And the rest of the pictures. Kind of neat seeing the old decals and the unit number.

looks like it all went to plan a lot of the time when some thing has been sitting a long time they smoke quite bad when first started until the engine has got fairly hot and worked hard I think but dont know the rings stick in the piston and the hard work and heat helps to loosen them so they can seal again may have that all wrong though


Looks like the carrier rollers are raised on it as well a lot of people did this mod over the years and later it became standard that mighten have been until the D7 E though Old Magnet or some would be able to give a definite answer there I would think


Paul

Hey Paul, what was the reason for raising the carrier rollers?

I have my 7 apart right now and wondered if this is a mod that is important to do, not that I can get the carrier roller support tower bolts undone without busting them, then drilling and tapping etc....so I might just leave hem alone:)

Anywho, would be good to know the reason for the mod.

As far as I know it had two reasons and these may not even be correct

first had to do with the way the track chain came off the sprocket , if you look at a normal old D7 3 T or 17A the track goes over past horizontal and towards the ground again before it lifts off the sprocket so what my under standing is one spot of wear is the track is bending a lot more than it should and the other spot is if your track becomes a little loose you are pulling the chain off the tooth at the incorrect angle as it would be like forcing a bolt out of a round hole at a off square to the hole angle, it can be done but the bolt and the hole get damaged doing it

The more common or perhaps the most common reason is you run out of adjust meant and stick some blocks under the carrier rollers to pull the idler back in

I think the main reason is to reduce wear

Please feel free to correct me if I have got this wrong

Paul

I haven't really been tracking this thread.... are the carrier roller stands actually raised or is it just the difference between the lifetime carrier roller (with roller bearings) and the old smaller grease type units that are smaller diameter?

Raising the carrier rollers by adding spacer plates and installing longer bolts helped to put a little more angle of attack on the rollers to keep them from hanging up and not rotating. Caterpillar caught on to this method and incorporated it in new designs after 1962.

These carrier roller mounts might be updated because they are all one piece. No spacers. I could get the part number off of them.

Well it's been a long time, I think the last time I had the D7 running was 2017. After attending the ACMOC show in Elkader, I decided it was finally time to start working on it. I need to replace/rebuild most of the undercarriage, but this D7 has some sentimental value to me. After checking all the fluid levels, we pulled the tractor about 20 feet and it started right up. I'm going to be pulling the track frames so I can pull the sprockets and send them to Ziegler Cat to be rebuilt. I had the local Cat CSR guy out to take measurements/part numbers, and start looking for parts for me. Progress will be slow since we are busy at work right now. I did get the blade pulled off, and I've been ordering the seals, gaskets, washers, shims, etc for the sprocket replacement.

       

Here's a short video of it idling. At this point it had been running for about an hour, and the turbo was slobbering/leaking pretty good. That's another thing on the to-do list.