Unusual older cat i believe it's a D7. It has a hydraulic blade with a inside mount arms. What would this set up be used for? Logging? I never seen this specific set up on a D7 before. I must admit that I think it's a pretty awesome looking machine. Now if I only had a place to park it. John
I could be wrong but it kinda looks like a push dozer to me. Anyone?
Thats what it looks like to me too, just an old push dozer. Kinda neat to see something that old and still in one piece.
I'll say right up front, I ain't no dozer man. The front part does look like a push dozer set up. But wouldn't a push dozer be more useful with a ripper instead of a winch??? :beatsme
Well yes it would. Of course it also depends on the type of material that was being moved. But you are right most all pusher dozers have rippers as standard equipment. Theres probably a good reason why they opted for a winch instead of rippers.
I dunno, I think I'm going to side with Stepp on this one, I think it's for a logging application. Full sweeps, engine screen covers, rear cab screen; looks like it's made for the woods, not open ground like a push dozer. Plus, it seems to me a winch on a push dozer would be about as useful as a winch on a grader, IMHO.
If it's for forestry then it must be something from the south or east coast. West of the Mississippi they want either an angle blade or SU. There are no rock guards on it either. No one out here in the mountain terrain would have one without them.
Your right there, John. The glacial till of the Western mountains have rocks we don't have in Appalachian mountains back east. I see Stepp is from North Carolina, there's a lot of hardwood forests there. And, like you, I can't quite figure out a blade with no angle/tilt for logging application. But I'm no logger either.
I'm certainly no expert on old Cat's, but the blade cylinder mounting looks unusual to me with those wrap around plates for the cylinder mounting pivots. And what's up with those two levers to the left of the operator's seat? Is it a straight drive dozer? Well, that would be one lever. But what's the other? I'd like to see a pic of the operator station. That's a nice looking old dozer...in one piece! I'd hate to see it go to a bone yard.
Definitely some interesting old iron... one of the only markers of stories long forgotten.
The front idlers and the airfilter makes me quite shure it is a D7 17a! it probably has been used as winch machine but when the pulling operations got less they installed the push blade and used it with scrapers. It should be a straight drive machine, and those small levers in the first pic are probably for the blade (not CAT at least) and in the second pic are the two long levers for the winch. from the beginnig it has probably had no blade at all, so the lift cylinders and mounting has been "home made". maybe it has been used to push logging euqipment in rough terrain?
The levers are for the winch.I can't speculate on the rest of it.It looks to be in good shape though.Ron G
The blade is only there to push the logs into a stockpile, blade has been kept narrow to allow machine to manouver between trees & stumps, its just an early homemade version of what is now a designated log skidder.
I woud say the tractor is set up for forestry or oil field work.My td15 has the same blade and winch setup with the addition of the pipe rack and fairleeds on the back .It is an oil field tractor.Its a good utillity tractor for me.Its good for smaller dirt jobs,pushing brush,and great for winching.
growing up my father had a 17a d7 set up idintical to that machine he retrofited a balderson push blade used it as a push cat when he could on smaller jobs to keep from moving the d9. Here in Lousiana, Miss., South Arkansas, and East Texas you better have a winch on the back and not a ripper.
That looks like a Balderson or a Holt blade, but without cushion springs it could have been for pushing and piling. I know alot of the books I have on older machinery showed alot of them ordered in areas where outside strunnions would be hard to trailer. I know AC had a set up like this but the wholetractor lift up as the blade mounted to the body of the tractor. This set up keeps you the same width of the lowboy. and also handy for pushing scrapers. Lots of companies made these for earth moving and logging. I know of a D7 also set up like this for logging an old mountain site the roads were so narrow a permit wasnt given for anything wider than the tracks an hauling and extra blade wasnt feasable.
Maybe a fire dozer? AC offered an HD9 back in the 50's that was marketed specially to fire departments, it had a similar inside push arm setup that kept it within legal transport width.
The inside push arm setup kept the machine narrow and they also would go through mudd better.