Hello everyone , Recently i bought a used caterpillar 988A 1974 years model and since i am new to this type of machine i would to know if this model has a handbrake - parking brake since it doesn't seems that have a lever or something . Also i would to know how the brake the system works with air or oil because it doesn't have a compressor to fill air when it stats . I can't find such information on the internet or any workshop manuals so any information would be appreciated . Thanks in advance.
The Cat guys will want a serial number in order to give you the information you want
Well for starters as cuttin edge says a S/N would help but if it is a 1974 it would have a parking brake on the transfer case that is spring applied and hydraulically released. So not exactly a hand brake but is manually controlled by large red knob that would be to left of seat, pull up to apply and push down to release as I recall. I have service manual and lube manual, NOT FOR SALE, but not an operators manual. Spent many years working on them but not touched one in about 15 years! S/N is important as there were many changes over the years they built them. As to service brakes. They are worked by hydraulic pressure inside bladders in each wheel and use an accumulator to store the brake pressure in case the engine was to stop while moving. Depending on the S/N range pumps can be vane pumps, gear pumps or even axial piston pumps or some combination of the above! Attached are a couple pages on brake system:
One point I might add to my post above on a 988A Cat. In a way I did enjoy working on them but one has to take in to consideration I was paid by the hours and did not have to be concerned with the cost of parts. Not sure I would recommend one to someone on a tight budget or with limited experience on working on them. If you could get by with a slightly smaller machine but wanted to keep with the Cat family I would lean towards a 980B or even a 966C. Both still need some skills to keep working but at least the braking systems are a bit easier and cheaper to keep working, in my opinion.
Thank you very much eveyone for your replies . My S/N is A87A3725 . Thanks
That sounds good, Vickers pumps for hydraulics and brakes. And spacer plate engine. Not sure if this will work but Cat does still offer at least some manuals for the 87A machines online. I would suggest at the least having an Operators/Maintenance manual which can be downloaded for $27.00 https://catpublications.com/Search/recall?savedSearchId=fc510e04-fe35-ea11-911d-005056a270f1 Just be sure if you want to order any manuals to check the serial number ranges are right for your machine! And if you need a page or two out of service manual I could scan and send those. Actually a Service manual looks like it is available on CD for $290.00 so that would not be a bad deal: https://www.servicemanualpro.com/?page=Products&searchbox=87A3725
Just for interest only, 87A3725 is a 1970 build year.
Thanks for your replies . Does anyone know the fuel consumption per hour?
The answer to that would be "It Depends" - on what type of work the machine is doing and how hard it is working. Consumption could be anywhere between 25 and 45 litres per hour. Also a lot will depend on the condition of the machine when considering how much fuel it might burn.
Hi, I'm tryind to buy the parts manual on the catpublication website but they require a registration from me, and there is no way to register, do you know how to register? by the way I just bought a cat 988, S/N is 87A4944 and we are trying to rebuild the engine.
You don't need to register if you do it this way: - Go to - https://catpublications.com/ As soon as you start to type in the Search box a popup (below) will appear. Click on "Continue as Guest". Type UEG0028S in the box and click Search. The illustration below should appear. You can add your choice of manual (download, CD, or paper) to the shopping cart and proceed to checkout. At the checkout you will only be asked to supply information regarding a shipping address & country, and enter details of how you will pay for the order.
Th Thank you very much. And also, I would like to know please , as the engine operating in the cat988 87a series is a d343, and that ,as some electric generators are operating with d343 engine , do you think a d343 engine operating in a generator can be used for a cat988A and will operate properly with all its efficiency ?
It would all depend on how the generator engine is set up and what power it produces. I would guess that the generator engine will certainly not drop straight into the 988A without modifications/changes being made to it. Also remember that generator set engines are designed to operate at a constant speed, the 988 engine is not. If you have a specific engine in mind please post the Serial Number and Arrangement Numbers of BOTH engines (the 988A 87A engine and the generator set engine) so that they can be compared and any differences identified.
The generator engine S/N is :62b11760 and the 988A 87A engine S/N is: 2s16228
Please see if you can find the Arrangement Numbers for both engines. They should be right there on the Serial Number plate. They are the numbers that will drive the comparison between the two engines. This model of engine is now so old that no information is available in the online system (I checked both Serial Numbers) to use to compare the two engines. That's why I need the Arrangement Numbers.
