Hi, bought a D3 made in Japan and cant find any info on it. Can anyone help?
What's often referred to as a grey market machine. Built for the Japanese internal market and never designed to be exported. Parts & service info will be available but it is imperative you have your own manuals because the Cat dealer will be no help. Don't woirry about the Parts Manual being in Japanese. you will have no difficulty understanding it. Your tractor will be broadly similar (but not guaranteed to be 100% identical) to a Japanese built D3 of 06N Serial Number prefix. The Service Manual for an 06N tractor is Caterpillar Publication reference REG01357. Here is one on eBay
Thank you much!
83U is an LGP and yours is a 1977. Made from 1973 to 1979 but only around 600 made according to what I have. Likely the same mechically as the 82U std. gauge machine. Is listed in a small booklet of common machines I got from a large used equipment and parts dealer so highly doubt it's a grey market machine.
ok Thanks! dumb question, what is a LGP?
Low Ground Pressure. Basically wider track gauge, wider track pads, in some cases longer track frames as well.
I looked it up, and yes it has the swamp pad grousers, and wide blade with brush rake. I think you are right on the make, I see no Japanese symbols or writing on it anywhere. Thanks again!
All the D3's were made in Japan. Does your instument panel have english safety instructions? I think most of the new D3's are wide pad where back in the day I don't think there were as high of percentage that were wide pad. Are your pads just wide or are they pyramid style? The pyramid style were more common on Asian market machines. I don't know if the pyramid pads were optional on N. American market machines? I'd think they would be for places like Florida.
Indeed it is. Two factors make it grey market. 1. Most technical information only available in Japanese. See the Parts Manual illustration posted above, that’s all that exists. 2. No parts or service information whatsoever in SIS for the 82U or 83U machines, whereas there is for the 79U and 6N machines. Also to quote the OP - “bought a D3 made in Japan and cant find any info on it. Can anyone help?” That was the first clue…….
The book I have is very limited so it's highly unlikely it would have a listing for a grey market machine. The 82U and 83U were produced in very low numbers compared to 79U machines. 6N aren't listed. 82U are listed from 1974 starting at serial 243 up to serial 358 in 1978. 83U are listed starting at serial 234 in 1973 to serial 827 in 1979. 79U machines by comparison are listed starting at serial 270 in 1973 to serial 6101 in 1979. Not sure why the numbers don't start at serial #1? 82U, 115 machines, 83U, 593 machines and 79U, 5831 machines. With less than 1000 machines between 82U and 83U prefixes, it might explain why there isn't a lot of info on them. D8H are listed from serial #1 1959 to serial #34,086 1974. D8K 76V were also only about 700 machines between 1974 and 1984. Most machines for the Japan market have some Japanese wording on them. That's why I'm curious what the instrument panel says.
Yes mine has the pyramid style
Yes sir, clueless I am !
I have the machine out at my property, so I will double check the panel this weekend when Im there. Thanks for the Info !!!
This might be a stupid question but on what type of ground conditions are you proposing to use it.? Anything other (harder in other words) than swamp and you will destroy the undercarriage in short order.
I have alot of clay on a sloped property. There are 3 older "cat" roads that i want to re-clear but there is some rock here and there. I will have to determine going forward after initial clearing if different tracks would be better.
How about posting a photo of the shoes and also provide a measurement of the shoe width.? It’s not just a case of the tracks suffering. Hard-ish ground will also take out track rollers, idlers, & sprockets and the resulting vibration could potentially even cause cracking of the track frames.
Will do, i plan on being out there this weekend. Yes there are a few of the pyramids that have worn through, so im planning on welding on some flat bar pieces to those areas. The sprockets and rollers look to be the same as a standard tracked D3 so i hope they will hold up.
While you are there take a close look at the track chains. You may find a Part Number cast into them right underneath where the track shoe mounts about where the arrow is pointing to. Get the numbers from the outside links on both sides of the machine. It may be a good idea to remove the pyramid pads (Cat calls them "apex" shoes) from the machine ASAP and replace them with regular flat LPG single-grouser track shoes. See the 2nd image.
I will certainly look at this option. I am alittle strapped for cash right now, but dont want to get too far along and ruin chains or sprockets either. This machine came with an almost unused brush rake, that will make cleaning up the cat roads quick so I may be able to then take the time ,(and money) to replace the pads. I am greatful for the heads-up as I will be very cautious with the machine until I can get to that point.
Are you an OEM parts only guy, or do you know what aftermarket company makes a more reasonable pad set?
I have OEM information. Someone will know of one or more potential aftermarket suppliers. But before jumping the gun we need the link part numbers. That will determine the bolt hole pattern and the OEM Part Number of shoe (or maybe more than one option) that fits on those links. Then you can go looking for aftermarket equivalents to OEM Part Number "X".
ok i will definitely do the research this weekend.
Scroil forward to 0:42 on this video. This is the type of terrain in which your dozer is configured to work.
Saw some info that suggested the 83U machines had a heavy duty undercarriage but can't confirm it. I did see a wide pad 931 loader that the seller claimed had HD undercarriage aka D4 undercarriage. Maybe that's what your has?? If the track rails are in decent shape switching the pads would be a good idea. Once you know what pads fit, I'd look at aftermarket pads like Trek/DCF or ITM etc. Just for pads you don't need OEM or most expensive. The pyramid pads wouldn't have as much traction as standard style pads and would wear out the rails a lot faster.
Sometimes you can find reasonable used complete track groups for sale and then just change the complete track assemblies. One guy i worked for many years ago had extra track groups we would swap out as the need arose.