Bought my wife a Caterpillar D4

If I were to ever have Jaguar, it would have to be a Mk2 saloon. To me those cars just scream British elegance.

In London they scream British Bank Robber :)

https://silodrome.com/jaguar-mark-ii
JAGUAR MARK II – THE ORIGINAL GENTLEMAN’S GETAWAY CAR

The Jaguar Mark II is most famous for its use in bank robberies across the United Kingdom, the 3.8 litre Mark II was the fastest four-door in Britain and one of the fastest anywhere in the world. This made it ideal as a getaway vehicle for 4-5 adult males and their canvas bags full of Her Majesty’s finest paper bills.
 
Spent some more time playing around with the D4 yesterday and also reading through the manual.

First thing was change the oil in the pony motor.

One thing I'd wanted to do was check the valve clearances. When I picked up the thing it had a bit of a miss at idle, where every now and then it'd miss and then rev back up. It'd do this about every 5 seconds or so. Interestingly it's not doing that at all this season - so having fresh diesel with a bunch of Power Service Diesel Kleen in may have helped un-gum some stuff in the fuel controller. Still, I had the hood off the thing from messing with the pony motor and thought this was a good time to check it. Here's a video of me letting it warm up before checking the valves:


This dozer had smoked some, especially at idle, even though it ran well. And I figured who knows when the last time the valves were checked, may as well. Good thing I checked them! Clearances were supposed to be 0.010". A few valves were loose, but about half of them (more than half I think) had zero clearance at all! Not good and probably means those valves were actually being held open a hair. After doing the adjustment the idle smoke stopped and it definitely seemed to run a bit more evenly, although as a Cat, it still ran and sounded good. I love the sound of a proper old diesel.

In the video you'll note some smoke coming out around the exhaust manifold. There's a flange there that is on solidly however there's a gap in there and it seems that whatever gasket may have been there (if any) is missing and/or blown out. I figure the best way to handle this is probably going to be some exhaust seal putty to put on and just see if that can seal it up well enough. I've had good luck with that stuff before in the right scenario.

When warm the dozer seems to have around 20 psi of oil pressure, maybe a bit less. The manual says 30 psi is what you should have. Since who knows how old the oil is on there, I figure it's time to change it. Cat recommends 30 weight oil, but I figure I'll go with 40 weight to try to get that oil pressure up a bit. I haven't bothered to find/check the hobbs meter (who knows if it even works). This thing is 70 years old or more, very well could be the original engine - I think it's entitled to be a bit tired. But it still runs well and I'm not too worried about it.

Another thing I'm going to do is go through and lubricate all the lubrication points on the thing. There are a lot of them! Most take just motor oil, but I also need to get some grease on my grease gun and hit the zerk fittings. I will also check and maybe replace the oil in some of the other things, although for the non-engine components I'm less worried about the age so long as it seems to be in good condition and not filled with water.

Some may recall that last year I purchased and rebuilt the hydrualic hoses going to the ram. They seem to be functioning correctly, no leaks!

It really is a neat machine, and has tolerated sitting very well.
 
She’s a beaut.

What I find really neat is how many of these old things are still around, working, and doing work. Granted I'm the only one to walk into my local CAT dealer asking about a 1950s D4, but I'm certainly not the only one in Kansas who has one. I figure I'll go in and ask about some of the bolts and nuts for the tracks in a few days and tell the guys what I've done to it.

Think the folks in the CAT media department would be interested in a story about getting an old D4 back up and running after sitting for 10+ years and using it to build a runway?
 
What I find really neat is how many of these old things are still around, working, and doing work. Granted I'm the only one to walk into my local CAT dealer asking about a 1950s D4, but I'm certainly not the only one in Kansas who has one. I figure I'll go in and ask about some of the bolts and nuts for the tracks in a few days and tell the guys what I've done to it.

Think the folks in the CAT media department would be interested in a story about getting an old D4 back up and running after sitting for 10+ years and using it to build a runway?
Maybe. I will ask my Comms guy what he thinks.

