Hi I am new to this Forum but thought maybe some of you guys would like to see a picture of one of the Armoured D7A Dozers that my late Father operated on Juno Beach on D-Day 6th June 1944. I am told that just 138 of these Armoured Dozers were converted from standard D7 for use in WW2 by the British & Canadian armies. The USA had their own versions They were converted by the Jack Olding company of Hertfordshire, UK who at the time was the sole UK distributor for Caterpillar machinery. Just one is know to survive here in the UK
The 1T Series was a modified 7M Tractor that was fitted with an angle dozer and a Hyster D7N winch, I am cutting 1 up for bits at the moment, they have offset track pads to allow for the inside push frame.
Can I ask. How many road wheels per side would a 1T Series have had originally?
Sure looks ahead of its time, with the lift cylinders like that. They did a great job, even better than anything made now for that purpose. Too bad that someone didn't know how to install the tracks though.
So is it a correct WW2 Armoured D7A that you are cutting up?
I would have thought in 1944 it would have had a cable operated blade
Caterpillar D7 Armoured Bulldozer The Caterpillar D7 series medium bulldozer began service with the U.S. military during World War II. Its primary role is earthmoving but it was used in a host of other roles e.g. mine clearing with... www.nevingtonwarmuseum.com
Well I still have the offset tracks and i do have the serial number plate some place, they had a nasty little fuel tank fitted, most of it has now reached China, I am also chopping up a 3T.
So then in a few months we will see them in our Harbor Freight stores?
Bad mistake for Caterpillar to return to cable blades once hydraulics were developed costing operators fingers and worse what will be for over a hundred years of disfigurement , New model D7E's will be long buried before the last D7 3T will stop running .4T with her tin heads ready to roll . Steel heads may have been a war time measure , Caterpillar didn't stay with them anyhow . Going by the green paint on the tag even the US army painted tags .
Remember reading about em how miserable hot they were poor too see to operate and they couldn't stop a 7.92 round. Units refuse to use them or pulled the armor off. Neat read about how hydraulics were to advance like the m1 clip for most enlisted they will get stuck too easy/unreliable brass pushed for cable rigs
Ya, very noisy and hot inside. Hard to imagine what that was like
Maintenance must have been a nightmare.