A just wow dozer for sale. Start by getting inline. D8 Dozer owner finance - heavy equipment - by owner - sale - craigslist If you are looking for a D8 dozer this will be a GREAT option runs very well and operates the same. Just finished my project and now ready to sell. Undercarriage is 60% so lots of life for ongoing... seattle.craigslist.org
Cable 8, Hmm, doubt worth more than $8000 these days, asking $29000!! Does not matter extra blade or anything else, just not worth that much, not even close. Can purchase a late model D6Hytrack for that money.
But it has a powerful winch!
They're not making any more of them!
I'll take 3!
"Just finished my project". Yeah, with something else, after this thing broke down 5 years ago... It's finally sat long enough that the brakes will maybe work long enough to get it on a trailer.
No lowballers! I know what I've got!
Obviously he does not!!
With $14,500 down payment I'll finance the other 50%!
Maybe the 2 in the price was a typo? His project must have been done awhile ago judging from how rusty the blade is. The right track is way too tight and the left is too loose. Somebody is dreaming.
Was thinking that very thought, as to Track Shoes and Blade face. Takes around four to six Months around this High Humidity zone to corrupt to that level after considerable use.
14A?
1 to 4K max in my opinion. Unless the belly pans are full of gold rich dirt. And actually I would not waste 2K on it if it was 5 miles away. Yeah just another nut case selling over priced junk IMO.
Possible 2U
2U has different instrument panel way wider, 14A and 15A have as shown. 14A first machine I ever rode on as a kid, I thought it was huge. They were selling for about 10K, about 50 years ago.
Did not see dash and been over thirty years since last saw a 2u. Thanks for the memory jog.
2U is my guess. I haven't run a 14A though.The "powerful winch" on the back runs the dozer, or cat and can. They don't work well for winching timber or stuck machines. I'd actually like to have it just for the memories, but for 29k the only thing I would remember is that I'm a sucker.
You can tell that by the pictures!
Someone should message him with a link to this thread so he can come to truly understand what he has there. Maybe he could clear up the serial number question.
I did some business 30 years ago with a guy that was a retired highway and excavating contractor. After he retired, he was buying and selling equipment. I bought a used loader from him and it was a fair deal. I remember him showing me an invoice for his first new dozer, if I remember right it was from the early 1950's. $17000 and some change for a new 2U D8. Sounds cheap, but that was a lot of money then. FWD
The ROPS on it came from something much newer didn't it? I don't remember rectangular tubing in that era. Actually, I don't remember having a ROPS on the one that I ran. The 17A of simlar vintage that I ran had round tubing ROPS as I recall.
Here's a 14A I hauled many years ago. Looks the same I think.
I stand corrected! Old age memory has gone downhill. I went back to look at the 17A that I used to run and it didn't have a ROPS. Here it is, but that's not me on it.
That ROPS looks like a Medford. An add on (not CAT) that wasn't standard. If you worked in the woods on the West Coast, Medford was a good choice.
@Oxbow What was the tarp for around the engine and drivers bay? I'm guessing the original way to stay warm?
A lot of that stuff had reversable fan blades. I think you pushed in and turned each blade. Suck the air through the rad, and blow it back
Exactly. It would get pretty dusty if you were in dry material, but you could stay nice and warm. We would swap the fan blades at least two or three times a year, so it was easy and pretty quick to do.
I seem to recall the ROPS on our C6 is a Medford. 1964 model…seen also on this old brochure
Our old C6 has those reversible blades, I freed them up and rotated them several years ago (spring loaded). Made for warm snowplowing & very hot feet!
Let me guess. The old timers back then would look at you and say "Back in my day, we just wore thicker buckskin coats made from the deer we caught and skinned by hand. But now the young'uns are getting soft on us and need to keep their feet warm." At least that's what would have happened to me how I grew up...
Our Antiqe tractor & engine club has a 13A- 3005 D8 that I believe someone donated. It's a cable angle dozer that works, they use it once in awhile. It has a pretty good UC on it. They also have 2 TD-6 IH dozers that were donated too. One didn't run, other ran but steering clutches were stuck. The volunteers got both of them working too. FWD
When I see those blade cables - my fingers start hurt by themselves.
Dozers weren't to bad to rethread. The crowd cables on a DW15 or Dw20 for example - it helped to have a welder and long arms!