Did you get me a serial number yet??? ;)
 
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Did you get me a serial number yet??? ;)

Ha! No, I didn't. But I need to. I'm really bad about that. :(

If the comms guy is interested, feel free to put the two of us in touch, I think it's a fun story. Besides, could maybe get some extra publicity for Cloud Nine, and the fact that I bought my wife a bulldozer as an anniversary present (and she loves it) is pretty unusual.
 
Ha! No, I didn't. But I need to. I'm really bad about that. :(

If the comms guy is interested, feel free to put the two of us in touch, I think it's a fun story. Besides, could maybe get some extra publicity for Cloud Nine, and the fact that I bought my wife a bulldozer as an anniversary present (and she loves it) is pretty unusual.
I am going to guess that they will want you in the process of making the runway before they do anything. But I will work the phones and see when I am back in the office next week. If anything I could probably get you spotlighted on the engine side of things since that is my area of the business. I assume you are running a D4400 in that dozer. Am guessing it was manufactured in Mossville, IL or East Peoria but I will have to do some research.

They did a story on a couple that got married and rode off on a dozer. You never know. :)
 
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I am going to guess that they will want you in the process of making the runway before they do anything. But I will work the phones and see when I am back in the office next week. If anything I could probably get you spotlighted on the engine side of things since that is my area of the business. I assume you are running a D4400 in that dozer. Am guessing it was manufactured in Mossville, IL or East Peoria but I will have to do some research.

They did a story on a couple that got married and rode off on a dozer. You never know. :)

We technically are already in the process of working on the runway and expect most of it to get done over the summer. I've started using the dozer to push out tree stumps. After that, I intend on using it (as the most qualified vehicle I have) to pull the sheepsfoot roller I bought last year to break stuff up. The dozer will be the primary piece of equipment used for the runway creation, despite my collection of other tractors.
 
We technically are already in the process of working on the runway and expect most of it to get done over the summer. I've started using the dozer to push out tree stumps. After that, I intend on using it (as the most qualified vehicle I have) to pull the sheepsfoot roller I bought last year to break stuff up. The dozer will be the primary piece of equipment used for the runway creation, despite my collection of other tractors.
Oh cool. Didn't know you were starting already. I wanna come clear stumps! :)
 
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Hey Ted..now that this one is purring if you want new engine to get back in order a guy in Indy is selling the right engine from a P38. Allison V12. Needs rebuilt.

https://indianapolis.craigslist.org/avo/d/indianapolis-allison-v12/6871899366.html

Just the thing for the Cobra!

I’m doing a small block Ford in the Cobra, but an idea I’ve had for a long time is building a car around a Detroit Diesel 12V71/92 or 16V71/92.

Tractor Supply has some straight 40 Rotella that I’ll probably buy for the engine, and this weekend I’ll look at lubing things up on it.
 
Today I went out to the dozer with my manuals and went over the lubrication points, at least as much as I could. Really I was overall surprised with how well things were lubricated on the whole. I’d already changed the oil last weekend (still have to change the filter). I filled up the final drives (those were both low and took a good bit), filled up the fuel pump (which is oil lubricated and was dry), and I lubricated all of the 400 zerk fittings.

The PTO on back was full but extremely milky, so I drained and refilled that. The drain plug/magnet has a bunch of rust in it (no surprise) so that’s probably a negative indication about its potential longevity. I also don’t use the PTO much at this point, somewhat doubt I will, and I’m not taking anything big apart like that.

The transmission was also milky but not as milky. I ran out of differential/gear fluid so I just left that for another day. The hydraulic fluid is milky and I should drain and refill those some day before too long.

Some of the rollers and idlers that need grease looked full but the grease was old. Another day I might try to flush that grease out with new.
 
got mine running....stupid computer and wiring. :confused:

changed fluids in the engine....6 gal 10w50, added hyd fluid 6 gal 10w40, changed left final drive 6 gal 10w30.....didn't bother with front working fluids or right final drive or gear box.....those are....you guess it 6 gal each.

