Good Day Forum members. i have a D7G dozer, series 92V, She worked hard in her life, but the time has come for mayor work on her organs. She needs a undercarriage, engine and transmission rebuild. The problem is that the cost is prohibitive, and does not make economic sense. I have the opportunity to buy a 571 pipe-layer for cheap, but my knowledge of pipe-layers is very limited and I struggle to find information on the internet. What I do pick up is that the middle number correspond with the same size in the dozer range. (D7 = 571, D8 = 581, etc.). I also notice that the 571 pipe-layers also have a 92V serial number. The beauty of CATERPILLAR is the standardisation of many components. So I wonder if the drive-train components would be identical? I understand that the undercarriage is fixed on the 571, where the dozer is not. Is the track frame the same length and similar in design? If so - would it be possible to fit a 571 track frame to a D7? And if the blade can just be bolted on - bingo! Your advice please. Regards John
First thing everyone will need to start looking for information on component compatibility is Serial Numbers for both tractors. That's not what I see. A 571F pipelayer is 95N prefix, 572G pipelayers are either 16W or 5ZD prefix depending on whether they were manufactured in Japan or the US.
Thank you for your comment Nige. The 1985 model serial no is given as CAT571MXL92V12995 The 1980 model serial no is given as CAT571MXL92V09814 The 1975 (572) model serial no is given as 40U417 The 1969 (5720 model serial no is given as 65A361 This is confusing.
Have you got photos of the machines and especially of the Serial Number plates.? 92V12995 is listed as a June 1985 D7G tractor. 92V09814 is listed as an August 1980 D7G tractor. 40U417 is definitely a 572G - built October 1975. 65A361 is a 572E. I can't put a date on it other than production started in 1961. It could well be 1969 because Cat didn't build that many pipelayers.
Here is the photos of the 1985 one. Can it be that they were later modified to pipe layers?
Based on the photos I would say yes, because the 92V-prefix identifies the tractor was originally built as a D7G. You need more photos both of the S/N plate and also a lot more closeups of the undercarriage both from outside the tractor and from underneath.
my concern would be the pipelayer track frame will be fundamentally different without oscillation. Need lots of photos needed around that area.
Yep. I want to see what type of E-Bar installation it has and how the track roller frames are connected to the machine frame.
I'm thinking it will be just like a track loader and nothing like the dozer.
Those are both 17-character PIN numbers that were not used on Cat equipment until around the 2000 year time frame. Second, the “CAT571M” characters at the start would appear to indicate the model of machine to which they apply is a 571M. Obviously not the case. Thirdly the “L” character in a PIN is a randomly generated “check” character designed to make it difficult to falsify PIN plates. The chances of two machines in the hands of one seller having the exact same character in that location are slim. Ask the seller for photos of the Serial Number plate for each machine. Something smells fishy.