Heard lots of storied about a cable tractor, but never ran one. Did they have down pressure, or just the weight of the blade
Just the weight of the blade. You would do things like push up a bit of material to back one track on so that you could cut with one corner bit if it was firm. If it was really hard ground they were a challenge without a ripper. One D9 (19A I think) that I ran pushing scrapers had ripper teeth welded on to the end of the blade. Kind of hard to finish with, but it would cut through fairly hard material. Every toolbox on a cable dozer would have a 15" or so crescent wrench and a 3/4" end wrench for keeping the cable unit clutches adjusted correctly. You didn't want to feather the lever, but rather use short but firm pulls so that you didn't overly slip the clutches. They were pretty good to run, but like anything there were a few tricks that made things go better.
When you operate that thing - you will not need any upper body exercises anymore. And you learn how to be “smooth as silk operator”!!! Or you’ll learn through your fingers suffering, and also you’ll be expert in untangling things.
Ha ha, don't just drop the dozer and unspool the drum. The float on them worked exceptionally well!
Hey! I was 19 years old, I thought I could drink up the oceans and flip the mountains, at that age. And I didn’t know how to move smoothly, not with girls - not with dozers. I’ve learned dozers pretty quickly, through pain and sweat. Girls on other hand - took another 10 years! When my grandfather saw my now wife, he said: «how in the hell did you manage to deceive that one?!”
Had a guy bring an old cable 8 out to do some mine reclamation, back in the late 80's. He had ,"backup" rippers on the back of his blade. They hung down on some type of hinge, so he could put the blade down and rip when backing up. However, back blading to smooth anything up was a no no.
I've often heard of guys messing up the cables on an old shovel. Friend of mines family ran a road building company for years. He's 20 years older than me. Said when he was a young fella, he tormented a guy into letting him try a shovel. After a lesson, he tried it, and ended up messing up the cables
There's at least one thread on here somewhere about back blading. It got a little heated as I recall.
Called Bird Nesting CE, just as on a Open Face fishing reel, UGLY AS FK.
Lowed the pony motor though. Something cool about the whole process. Just like driving vintage truck.
The friends family company has a no back dragging with a bulldozer policy. I believe it went something like if a dozer was meant to back drag, the blade would have been build heavier on the back.
There was a cable D8 for sale here locally a couple years ago. Listed for something like $17-19K and said it runs well and is ready for work. I remember it well because I saw it all the time on Craigslist when I was constantly searching for a dozer (before I bought my D7). It was even parked just off a local highway and looked in good shape with the price spray painted in bright construction pink on the blade. I always wondered if it would sell and I guess it did as I haven't seen it anymore in the past year. Point is if someone needs a "big" dozer in solid working condition just to push lots dirt for a single project on personal property, a cable dozer might be worth these asking prices.
Cables always looked like a perfect nightmare . . . but I guess they pretty much built this country with cable stuff, so it must work. What ran the cables? Was it a gear winch or something?
Yes. Some had a front unit, but most had rear units with two sides. You could drop the dozer and pull a can, which require two winches - one for bowl lift and one for the apron/ejector. The winches were gear driven. Some, like the D9 I ran, had a front unit that was direct drive off the crank (I believe), but a hydraulic pump to run the ripper, which was an Ateko, or Teko, or something like - non Cat anyway.
For me it was old Soviet T100M. No spools or hydraulics - just PTO shaft, clutches and brake bands. Everything on levers most of them with “over center detent”. It was in previous life.
I’ve also operated one of these. Those are hydraulic, though. It’s whole lot of “fun” to load manure with that.
Note - in the first picture one windshield is open, that’s because after couple of loads, you can’t see anything, it gets so dirty.
That puts a whole new spin on "Contraption"
Exactly!
I don't know even know how you see with an open windshield when the bucket is down. Did you have the bucket raised up a bit so you could get square on your material, then lower it, and ram it home?
You kinda leave bucket at the level that you can see something, drive and aim, then when you get close to the pile - drop it and ram the pile. The worst thing is backing up against the trailer or truck. Neck hurts a lot when you working on it. There’s only one straight “bench” seat in it. So you twist your neck and squirm like a worm on that seat all day. Everything is straight mechanical linkages. Frictions on the levers, brakes on the pedals.
Wow, I don't believe I've ever seen such a thing.