2b1dd608-85a1-40f7-9fce-ae743ea85452-jpeg.75743
 
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got mine running....stupid computer and wiring. :confused:

changed fluids in the engine....6 gal 10w50, added hyd fluid 6 gal 10w40, changed left final drive 6 gal 10w30.....didn't bother with front working fluids or right final drive or gear box.....those are....you guess it 6 gal each.

2b1dd608-85a1-40f7-9fce-ae743ea85452-jpeg.75743

Mine's been starting up easily and I've been using it to get trees out of the ground for the runway. However one of the hoses that I made up (the one I did myself without the help of the CAT dealer) has started seeping a little fluid at the fitting. Between that and the leaky hydraulic rams, I'm thinking I need to take those bits off and get them fixed. Don't want to since it's prime bulldozing season, but now is probably a good time to.
 
He does. But I would take a rusty, shade tree mechanic owned Jag from 1985 over a 'nice Alpha' any day of the week. I think Alpha is Eye-Talian for aint never gonna run right.

Kind of like FIAT is short for Fix It Again, Tony! Or so said my dad referring back to the late 1940s when his brother had a Fiat that needed fixing about as much as it was driven. :p
 
I've looked into the bleed-down of the hydraulics, which can either be the valving or the rams themselves given that there's not a physical leak and the pump works. Apparently on this old system, there aren't any O-rings in the hydraulic controller, it's all just very precisely machined bits. So while it's possible that those are leaking, it's much less common, and also the fact that it didn't bleed down when I first got the thing running and has gotten worse with time would indicate that the seals/O-rings inside the rams are bad. And that is apparently the problem most of the time.

So I need to pull the rams off. I went by the local CAT dealer who said they don't rebuild the things there, but they will send them out to their other facility to rebuild. Couldn't give me any idea how long it would take at all. So I'm a bit concerned of dropping the things off and then ending up without a usable dozer for the rest of the good warm season. But it needs to get done and it's getting really annoying to use the thing since to hold the blade up I have to constantly be pulling back on the hydraulic control to hold the blade up, and I'm sure with the internal leaks it's also not as powerful as it should be pushing the thing up.

Hopefully this isn't too bad when I pull it apart and they're able to repair it in a reasonable amount of time for a reasonable price. I really don't understand why this should take a long time.
 
I'm still waiting on @NealRomeoGolf to get a corporate sponsorship from CAT. ;)
 
find another shop. I found a local hydraulics shop that will rebuild rams...re-chrome and all....for very reasonable prices. Had one done for less than $300.
 
we used to replace the orings in the rams ourselves ... out in the dirt in the field ... in 110º temps ... when I was a much younger man! :)
 
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we used to replace the orings in the rams ourselves ... out in the dirt in the field ... in 110º temps ... when I was a much younger man! :)

If there was an obvious easy kit to purchase to do that, I'd be all for it. While I can find plenty of O-ring kits to purchase, I've not found any that seem to positively identify themselves as matching the rams I have.

I pulled the rams off tonight - really easy to do. And they look really easy to disassemble. So I'll drop them off at CAT tomorrow and see what they say/do. Hopefully they rebuild the things pretty quickly.
 
Any decent hydraulics shop should be able to rebuild them. It's pretty simple inside.

Also, I noticed that you had changed the fluids recently - that's probably contributing to the bleeding within the cylinders - you put all that clean fluid in and knocked all the dirt/grime out that was keeping the holes plugged up.
 
Any decent hydraulics shop should be able to rebuild them. It's pretty simple inside.

Also, I noticed that you had changed the fluids recently - that's probably contributing to the bleeding within the cylinders - you put all that clean fluid in and knocked all the dirt/grime out that was keeping the holes plugged up.

