Hi,I’m new here and want to find out what year my 977l is.the lower serial number is missing.I have the operator station tag.it is 48j 2054 and the engine tag is 49v9017. I purchased the loader six months ago.
48J2054 is in fact the machine Serial Number. If you go to a Cat dealer looking for parts then under the latest system it would be written 48J02054. For engine parts the engine S/N 49V09017 should be used in conjunction with the engine Arrangement Number that ought to appear on the plate alongside the Serial Number. The 48J prefix covered both 977K & 977L machines built in the UK. Production of the 48J 977K model started in 1968 but your particular machine will be quite a few years later than that. I would suspect somewhere late-1970's, maybe even as late as 1980 because US production of the 977L started in 1978. If @tctractors sees this he ought to know better than me the age of it.
Thank you Nige for help.the people I bought it from had it from new.the old dad thought it was a 1977,but was not sure
I have the side engine gaurds
I have the engine gaurds and rops for it.changed all fluid.I spent about 100hrs pulling rads to repair trans cooler and the odd oil leak oh yes and belly pan
As a year 1977 is probably not far out. It seems a bit hard to believe that a UK-built tractor would be sold new into Canada. Getting there as a used machine is something entirely different,used machines end up in all sorts of places. I would have thought a US-built machine would be more likely to be sold into the Canadian market being closer geographically. Unless there was something back in those days to do with Canada being part of the British Empire/Commonwealth and it favoured the export of a British-built machine...??
The family is a large land developer.they had a 14x series the painted and shipped it to a relative in Italy.they could of had it shipped in,but I hear what you mean
Nice looking Machine! They must of put a New UC on just before you pulled up!!!
Yes nice machine , wish it was in my yard
Ty guys,undercarriage was done in 2007. The machine sat a lot but seems to function fine.
Well I can't track it down for certain but another 48J machine only 60 Serial Numbers prior to yours is definitely 1976, so that makes 1977 pretty much on the mark as regards the year of yours. Here's a question. Do you have a Parts Manual for it.? The info on Cat's online system is extremely sketchy for the 48J machine so a dealer is not going to be much help identifying parts based on S/N, only on the 48J prefix. There appear to be Serial Number breaks at machine 583, 1058, and also at 2010, and the final one is uncomfortably close to your S/N.
They gave me two parts Manuel’s one from the 14x machine and one that says11k7763 to last build.Ty nige
I’m sorry the other is not for a14x machine.it says 11k3919 to 11k5050
The correct Parts Manual for your machine is Cat Publication reference HEBP1139. It is listed as being applicable to machine Serial Numbers from 48J2011 to Last Built and engine S/N from 49V8584 to Last Built. Here's one on eBay @ $60 + shipping from Illinois, USA. https://www.ebay.com/itm/373688013118 That price compares to $115 for a pdf download, or $135 for a paper version, of exactly the same publication from the Cat website.
That’s good nige. Ithankyou for your help.I wi check that parts manual out,this engine serial number is. 49v9017
It will work. Both machine and engine are covered.
Finally found the answer thanks to @tctractors ............. 1976 Cat UK production of 977L was Serial Numbers between 48J 1801 and 48J 2230. So your machine is definitely confirmed as 1976 production. However I wouldn't mind betting that with the shipping time between the UK and Canada the dealer quite likely didn't hand it over to the original owner until 1977.
Thank you very much for sourcing the year of this machine for me Nige, I asked cat dealer and they could not tell me.
They probably only looked in one place, which TBH is where I looked first and came up empty. After that it's simply a matter of not allowing it to beat you. The info is out there somewhere, it's just finding out who has it. That's why I contacted a mate in the UK who works on these old girls. I suspected that if anyone could find the info, he could. All you need now is to get yourself a copy of the correct Parts Manual for your S/N and you'll be cooking with gas. As an aside there used to be a web site called Iron Record that contained pretty much all Cat equipment manufacturing & build date information. That web site disappeared about a year ago and I have never been able to find out why because it was extremely useful.
I'm late to the game again (as usual). Info I have states 48J1877 to 48J2217 is 1976 production The 48J series is equivalent to the US 46H series.
Thank you old magnet.good to know
Yes nige cat had no idea
How do you set the parking brake on this thing? Looking everywhere and I don't see any levers to pull to set the parking brake on mine.
Press the centre (brake) pedal down as far as it will go and hold it there. There should be a small lever on your RH side just below the bucket controls that you can use to lock the brake pedal in position. Press the pedal down and move the lever in the other direction to release the brakes.
I was wondering what that barrel nut was for, guess they lost the knob that went on it. Thanks!
Last fall I did a stall test on this loader . I pushed in the middle brake pedal and watched the drive shaft .in second and third gear the shaft would not spin at full throttle and would die the engine down considerably.in first gear the drive shaft would start to Spin at half throttle and I could not hold the machine back with the brake.is this normal
If the brakes are not absolutely 100% then the possibility exists that in 1st speed it may be possible to drive the machine through the brakes.
Ok that’s good to know Nige. Now when they say stall the motor.they don’t mean to the point that it shuts off or kills the motor do they just hat it smoking and on its knees. Would not kill it
FYI, usually stall tests are performed in 3rd speed. What happens during the test is that the engine reduces in RPM from High Idle to whatever is the appropriate "stall" RPM for the system (hydraulic or power train, or both) that is being tested at the time. Often the "service brake holding test" for a machine will state something like "put the machine in 1st speed and acceleratre the engine to 1200 RPM (note not max RPM). The machine should not move."
Ok Ty that makes sense.I would have it at guessing 1800 rpm. A on farm test lol.I was expecting it to stall the engine.Ty again nige
I have a question regarding the lift cylinders on this machine. They never leaked hyd oil on the ground when sitting for six months.then it got down to minus 22 Celsius and there was two or three gallons on the ground. Should I consider revealing these two lift cylinders.
I meant putting new seals in them