On one company’s yard was a big sign DO NOT BACKDRAG, owner had it placed. He himself busted a few cutting edge bits off a D8 in heavy rock work, he continued to violate his own policy with loaders just not on dozers as hated track paths left after got to a grade line.
All the anti back drag stories are a joke. Dirt accumulates under the blade and sort of protects the cutting edge and other areas under there. Back dragging is a very necessary operation if you want the work to look nice and correct any dweebs. And naa you don't need pretty in a rock quarry, with huge rocks everywhere. My biggest issue with all that old stuff, is the horrible right arm shoulder destroying blade lift lever, that is so unnatural to use, and helped mess me up at the time and I was in my 30's.
International had an option like this , TD6 with very long rams . I never operated it with the bucket , it had both blade and bucket for it . Blade lever had a lock for lift if the blade lever was pulled back to far . Machine would have been cutting edge in its day .
I hear ya. Some guys can't do a good job with the front of the blade, and have to back drag. No big deal. 3,2,1
I resemble that remark! But to further the conversation about back-dragging, the military designed the D7F and Gs with scarifiers on the back of their blades to be used in reverse. I haven't used mine yet but I think they are hinged so you can scrape going in reverse and blade going forward. Kinda like a pin-on root rake on the backside. Guess the US military didn't care too much about wear/tear on the UC when back-dragging.
That's a fact. I am that guy, just I don't usually back drag, I go for the CTL, which I have a lot more time on . . .
That's kind neat
I should have had a longer count down.
If you're not back dragging you're only using 50% of your blade.
Oh,that ain’t that ain’t how you sharpen the blade? Lol
Will admit not proficient enough to attain slick grade running forward, so I place blade/bucket in Float and back drag. No sweat off my Arse as am my own repairman to bitch and whine of the poor operator skills level!
"Will admit not proficient enough to attain slick grade running forward, so I place blade/bucket in Float and back drag." If there were trophy's for that there would be a lot of them handed out, I'd have one for sure.
Just saw another cable D8 listed on Facebook Marketplace in Texas for $28k way down on the southern most border. At least this one has a video of it moving and pushing a bit. Maybe price of these old girls is really moving up more than we thought. Link to dozer . Of course the usual disclaimer of "ain't mine, don't know the guy selling, won't get a penny out of the deal, etc."
Looks like these things repeating the pattern of Ford 7.3 OBS. At some point prices on those were beyond ridiculous. About 2005-2006, church I been going to, bought one of those dozers for $2500. Almost finished doing the pad for the new church building, but neglected to watch oil in the engine. So engine locked up.
Even the new body style 7.3 Powerstrokes are going sky-high. Whether it's a cable dozer or an old diesel truck, these are the machines that can be maintained and repaired by the average owner without a lot of trouble. These machines are pretty de-rated in power compared to the build quality so they last a long time with basic care and maintenance. I only believe non-emission and non-electronic used machines in good working order will continue to climb in value while the "complex" used machines continue to decline. Sucks to hear the engine locked up....that hurts.
Totally agree with you on non emissions and non electronic machines. That’s what my friend doing, on my suggestion. He owns excavation company, but he knows his way around equipment. He buys older worn equipment cheap, restores them while his originals equipment still running. So he would have dependable back ups. He bought himself cheap Chinese line boring machine. He says that is nothing to brag about - but it does the job. Maybe not as fast as expensive ones, but he don’t have to compete for the customers. The only complaining from him that’s machine heavy and bulky. Bought himself older cat 963, with “extra inspection hole” in the block. Then bought used generator with good 3304 in it, for $1500 He didn’t even replace that injector pump on it, just unhooked the governor and hooked up linkage. Had to do some modifications to the intake manifold. But he is running that thing successfully for 3 years now, and loving it.
Looking at the loose tracks I am trying to remember - didn't you have to loosen 4 1/2" bolts on the adjusting road and turn it with a big wrench? Seems like there may have been a grease fitting or two on the rod threads as well. Anyway, I'm pretty sure you didn't adjust them up with a grease gun. The track rollers had those button type fittings for gear lube as I recall too.
@Oxbow In the very first post of this thread, there is the Craigslist link where the sellers says "You will see from the photos that it has a powerful winch." I thought the winches on cable dozers were control winches and couldn't be used to drag anything. Is that true?