If it is an original 988A engine the S/N should start with 52K.
Ook, I will look for It, and let you know . Thanks
Sorry but I have been trying hard to find the arrangement number but it’s so difficult . The engine is so old. Please I would like to know what gasket kit I would need for the complete rebuild of the engine . I found out that the the reference of the complete overhaul gasket kit for the engine we would like to rebuild is 5P6926; can you please help me know if that kit contains main bearings, rod bearings and piston rings? because I’m about to order also the cylinder head gasket kit and all the bearings , and I’m afraid to find out later after I have spend the money that the overhaul kit had all the bearings and rings I needed .
I understand that but there is not so much information online about the generator set engine, hence looking for the Arrgt Number. There are 8 different possibilities of Arrangement for a 62B-prefix engine. 5P6926 does not contain any crankshaft bearings or piston rings. It would be highly unusual for any gasket kit to have them. 5P6926 appears to be a complete engine gasket kit and DOES contain a cylinder head gasket, so I do not think you need a separate cylinder head gasket kit. I have attached the breakdown of 5P6926 - 151 line items.
thank you very much sir, I found a number on the 62b11670 block; the number is 7S3600, here is the picture attached .from the file you sent, i can see there is no water pump gasket in the list so i will need to buy one. thank you very much for your help.
and also I'm very confused about the quality of some parts sold on ebay like the bearings. is there a a way to know if theses bearing in the link are of good quality? https://www.ebay.com/itm/2313998321...yBFEKoAyH/pmLGfGCbKelsXVc=|tkp:Bk9SR46UntvjYA
I am not sure that I would be comfortable buying crankshaft bearings from eBay. Unfortunately that is the casting number for the block and doesn’t really give any clues.
Just to butt in here on the question of using a genset engine in a 988A. I would think that about the only things that may be an easy swap would be the block, crankshaft and cylinder head. I would expect the flywheel housing, oil pan, oil pump, front cover, fuel pump/governor, and the intake and exhaust systems would be very different just to name a few things off the top of my head. Now if the original 988 engine has a block, head and crank that are not usable and the genset engine has all those parts in usable/rebuildable condition I think it might make a good donor engine if the price is right!
As for those Ebay bearings first thing I would need to know is who made them. I see they say "returns accepted" that might be good if you were in Florida or some place in the United States, but not sure how good that would be for someone in Cameroon! Do they pay shipping if you need to send them back? I see they want over $10.00 to get them to me here in New York, what do they ask to Cameroon? And what is the time frame for shipping in either direction? Also do you know if either engine you are wanting to repair still needs std. bearings? I mean those engines must be around 50 years old or more!
Ook, I will keep on looking for that arrangement number. Any recommendation on where I can buy good quality bearings, pistons rings and gasket kit at an affordable price?
thank you sir, we bought a genset engine with most parts in good conditions, we hope once rebuilt, the engine will last for many many years.
As mentioned by KSH above, based on your location I see a few options to purchase parts of acceptable quality. 1. Buy from your local Cat dealer. 2. Have someone buy from a Cat dealer elsewhere (Europe or Middle East maybe?) and organize shipping to you. 3. Have someone located elsewhere buy from a non-Cat source so that they can inspect the parts for you (and be able to return them if they are defective) before shipping them on.
yeah your remark is pertinent . i was not able to see the the brand of thoses bearings and as they were so cheap, i was really reluctant about buying them. I would love to have a trusthwothy place where I can safely buy all the parts I need, as my mechanic has required good quality and standard bearings to rebuild the engine. the local official caterpillar dealer in cameroon sells the bearings and all the piston rings alone for about $10 000. that is out of my budget!!!
your 1rst option was suggested to me by my mechanic, we went to the local CAT dealer and the price was extremely high, and they refuse to sell the full gasket kit, the prefer to sell the parts of the gasket kit in details, that makes the price for the bearings , piston rings, gaskets, seals and filters to be about $15 000 !!! i prefer to buy them in the US because I have some acquaintances over there, that can receive the parts and ship them to me at a lower price. and I believe CAT's parts are cheaper in US than in europe or middle east, as CAT is originated from the US.
That makes sense.
