The Inland Northwest has been deluged with snow. Lots and lots of snow. Did I mention the snow? At our place in the mountains of Eastern Washington we've got two feet of snow most places, and four in some. My lovely wife went to clear the lower road with our wheel tractor and snow blower, but it wasn't up to the task. So I fired up the D-6.

I haven't wanted to run it much because when I haven't had a chance to work on it since I got it this fall. Looking at the service records, it looks like it hasn't had much done to it in years, and I've wanted to give it a good going over before putting it to real work.

That said, I also wanted to be able to get up the mountain side, and boy she did a nice job. It did raise some questions though. I'd love to get some advice from those who might know.

First, my unit has a cable blade. Is there a way to angle the blade to the side? There are four support that come out from the pivot arms to the blade. The top two supports have bars that can be used turn the supports and thereby change the length to angle the blade at the upper corner, but I'm at a loss as to how to adjust the angle side to side. I'd love to place the blade at a 15 degree angle to the front of the tractor. It would make snow work so much easier. There doesn't seem to be a way to extend the bottom bar though. Thoughts?

Second, does anybody have good tips on doing blade work with a cable blade. The wheel tractor has a nice six way blade, and I've gotten to be pretty handy with it. It seems a key trick with the cable blade is to leave little lumps in your work area, and then drive over them to change your angle, but there doesn't seem to be much opportunity for precision with the cable control. If any of you have any wisdom on how to make the best use of a cable blade, please lay it on me.

Third, occasionally while working in the snow the left track would "pop." It was almost like it had jumped ahead a bit, jerking forward with a popping noise and then continuing like normal. What is going on here? I'm assuming this is a bad thing. Am I doing damage to it? How would I go about correcting the issue?

One last question. I recently got the engine manual, chassis service manual and parts manual from CAT for it. CAT doesn't seem to think that an operators manual is still available though. Any notion where I might get one?

Did I mention we've gotten a lot of snow?

Hi. The D6 is a great machine. If you post the serial number I'm sure more people could help. I'm assuming it is an 8U or 9U machine. The blades on these machines are either a 6A angle blade or a 6S straight blade. If your blade angles, it will have eyelets on the sides of the blade frame that allow for adjustability. If it has a 6S straight blade it will manually tilt but not angle. There should be a serial number on the blade as well. The popping of the track makes me wonder how it is adjusted. Is it tight enough? Check ebay for all your manual needs.

Popping tracks---from snow buildup? Might have to run looser than normal and or readjust frequently according to conditions you run into.

That's what the grouser pads with holes and the sprockets with fillets for the snow to squish out through were for.

The serial number is 9U1417. I suspect I have a straight blade.

Where on the blade would I find the blade serial number?

back bevel of top of blade about 2 feet in from the right edge. Look for the tag or a couple of rivets or rivet holes about 2 1/2" apart. The serial number should be stamped into the blade where the tag was.

What I do with my d4 with a cable blade is set the blade down and then clutch the cable unit enough to take out the slack in the cable. Depending on pushability (not sure if thats a word but sound good) I try to adjust the tension on the cable. I have also used a chain as a cheat but unless you have a headcahe tube that wont work for you. As for the bumps I backdrag to smooth things up. Im still pretty rough with the lil thing. Good luck

Here is what the Operator's Instruction manual looks like.
There were 13 different editions:) About 86 pages.

You can get a quality reprint from Cat Legendary Literature Services
www.cat.com/cda/layout?m=90800&x=7
or
Watch ebay.

In order to angle blade,you must first have an angling blade as other posts have indicated. Sprocket "jumping" while working in snow is also as other
posts,and yes it can be destructive,unless you have snow sprockets or holes
cut in pads.Snow will pack so tightly it compress track spring then release with a bang,some times snow will pack so tight,spring is compressed to its limit and track will stop or has even broken track link .It is important to have tracks clear of mud around track spring,so as not to freeze to point it will not move,[have been told this failure to clean mud has resulted in bent sprocket shafts] There is only one way to become skilled with a cable controlled
dozer [or any blade] ,experience. No short cuts.

It appears I have a straight blade.
I found the tag, or what was left of it. It was in pretty sad shape. It's a model 6S, serial number 1C-1??1. The S isn't actually there anymore, but enough of a tail was there to determine it's not an A. The aluminum is so folded up, the middle numbers of the serial number are gone.

So if I understand correctly, the popping can occur if the springs are compressed and then suddenly released. My 6 didn't come with any covers over the springs, so snow (or mud) gets right up in there. Are there any sources for such things, or recommendations on fabricating them?

Similarly, for the work that I'm doing an angle blade would be much more useful. Were I to find a 6-A blade, could I just take the 6-S off, and attach the 6-A in its place, or is did the 6-A use a different mounting scheme?

I'm not looking for short-cuts on using the cable blade, just wisdom from those with experience. You won't get any good at using a handplane without experience either, but I can still provide some pointers to somebody new to the tool.

For example, if I really want the blade to cut in, it seems to work best to let it drop pretty fast, but if I do that, I get lots of loose cable. Then when I go to raise it, I have to wait for a while for all the cable to pay back in. Any tips on getting it to cut in, without dropping it hard?

The adjustable bars on both sides of the blade set the angle of the molboard, the further out the top of the blade is the more aggressive the cutting edge will get, but it is harder to keep an even blade with that, til;ted back your cut is not so aggressive but then it tends to skim over the soil instead of cutting, experence will dictate where to set the blade pitch. No not fre wheel the blade from the highest position to the ground to try to pound it into the ground, you will have cable problems, what this does is spin the cable drum so fast that it keeps turning when the blade stops, so now your freespooling cable and this will knot up and cross up on the drum resulting in knotted and broken cable, let the blade down easy so as not to free spool the drum. The snow will pack in betwen the pins and bushings on your track chain tightening the chain and causing it to jump the sprocket, or start to climb the front idlier, quite often you will notice and feel the tractor tighten up and in a lot of cases stoping to back up will free up the bind but will not get the snow out, special sprockets and grousers were made to keep the snow out from inbetween the pins, you could torch cut a hole inbetween the bolts of the grouser if you were to do a lot of snow work, this would help push the snow thru the pad and out. Try Ebay for the other manuel you need I found the correct ones there for a 12 blade and very inexpensive compared to the Cat house.