Hi, just wondering if someone can help me with identifying the country of origin for a D6T I'm looking at buying. I'm in Australia. The first 4 characters of the serial are SMC0. The machine shows up in the Cat SIS system, but maybe I'm stupid but I can't see anything about where it was made or where it was first sold. I have also contacted the local Cat dealership but the guy I spoke to was snowed under and said he'd get back to me but hasn't yet. I have also Googled a lot but only found a single PDF that seems to point to it being from Brazil. Is there anything I should look out for if it is, ie quality issues, difficulty sourcing parts? Are these machines commonly sent from Brazil to be sold in Australia. Thanks for any help
Have someone send you a picture of the machine Serial Number (PIN) plate if you don’t already have one. In the bottom RH corner of that plate will be the country of manufacture.
Thanks Nige, yep I’ve asked for that but the seller is away from the machine at the moment. Might just have to wait… Still interested to hear about any quality issues for Brazilian machines, or other non-US for that matter.
In my experience the quality is the same whatever factory produced the machine. From memory the Brazilian plant in Piracicaba produced a large range of models for markets that, at the time of manufacture of any specific machine, were not subject to exhaust emission regulations - otherwise known as Less-Regulated Countries (LRC). Even so a lot of the components (e.g. engines) in those machines were produced elsewhere, often in the US, and shipped down there for assembly. The engines for the SMC-prefix D6T tractors came from the Cat plant in Greenville SC.
Excellent, it’s what I was hoping. Good info to know too, thanks again @Nige
Oh, and one other thing. The last SMC-prefix D6T rolled off the production line in November 2012, so no way is the one you are looking at 2021 vintage.
@Nige I guess it’s me interpreting the serial prefix wrong in that case. Here’s the physical plate: And here’s the product configuration from CAT SIS:
You are correct. My apologies. I found a break in Serial Numbers at SMC00643 and made the (incorrect) assumption that production had stopped at that point. In fact it didn't but there was a break in Serial Numbers overnight and the next cab off the rank was SMC01500. Your S/N is in that case good. At least the photo of the plate confirms the manufacturing location. In the case of this particular tractor the engine was manufactured in Seguin TX.
For what it’s worth,my Brazilian built D8T has been my most reliable and profitable dozer I’ve ever had closeley followed by my French built D5H.