Here is a partial list of arraignment numbers for the 62B engine that should be located on a tag near back of block just under cylinder head if I recall: Here is what the tag should look like, not sure if that is the front or rear of the block been a few decade since I was near one of these 988's!
Been there didn't end so well but they where China also
Ook that will help me , many thanks.
I've found this website: https://floridapartszone.com/ , they are selling all the parts that are requested by my mechanic, at a very affordable price.has anyone had an experience with them ? or what are you thought about the quality of their products ? since I intend to buy crankshaft bearings and piston rings from them .
Hi, please I need help to know if the valve grinding kit of reference 5P6927 contains pinstons rings, I'm really confuse.
No gasket kit will contain piston rings. Here is the kit breakdown. It appears to contain some of the same items that were contained in the 5P6926 kit that you asked about before.
Thank you very much .
please how do you proceed to be able to see the parts of a gasket kit? i want to find out what is the contenance of the 8M3768 which is the water pump gasket kit.
I can access a system that is an add-on to Cat SIS that gives these break downs. SIS shows the gasket kit in various places but doen not give the contents. See attached.
thank you very much, you are helping me save money, I could see that the valve grinding kit (5p6927) and the water pump gasket (8M3768) are all included into the full gasket kit (5p6927). just that in the water pump gasket, there is a reference (9M9989) that is not incuded into the full gasket kit. I will see with the mechanic if I can go without the water pump gasket inspite of that reference that will be missing.
Does your mechanic have the service manual for this 988? If not I have one here and could scan in some pages if that would help. Might not be able to do all the pages but if there is something that would help ask him what things he would need.
Thank you very much Sir, he spoke to me about that, saying that he would need it. i will surely come to you for the pages he would need . thanks a lot.
could you buy 9M9989 separately if you really needed it.?
my mechanic says he will look for it from our locals parts dealers, hopefully we could find it
Hello, can someone please help me with the list of all the hydraulics horses of the cat 988A, 874944 series? I think we need to change all the horses since the machine has been sitting down without working for a long time. thanks
Sorry but I don't have a parts book for the 988A. I believe that Serial Number should start with 87A. Not being there to see them but I might be tempted to wait to replace hoses until after at least trying to run machine. There are many hoses and sure if they are even available they will not be cheap. Just a thought if you could post a picture of the area where there is a hose you would like to replace I might be able to look it up on SIS online. Been many years since I saw or worked on a 988A but good chance I can figure some of them out.
thank you for your advise, I will do as you suggest. And I will send you some pictures
IPD would be another option for good engine parts.
Double post
Hello, can you please help me with the list of part contained in the gasket kit: 1441142. It’s the torque convertor Gasquet kit . Thanks
Thank you so much sir
Hi, my mechanic is a bit confused in rebuilding the engine, I wish you could scan some pages from the service Manual about the engine rebuilt , that would be of great healp. By the Way it took me a lot of time to start rebuilding the engine . The bearings are from CTP. Bought them from USR replacement parts they aren’t loacted in Florida . Hope it will last at least for a considarable amount of time.
Please can someone help me with the service refill capacity for the 988A? We are done rebuilding the engine and we don’t know the oil capacity of the crankcase. That information will be of great help. Thanks
Approximately ( very approximately ) 34 litres but I suggest to use the dipstick to determine the correct level with the engine stopped and the oil cold. I cannot get concrete information whether or not the 34 litres includes the capacity of the engine oil filters or not. There ought to be marks on both sides of the stick, one for the engine stopped with cold oil, the other for the engine idling with warm oil. The first set of marks should be used simply to determine that the engine is safe to start, the second set of marks is used to determine the correct oil level.
Thank you very much. We will rely on your information
Please don’t. At best it is only approximate. Rely instead on what the dipstick tells you.
Your information was really reliable, my sister just sent me this picture from a cat988 brochure . She got it from facebook. The crankcase capacity is 37 liters . I believe it involves filters installed .
Make sure when you check the oil when running the oil is at or near operating temperature. We had a couple 988A's. My guy changed the oil and then checked running cold. Ended up like 2 gallons overfilled. Cold oil takes time to drain back down.
Understood Sir, will pay attention to that . But this machine drinks so much hydraulic oil . Wasn’t expecting that .