The problem is there are two hydraulics shops around here, and I'm not exactly convinced I would call either of them "decent." As I said the one that did my Allis Chalmers ram was really slow and way overcharged. The other shop has parts and will make hoses but doesn't really want to do anything else. We'll see what the CAT dealer tells me, I dropped them off earlier today.

The powers that be have been notified. I haven’t heard back.

You still owe me a serial number.

I was thinking about that last night! And here you go. :)

2019-07-17.jpg
 
The problem is there are two hydraulics shops around here, and I'm not exactly convinced I would call either of them "decent." As I said the one that did my Allis Chalmers ram was really slow and way overcharged. The other shop has parts and will make hoses but doesn't really want to do anything else. We'll see what the CAT dealer tells me, I dropped them off earlier today.



I was thinking about that last night! And here you go. :)

2019-07-17.jpg
You have what appears to be a 1947 RD4, now just called the D4. I think the engine is a D4400 but having a hard time making full sure that is what you have. They don't keep records as long as they used to... ;) If my research is right, that serial number batch ended in March 1947. The tractor would have been made in East Peoria and I would put bets it came off the line in January.
 
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You have what appears to be a 1947 RD4, now just called the D4. I think the engine is a D4400 but having a hard time making full sure that is what you have. They don't keep records as long as they used to... ;) If my research is right, that serial number batch ended in March 1947. The tractor would have been made in East Peoria and I would put bets it came off the line in January.

Very cool! When I bought it they'd advertised it as a '52 D4, but when @Theboys was over at my bonfire earlier this year he said he thought it was older, 40s era. So he was right. :)

There is an hour meter on the thing but it doesn't seem to be readable. I'd be curious how much of it is original and what's been replaced over the years.
 
If I understand what "rams" are (sorry, just a bean counter as everyone around here likes to call me), those could be part number 1F0221. Here is a website that seems to have access to the schemes for them. Does this look like them? Maybe the CAT dealer already has you hooked up, but just in case...

https://avspare.com/caterpillar/ue033271/ue0332710428/

c25409.png
 
If I understand what "rams" are (sorry, just a bean counter as everyone around here likes to call me), those could be part number 1F0221. Here is a website that seems to have access to the schemes for them. Does this look like them? Maybe the CAT dealer already has you hooked up, but just in case...

https://avspare.com/caterpillar/ue033271/ue0332710428/

c25409.png

That looks more like one of the adjusters for the blade. I'll let you know if the Cat dealer has any issues. Something that really impressed me yesterday was that unlike the hydraulic shops I've dealt with around here that go "Oh... that's really old, I doubt we can still get parts" they had a much more can-do attitude. "We built it, we'll service it." They helped me look up the bolts and nuts for the pads on the tracks too, and said that if what we got were the wrong ones I could just bring them back and we'd try again. Interesting note the guy said was that those bolts "Aren't as beefy as what they do today". They're 1/2" bolts with 4 of them per pad, which seems pretty beefy to me, but I guess whatever they use today is beefier still.

I figure once I get the rams back on I can put new bolts on those few pads that are loose (there's only one in particular that I really am concerned about but several that are some others that are loose). Joe had also said he thought one cylinder was missing a bit, and I should probably look into that to see if maybe it needs an injector or something.
 
Got the dozer back together today (finally). Hydraulic fluid is flushed and all clean now, and new rams on and bled. The whole system works much, much better now and the rams stay up.

I also cleaned out the barn to make room for the go karts and Ford 9N, which now gives the D4 a proper home in the shed. I’m much happier about this, especially having just spent that money on new rams.

C51ED6BA-1AD5-4836-9E4D-7BC107257848.jpeg
 
If you got no use for that Farmall I'll be glad to haul it away for you. No charge, of course... :lol::lol:
 
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If you got no use for that Farmall I'll be glad to haul it away for you. No charge, of course... :lol::lol:

That’s my favorite tractor. Ain’t going nowhere. :)
 
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