Hi folks, new to the forum here. Looks like there is lots of knowledge here! I was told id be running an older cat D8N high track dozer with an open cab next week in a waste pit. Ive never ran one so I figured I'd take a sneak peak. Everything seem pretty basic except I can't seem to get the coolant cap off! It's a heavy metal cap with a tab that lifts up? When the tab is down the cap will not spin, when I lift it straight up it spins and spins but doesn't seem to unthread. Im new to this so I know I must be missing something. Probly a dumb question but once again I'm a newby here, thanks for any insight!
That should be easy. Leave the "tab" down and put some muscle into turning the cap off. Counter clock-wise! That "tab" has a hole in it. The idea is you lift it up then put a pad-lock through the hole to make the cap spin to keep people out who should not be in there. Not sure what kind of outfit you are working for but they should have a qualified person give you a few hours training including a walk around where they show you how to check fluid levels if that is going to be part of your job description. They also should be explaining how everything works with a strong emphasis on safety related things like brakes including how to correctly test parking brakes. Then they should have someone stay with you for at the least a few hours to be sure they are confident you understand what you were shown. This is what I would say is the bare minimum of what they should be doing. I'm sure other more familiar with running dozers can come up with many more things. It they are just going to toss you the keys and say go for it they are putting you in a very bad position as well as anyone who will be anywhere near you. Even a small skid steer Case will kill you in the blink of an eye a D8N can do many times more damage. Like I always told anyone I trained on a machine that machine doesn't give a crap about you the guys you are working with or anyone else it will kill and not feel bad at all. Don't mean to sound all negative but it scares me to think of what some bosses will try to do just to save a buck or two. And I don't care if you have run five other brands of dozers for twenty years every one is a little different even between two versions of the same Cat model there are enough differences to get a guy in a bad place if not properly trained. Be careful out there!
Thank you very much sir, I have run many other dozers just new to the 8n world, but I hear ya on safety I agree. Maybe the cap is just overly tight, I will give it a try
A rag to help you get some purchase on the cap would possibly also be a good idea. As Ken says sometime they are really tight, but then again unless they are really tight they can leak and you don't want that. Maybe the rubber seal on the bottom of the cap is starting to fail and someone before you heaved it up real tight to stop it puking coolant..?
Before you get too carried away, look for a sight glass in the header tank.
Good point. The sight glass should be visible on the side of the header tank when you are standing on the LH track by the engine compartment, if it has doors then they have to be opened. I wasn't sure that the 8N had a header tank though.......