Hello, the engine has finally been started. I wanted to share with you some pictures of that d343 being rebuilt. Thank you all for your helps and contributions . I was lucky to have a mechanic that had over 30years experience in rebuilding CAT engines, although it was his first time to work and rebuild a d343 , and he did this without the service manual.
More pics
That's quite amazing a big engine like that was rebuilt outdoors!
Hello , I need a new water pump for my 988A(2S7209) but I can’t find it on our local market. The only one I’ve found in good conditions is the water pump of the 950G(2364413). I want to know if that one will fit and work properly on the 988. And also I wish someone could help me know if there are alternative to the W. pump 2S7209.
If your water pump housing is not severely corroded, you can purchase a water pump rebuild kit at a much lower price than buying a complete new water pump. The kit part number is 1W-7077. One these rebuild kits (made by IPD, a U.S. company) is available from the seller below for US$212 - plus freight. You would need to enquire as to freight cost to Cameroon. IPD 1W7077 REBUILD KIT, WATER PUMP 16 New, Remanufactured and Good Used Parts for today's most popular Engines. Professional Support, Extensive Coverage, Competitive Pricing, Worldwide Shipping… www.woodlineparts.com The water pump with part number of 236-4413, for the 950G, will not fit your D343 engine.
If your water pump housing is not severely corroded, you can purchase a water pump rebuild kit at a much lower price than buying a complete new water pump. The kit part number is 1W-7077. Thank you very much for your reply , but Unfortunately my water pump was stolen . So I need a new one.
Ahhh, that's not good news, and it means you're going to be looking at a serious expense for a complete new water pump. Possibly the best source will be CGR Ghinassi, the Italian aftermarket parts manufacturer. If you contact them, they will be able to advise how to acquire one of their pumps, and at what cost. It will almost certainly cost you many hundreds of dollars to acquire a complete new water pump, as they are a big pump, they're heavy, and they are now hard to find, either new or used. High precision spare parts for industrial earthmoving machines | CGR Ghinassi CGR Ghinassi parts are perfectly interchangeable with the genuine equivalents and provide the highest guarantees of strength and durability www.ghinassi.com
Thank you very much , i’m going to contact them . No other choice .
Hello, does anyone knows a good and reliable shop based in Canada where I can get aftermarket of OEM CATERPILLAR parts ?
I would like to know please, if a CAT 988 has been sitting down for almost 10years with full hydraulic oil in the tank and full transmission oil and full rear and front differential oil inside , is it compulsory to change all those oils immediately after total repair of the machine? Or if we are running out of money can we make it work for about 1 or 2 months before changing all the oils ???
What does the oil look like? If you drain a little is there water in it? It would be best to do some oil sampling in a lab to tell the condition of the oils if you can't afford to replace it right now. You'll probably want to change filters at least. I wouldn't go too long after all the money you spent on the engine.
The transmission oil has a dark color and there’s no water in it.we are going to changent all the filters . We’ve bought all the filters from CTP in then USA.
If your region has a tropical, high humidity climate - as I believe Yaounde has - then I would have to say you would be foolish to operate the machine without changing all the oils. High humidity and a tropical climate means vast amounts of regular condensation inside compartments, which means a substantial level of water contamination of oils, and major corrosion issues for components that have not been submerged in oil. I have had a Caterpillar field serviceman tell me his story about how a D4 owner called with a problem with his D4 tractor, and how it had just stopped driving a few hours after he'd commenced pulling a plough with the tractor. The tractor had been stored under cover in a farm shed for quite a number of years, unused, in a climate that was a mild Mediterranean climate (hot dry Summers, cool wet Winters). The serviceman told me he identified the problem in the bevel gear/pinion compartment, and when he got the tractor apart, he found several teeth stripped off the bevel gear. But the part that astounded him, he said, was the fact the bevel gear teeth that had been above the oil level in the compartment, were totally rusted through - but the teeth that had been submerged in the oil, were as-new. He said the lesson taught him how important it was to start and move machines regularly to ensure a coating of oil remained on the component surfaces that weren't covered by oil.
Wow !!! I was about to make a dangerous move. Thank you so much. I will just find a way to replace all the oils even in the rear and front differentials ... thank you again
I recently bought the service Manual and it said that SAE 30 is suitable for the transmission gear. But that oil is not available from our trusted oil dealer. What alternative can you suggest me in replacement of that SAE 30 for the transmission gear ?