Essentially yes, they are not designed to be used the way winches are usually thought of. Can they be, well yes sort of, but they would not last long. These units use a number of clutches in the unit themselves, whereas the bigger cable winches (if not hydraulic) are put in gear and then the main clutch of the machine is engaged to operate it. I don't remember for sure, but I think the cable size on the winch units for operating a dozer or scrapers was about 9/16", where as the cable size of logging type winches is probably about 1", maybe 3/4" at least. That should give an indication as to the intended use.
I have to wonder if he might just have that much invested in the machine. I've seen too often where guys are running a machine on a job, it breaks down, they have no clue what it's going to cost but they want it repaired and end up totally buried in it.
It doesn't take much to run up that kind of repair on this size of dozer.
I back drag all the time. Just trying to stir up the back drag, don't back drag debate. You know? For fun.
Well I already admitted I back drag so I’m out for debating with ya.
That's what the back of the blade is for.
I like all the old sayings that went with it
Looks like a good one to shy away from, it has a straight pipe....it's been hotrodded.
Can add some detail? I didn't realize these could be tuned up enough to cause issues.
The guy probably just didn't want to buy a muffler
Those old dozers never had mufflers.
No idea if Mcrafty was joking but I'm used to older Cummins where folks would tune their IPs up...sometimes a lot to where they would destroy transmissions. This is mostly in trucks so I'm limited in knowledge of older Cat dozers.
No one i ever heard of changed the factory power settings on the old dozers if they wanted them to last. They worked just fine
Hahaha, it was a joke. Sometimes I forget some on these forums are as serious as a heart attack.
That‘s an early D8H power shift, turbo. Just because it has a cable blade doesn’t mean it’s a real old machine, lol. I actually prefer a cable machine , because that’s what I started out with, cheers
I'll be damned, somebody else that prefers cable. I thought I was the last dinosaur. I started on cable also, then owned a 17A and a 46A, both cable. The guys here that bitched about a CCU wearing your arm out either didn't adjust it, or didn't know how. A properly adjusted CCU is effortless and a joy to run, and a cable blade will do near anything a hydraulic will do except lift the front of the tractor off the ground. I had a conversation on here several years ago with an old feller name of Scrub Puller about the music a CCU makes with a tractor at idle, how the discs sing to you. Bccat, I bet you know that song !!! Thanks for making me feel not so alone...
Price is a price, that will be listed for the next 20 years at that price, unless the tracks are brand new, anyone with any common sense will never pay that much for that machine. All these are is big toys, you will never see one working on a construction job site especially Ca.
You bet , you could set the cable control so fine that you hardly had to move the control. My dad had 3, 3T D7’s with cable land Clearing Blades, I learned to operate a cable blade on a D7E,. The real test for me was a D9, 19A with a cable blade in a gravel pit, talk about waves lol. The other operators really gave me a hard time all in fun. I was about 20 at the time. Fifty some yrs ago, have pics somewhere,will dig them out
Here's a dozer that's likely worth it's price. Terex Terex 82-30 Dozer - heavy equipment - by owner - sale - craigslist Detroit diesel, tilt 11' blade. kalispell.craigslist.org
If you remember, the first time in the seat was over whelming. So many levers, so much to try to remember. My first pass pushing dirt with Dad watching, of course I was fighting the blade. Up down up down, just a battle. Backed up and he stopped me, "we don't need any of that fancy ****, we just want it level". Then he grinned. Of course it got easier, and I got better, and the rest is history. I got good on a dozer, and I got great on scrapers. Loved the old TS-24s. He bought an old Heil pull pan for the 17A, and wanted my help on a little 1/2 mile road job. Sweet, I can make a scraper talk, and all those over whelming levers on that old tractor are as easy as breathing. I got this. Well, that old pan had a coil spring cushion drawbar. As you start the cut the spring compresses, when it does the distance from tractor to pan increases. Of course that tightens the hoist cable which starts the pan up. Pan starts up spring relaxes which shortens the distance which lengthens the cable which starts the pan down. I was a great scraper hand, but that first pass frosted my nuts. I could not cut level to save my own life. I dumped turned and came back to find him sitting on the ground. He was laughing so hard he couldn't stand. When he could talk, he said "we're building a road, NOT a railroad". Indeed, my first pass on that ol pig looked exactly like you were cutting to put railroad ties in. Thanks BC, for bringing those memories back, if only for a moment.