I must have one of the only dozers with NO gauges. My D6H Serial 1KD04383 has all of the trouble lights and the hour meter, but no gauges. I have seen dozens of photos of D6s and ALL of them have the coolant temp gauge, trans temp gauge and hydraulic temp gauge. The space is in my dash for those gauges, just nothing there. Cat parts guy got me all the part numbers and prices for the wiring harness, senders and gauges, the total comes to about $350. How much trouble would it be for me to put the harness, senders and gauges in, and will it mess up the warning light function?? I am really puzzled that this dozer has no gauges. All help appreciated.
No it won't mess up the warning light function. The Monitor Panel uses different wires in the machine harness to receive the information from the senders (which are also different) on the machine components. The gauge cluster is an Attachment, an optional extra at additional cost in other words, so obviously whoever bought your machine originally didn't consider it to be an essential. If you're so hung up on gauges, ask yourself why the gauge cluster only contains temperature gauges and not one for engine oil pressure..?
If you can use mechanical guages for oil and engine temp and electric for the others , it keeps an eye on each other . More important as your dozer gets older . Your motor can be ruined before the oil light lets you know there's a problem .
Well, this dozer was built in Japan, so I guess they didn't think they were important. And yep, I would think an oil pressure gauge would be at the top of the list.
Doesn't matter in which plant it was built, the dealer who placed the order (on behalf of and with the aprroval of a customer one would assume) would have been the one who specified whether it was equipped with the optional gauge group or not. It could just have easily have been built in the Cat factory in East Peoria and not had gauges either. Is there a space for one on the dash.? No. So obviously Cat thinks that a low engine oil pressure warning on the Monitor, which is a Level 3 Alarm with all the flashing lights and a buzzer so you can't miss it, is all it needs.
Yep..........there is three spaces on the dash for the normal placement of the gauges. I can cut the holes myself. Also thinking of installing an oil pressure gauge where I can see it, I bet I can find a place.
if you install an oil pressure gauge then I'd suggest an electric one with a pressure sender on the engine, then the worst that can happen is that a wire gets cut soemwhere and the gauge doesn't work. A live oil pressure line from the engine up to the gauge is another thing all together.
What ever type of guage you choose try to keep the existing system as well . If you choose a mechanical guage pick one where the dozer high oil pressure is about three quarters of the range on the guage . Having been asked to do what you are going to do I was surprised to see how low the oil pressure is when the light goes off .
If you use a bi-metal hole saw to cut the hole for the gauge here is a trick I use to get a really accurate hole. Drill the 1/4 inch pilot hole first without the hole saw. Insert the bit in the hole saw up side down. Doing that prevents the spiral part of the bit from elongating the pilot hole while you are cutting the gauge hole.
Thanks, I'll sure keep that in mind.
I had the dozer in the dealer shop two years ago to get new bottom rollers put on and track frames rebuilt. Had the dealer put all the gauges in, they did a nice job and they work well. Had the equalizer bar bushings and pins replaced. Engine and trans seems to be working well for a 31 year old dozer. Still not sure how many hours on it, meter reads 3288 hours, but might be more. Engine always starts immediately and trans and brakes work well. Satisfied so far with the way it performs.
Not to criticize, but was surprised that this thread was started in Feb of 2021 and just now I see you got the gauges installed. Guessing other things were at the top of the list. Have some jobs around the house like that myself!
Daughter got me this Tee shirt that says "If I said I'll do it that means I will do it, no need to remind me every six months".
That's right every couple years should be enough!