Arnauld K, From what OxDozer explained, wouldn't it be a good idea to take a boroscope and inspect any of compartments that you have access to like the differentials, transmission? They are inexpensive and can be useful for these sorts of things. If all looks good then change the oils.
The oil recommendations and the oil qualities have changed greatly in the decades since your Service Manual was printed. Caterpillar no longer recommend using engine oils in powershift transmissions. Oil manufacturers find new and improved oil additives all the time. and the transmission oil you can buy today is vastly superior to the transmission oil available in the 1970's. Purchase Cat TDTO oil and use it in the transmission, it has substantially more anti-wear, lubrication, and corrosion-protection additives, than the plain 30wt oil available in the 1970's. Even the API CC and CD engine oil classifications are obsolete, having been superseded a number of times over the decades. Knowledge Centre | Penrite Oil API stands for American Petroleum Institute. In 1970, along with the SAE and ASTM (American Society for Testing and Materials), they established the API Service Classification System to define the performance level of a given oil, unrelated in the main, to oil viscosity.The API requirements S... penriteoil.com.au https://www.petersoncat.com/sites/cat/files/downloads/Cat%20TDTO.pdf
Yes sir will do that, it’s very important . Thanks
Thanks, according to document in the link your shared , I think SAE50 will be good. Thank you so much
Dumb question but have you tried running and using this machine yet before doing maintenance? Why was it parked it may have problems.
Your question is not dumb Sir. According to the previous owner, The machine was parked for so long because the engine was broken down and he decided not to repair it because, since he was living in france , the one he appointed to drive and manage the machine was receiving money from customers but was using that money for himself without informing him. So the owner decided not to rebuilt the engine because it was mainly the driver that was benefiting from that machine. That’s how after about 10 years, I enquired about that machine to know if it was for sale, and he agreed to sale it to me. So I never tried running and using the machine before , but I met the man that used to be the driver of the machine , and he told me it was working and running very well before the engine failure .
Arnauld. This man who ran the loader is a thief and a lier. You can’t trust anything he says.
Yeah what you say makes sense. And I don’t intend to have him as a driver. There are so many 966c drivers here I will get one among them as driver. And since we’ve rebuilt the engine i keep hope that everything will be alright.
Hello , I finally ordered a water pump (2s7209) . It was delivered to me and I was so disappointed when I opened the box and saw it; it was not complete... see on the picture attached how it came. There is no way we can fix mount it on the engine . So I will need a cover with some Elbow for this pump, according to the part manual . You can see on the second pic I took from the service manual how the complete water pump looks like. I don’t just know what to do about this wheel loader ...
What you describe as a "complete water pump" is the water pump with associated piping housings. If those other housings are missing, then you will need to purchase them, too. What was delivered to you is a replacement water pump, which is the same that any parts supplier, including Cat, would deliver.
Having a parts diagram really helps especially on a machine that is missing some things. In the case of Cat a lot of things are seperate and not included. Even the rubber gasket that goes around gauges is seperate.
So sad to hear that... too much spending . Thanks anyway , I will see if I ca find a similar used water pump
I have a part manual , I don’t know if it’s the same as part a diagram, but it’s only after receiving the pump that I saw in the part manual that there are some element of that pump that come seperately ... I just bought the part manual few weeks ago, so I’m not really familiar with it .
I tried looking on SIS and see your pump but could not copy a full picture for some reason to past it here. If you need the part numbers of the two elbows and any other part let me know and I can look them up. The page in the parts book shows the whole pump assembly but many of the parts have a black triangle next to the part number and a note at the bottom of page saying not included with pump assembly. So You have to be careful when ordering parts.
Yeah you are right. It’s only after the pump was delivered to me , that I realized that , in the book part , it was mentioned that the parts with a triangle next to the references are not included with the pump. Since I’m not yet very familiar with the book part I don’t pay attention to some details... thanks for your help. I have all the references , there is as shop in the US that has most of those part, they will cost me about $1600 with shipping to an US adress included. It’s quite out of my budget for the moment. I also learned that there are about 9 CAT machines using that same water pump. So we are trying to Find out if there could be one of those machines around us that are no loger operationals so we can buy the water pump (even broken down) from the owner at an affordable price .
