We recently inherited an old 1963 International TD-30 and the engine seems to run great but we seemed to have run into some steering and/or transmission problems. We first had running late Summer and the breaks and turning never seemed to work all the well. We tried tightening the breaks and that didn't seem to help too much. The last day we ran for several hours and the breaks and turning barely worked until we shut it down. Since then we drained the transmission oil which was very milky looking like it had water in it. There was also decent amount of rubber looking fibers in the filter. Just a few days ago, we filled the transmission with about 20 gallons of diesel thinking it may help flush out more of the bad oil and thinking it may still steer ok. When we did this, the TD-30 would not steer at all and felt like it had no breaks at all. In fact, it didn't even feel like it had the lower gear, only the high gear. Could this behavior be from having diesel in the transmission rather SAE 30w oil which we believe they recommend? We figure it's going to cost $500+ for 40 gal oil but concerned we are tossing that away since we may have a much bigger problem than just not having the oil in there. I know this is a very rare Dozer but any thoughts or insights would be appreciated. I would be happy to answer any other questions around it.
Hey a TD 30! that would be a rare beast there was only about 600 or so made so give lots of TLC. Operated one back in NZ in the 70s, outfit I worked for had all IH machines.I think the steering on the 30s was the same as the 25s in that they had a separate steering system and oil supply with a small oil tank located behind the dash with a filler that was accessed through the bonnet just in front of the dash if they run out of oil they stay in Hi range coz the Hi range steering brake is spring applied, Lo range is hyd applied and need hyd pressure to apply. The 25Bs we had always had steering issues with running low on oil because they can leak internally into the tranny. The 25Cs and later model 25 Bs had the steering system running off the tranny oil which eliminated the problem. There is a little bleed screw located on the top of the steering pump filter to bleed the steering system, the pump is located on the RH lower front side of the engine from memory. The oil in the tranny I think was 10 w, Diesel would be way to thin for it. There is also adjustment for the steering system if it has problems with slipping in Hi or LO range. The steering system is worked thru a system of planetary gears which are locked up or released by large disc brakes running in oil so if it slips in a range its not a slipping clutch but a slipping brake disc. There is a sit called RED POWER MAGAZINE which is an IH forum and there could be some over there with some more info, hope this is of some help to u. I will be watching this space. LOL Cheers