot, seat was non-existent, brakes were locked on, the corrosion throughout is horrendous, the tracks are on their last legs - and even the cab had been thrown away! (it appears it had a fully enclosed glass cabin, judging by the remnant rubber seals). I've had to build a new (open) ROPS from scratch, the engine rebuild is well under way, the transmission needs to be stripped down (looks O.K. from what I can see) - and the braking and steering controls all need rebuilding. I had to fabricate a new suction line for the hydraulic pump, the old one was rotted out and developed a hole that released litres and litres of hydraulic oil, when I was away from the tractor. Both bucket tilt rams had rotten seals and damaged shafts, so they got new seals and new shafting. I have around $600 in each tilt ram rebuild. I got lucky and scored a length of new chrome shafting for $200, which did both rams. Having a mate who is a top level, old-school machinist is a great help. The abuse to the tractor has resulted in bent hydraulic pipes galore, buckled panels, bent radiator nose, every guard is buckled beyond belief. The tractor was obviously owned or driven by idiots, and the previous owner found it abandoned in a swamp! - where it had laid for maybe 2 or 3 years! The previous owner was going to rebuild the tractor, but he drove drunk and killed himself - so I picked the tractor up from his widow, who just wanted to get rid of everything he'd owned. Hopefully, I'll have my 931B finished some time next year - I got lucky and picked up a set of genuine Cat SALT track chains for $2500, along with bolt-on sprockets and hardware, thrown in with the deal. But the track repairs will probably have to wait, I want to get the drivetrain in good running order, then I can do the undercarriage overhaul later. Tilt tray photo is from when I moved the 931B from the farm where I bought it, to my block further up the country, about 65kms away. I haven't built a shed on my block yet, although I have a decent size rented workshop in the city.
First photo is of one of the engine mounts. They are so rotten with corrosion, I've had to build complete new mounts for both engine and transmission! I got one new genuine Cat mount off a seller on eBay, and I picked up the other three new mounts from an aftermarket parts supplier in Miami. They're Chinese mounts, but they look O.K. and they were only around $40 each. Second and third photos are of the corroded suction pipe and the new one I made up. I got lucky and found some proper hydraulic tubing in a scrap-dealer friends stockpile of steel and piping! Fourth photo is the damaged No. 4 piston with the chunk out of the skirt, and full of cracks! The engine internals were original, all Cat part numbers on everything, as well as 2 ring pistons. I got lucky again, the crankshaft was perfect, only needed linishing, and it took standard bearings again. The block had to be bored .020" oversize, and I acquired a full IPD aftermarket engine and gasket kit for it from a business in Toowoomba - Earthmoving Parts and Service Solutions (E.P.S.S.), these blokes are great to deal with.
Wow, I would not, could not, take on that job. I am getting near three score years and ten so happy to be here but not willing to work so hard where my hands are arthritic and joint movement limited an painful. They only make levers for spanners and sockets so long. Funny I was using a almost 3 meter pipe on a 15" shifter to move a track adjuster just recently on my little Fuda Dozer. Hence my interest in something with work done. Yes I am very lucky as I don't imagine there is another one like this anywhere or anything close to it. I have been on my pty more than 20 years and while I have a shed it is packed full of bits and pieces so no room for work. Bought a 20x10 shed with 6 x 20 lean to and that should house most of my stuff under a roof. To get that built I need a pad and I have about a 3 meter drop off over that distance at a complex hollow space. Bit of cutting and packing to do and then level before a builder can come in. Just got a final quote today from an Earthmover who I thought had just not responded out of no interest. About the cost of the 931 - very similar to the other guy so just not worth engaging someone. The previous owner is getting the rippers delivered and will fit same prior to transport to me. A few weeks but maybe only two or so. Looking forward to it. Thanks for your input. Good luck with your project.
I'm already three years over the three score and ten, and I thought I'd stop doing tractor rebuilds/restoration years ago! - but it gets in your blood! I reckon I have maybe 7-10 years of repair work left in me, but it doesn't get any easier as you get older!
One thing to be aware of that's in the owners manual is don't fully dump the bucket with the lift arms less than about half way up and then lower the boom or if the bucket is dumped at a higher level, don't lower it all the way down. The way the linkage is could damage or possibly break the bucket cylinders because they'd be pushing against the gland nut with extra force than just the hydraulics.
I got an aftermarket motor mount for a fraction of dhat Cat wanted and have had no issues. Make sure the fuel line at the lift pump doesn't leak. Mine had a very small leak after the engine was rebuilt and the diesel fuel attacked the motor mount. Good thing they found a used cast iron oil pan. I think it was $350 which was les than half of a new stamped oil pan. I had to loosen the other motor mount as well as the trans. mounts and jack up the engine to get the new mount in. Couldn't have jacked on a stamped pan. Here's a puzzler, how come internal combustion engines have motor mounts and not engine mounts? Hmmm?
Dave, did you check the cast iron oil pan profile and capacity against the original stamped oil pan? I've done the same, my stamped oil pan was rotted out from dirt and water buildup around it in the belly guard, that was never dropped. So I picked up a very good cast oil pan to go on my engine (AU$500). However, I don't think the cast oil pan was ever fitted to the D3/931? I may be wrong there. But it seems the cast iron oil pan was only fitted to the 910 loader. I've noticed a difference in the cast iron oil pan profile in the sump region, as compared to the stamped oil pan, and I'm going to check oil pan capacity and location of the oil pump pickup to ensure the pickup is still in a satisfactory position in the cast pan. It looks like the cast pan holds a greater quantity of oil.
The shop that rebuilt the engine found the cast oil pan. I'm not sure what it was off and I don't know if turbo 3204's use the same oil pan or have the same oil capacity. It may have come off a 910. I recall it takes 12 litres of oil. They also replaced the pick up tube because they said it had a crack from when a root punched a hole in the oil pan. The root went in the hole for the drain plug. I made a bolt on cover so nothing can get in there again.It goes down slightly on the dipstick but stays there. What was interesting is the bolts for the cast pan were an oddball length. They had to cut longer bolts shorter so they wouldn't bottom out before they were tight. Not a big deal but odd.
Hi, CAT was delivered two days ago. I spent today inspecting and doing odd jobs on it. I fitted a amber rotating light, solar panel to charge up the battery every day and have it on my charger to recondition the battery which while showing 12.54v has been on boost charge for all day since this morning so I think it was down on charge a fair bit. Couple of questions from what little I know so far. RH brake pedal depresses about 30mm or so more than the LH pedal. Noticeable difference. I have a service manual but thought I would ask those who know where the adjustment is to raise that brake movement on the RH pedal? Another question about the Power Shift? Is it like an automatic where I can change while moving/driving, under load??? Machine was difficult to turn on low revs - guess this is usual? Importantly when in Reverse gear 1 the machine seemed to roll downhill, ie no engine braking - is this usual? If so this would mean I would need to be on the brakes all the time on a slope if reversing or if coming down the hill if in Forward 1??? Sorry if these are novice questions but I have driven many machines just not this type, Regards.
NB Grousers have depth of about 30mm with rebar welded on top. Is this about right?