No idea of how good they are to deal with, but I'm seeing these: 9M3118 - Elbow fits CATERPILLAR | Price: $294.03 Stock: Montana Price: $294.03. Stock: Montana. 9M3118 Elbow. USED aftermarket.express and 1S6080 - ELBOW fits CATERPILLAR | Price: $90.07 Stock: Kentucky Price: $90.07. Stock: Kentucky. 1S6080 ELBOW. USED Weight: 5.9 lbs. aftermarket.express Not sure what other part you are needing.
Thanks for this links Sir. Other very important parts needed for that pump are : - Housing 9M2413 - cover 5H2830 - Pulley 9M2411 There is another part 9M2408 called bracket . I saw it in the document on the web as a related item to that pump. I wonder what it is , wish I can know if I can do without it .
Can those elbows be fabricated by a local welder?
Yeah, sure. But the welder might need a sample to do that . As he will also need to fabricate a housing and a cover and we have no idea of the shapes. The welder I work with, fabricated the exhaust Elbow for the turbo.
https://www.componentsonly.com.au/assets/photos/100000007/100000291/100000387-2.jpg Is this what the pump should look like (with an additional front elbow)? even better:
Yeah! Exactly
Hope they didn't run it any longer than that with no water in it! And the least they could have done is had a hose on the return fitting from the fuel pump! But maybe they spent all their money on the nice thick coat of paint!
I really am amazed at the number of YooToob idiots running engines for multiple minutes with no coolant in them!! My training was that any engine run for more than 30 seconds without coolant is irrepairably damaged!
Hello, Great news for me guys. I contacted some CAT mechanics I know and I shared with them my urgent need of water pump. So I gave them the List of CAT machines using that pump (988, 825B, 826B, 768B, 769, 769B, 824B, 834, 657, 657B). one of them called me telling me that he knows a 825B he used to work on and it’s no longer operational . So he contacted the owner who agreed to sell me the complete water pump at $275...
Fantastic! I'm sure here in the USA there are many of those engines just sitting in scrap yards but probably not many in Cameroon . Now that I think of it I know where I have seen a 769 Cat truck parked for years that I believe has that same basic engine. Once you get the "new" pump I'd hide it good so you don't have this problem again! And if you can post a short video of this machine running.
Thank you sir, the water pump is so old. I don’t think it’s still functional . But thank God we had bought the inner part of the pump from CGR. We are just going to use all the elbows and the housing of the complete pump we’ve bought. For sure I will post a short video of the machine running .
Please, can someone tell me what is this big part in circle ? What is its use ? Is it compulsory so mount it or we can make the machine run without it ? We have it and my mechanics seems not to know what it is...
Hello, since about 3 weeks we have successfully started the engine on the wheel loader. But we are facing a new problem : the bucket isn’t lifting. My mechanic has checked the hydraulic pump and told me everything seems to be good inside especially the cartridges. The steering works very well. so, we are wondering what could be the cause of that problem . Ps: I was unable to post a small video of the wheel loader running .
Could be air bound. We drained the hydraulic oil on a 980B . Hydraulics wouldn't work. There was a bleed screw on the filter. Cracked that open and it primed. Might have to crack a hose off the pump if no bleed spot. Let us know if that works.
Make sure the pump is not running dry or you will tear it up In a very short time.
Don't know if it's similar but when I had the articulation valve off of the grader it lost a lot of oil. I put everything back together and added 2 pails of oil to bring it to the full level. I started it and everything worked except the blade lift. I looked everything over and couldn't see any issues. I got back in the cab and raised the throttle to about 1/4 and then the blade lifted. Never had anymore issues and the blade lifts at idle again. I'm thinking maybe the hoses took awhile to fill and push out the air?? Pump had oil because the wheel lean worked.
As I remember that "tank" is an expansion tank for the hydraulic system and has nothing to do with the engine. I do remember some models having them back in the day. From looking at SIS I'm thinking it has to due with the axial-piston pumps used on some models as the serial numbers for it use (87A5628-6862) seem to agree with the serial numbers for the machines that used the axial piston pumps for main hydraulic pump. Forget what your serial number is for this machine. As you mentioned in the other post about "cartridges" I'm thinking that tank is not needed for your machine. As to the non-working hydraulics make sure suction lines are good and someone has not left a rag or cap to keep dirt out while it was apart. If someone says I ever did that I will deny it!