Well? come on! Heard they had four feet of snow in PA and NY. Nobody had there Cats out????????

We got 28.5" of snow here in Watervliet, NY. My 1935 CAT22, modified with dozer blade, which I am restoring is not quite ready to start. Wish it were done so I could have pushed some snow around.

We're near Norwich, NY and got something like 30+ inches. It was worse farther south near Binghamton. I was proud of the little D2. It is electric start with glow plugs. The temp on Thurs morning was probably around 20F. It took a quite a few tries of heating the glow plugs and cranking to get some heat, but the old girl fired up. I only used it around the sheds and house to open up the area where the tractor (an old Farmall 200 with chains which is an amazingly good snow pusher) didn't have a chance. I'll try to get some pictures, but I didn't use it extensively to open large areas, since despite having holes in the pads, the tracks tend to tighten up if I do a lot of snow pushing. My only complaint is it is a 5U with the low, wide Cat angle blade,so the snow pushed up over the blade. This morning it is -3F, so I don't think I'll be trying to get it started to finish up.

I’m right in the middle of repairing the starting pinions both of my D4 7U & D2 5U, was hoping to have them both running by this time, but that didn’t happen. When I was a kid, in my small town, we had one primary Cat dozer owner/operator, he had a D4D that probably excavated 90% of construction projects from the 60’s thru the 80’s. Anyway, he did two projects near my house when I was a young kid, and I couldn’t get enough of watching that dozer work and couldn’t get enough of climbing on it and running it in my mind. Anyway, he hauled with a Mack B model, but drove a 60’s Willy’s Jeep to the worksite everyday. I grew a passion for that Willy’s and today, my affinity for old Cats and old Willy’s point back to “Ed”. Sorry, no photos of the Cat's at this time, they're under tarps waiting for some parts and this snow to melt, but the Willy’s got to stretch its legs. Only 14” here.
Best.

rhartwick wrote:

We're near Norwich, NY and got something like 30+ inches. It was worse farther south near Binghamton. I was proud of the little D2. It is electric start with glow plugs. The temp on Thurs morning was probably around 20F. It took a quite a few tries of heating the glow plugs and cranking to get some heat, but the old girl fired up. I only used it around the sheds and house to open up the area where the tractor (an old Farmall 200 with chains which is an amazingly good snow pusher) didn't have a chance. I'll try to get some pictures, but I didn't use it extensively to open large areas, since despite having holes in the pads, the tracks tend to tighten up if I do a lot of snow pushing. My only complaint is it is a 5U with the low, wide Cat angle blade,so the snow pushed up over the blade. This morning it is -3F, so I don't think I'll be trying to get it started to finish up.

You can activate the glow plugs for two minutes then start it and switch the glow pugs back on till it runs smooth and has clearer exhaust.

outbackrider wrote:

I’m right in the middle of repairing the starting pinions both of my D4 7U & D2 5U, was hoping to have them both running by this time, but that didn’t happen. When I was a kid, in my small town, we had one primary Cat dozer owner/operator, he had a D4D that probably excavated 90% of construction projects from the 60’s thru the 80’s. Anyway, he did two projects near my house when I was a young kid, and I couldn’t get enough of watching that dozer work and couldn’t get enough of climbing on it and running it in my mind. Anyway, he hauled with a Mack B model, but drove a 60’s Willy’s Jeep to the worksite everyday. I grew a passion for that Willy’s and today, my affinity for old Cats and old Willy’s point back to “Ed”. Sorry, no photos of the Cat's at this time, they're under tarps waiting for some parts and this snow to melt, but the Willy’s got to stretch its legs. Only 14” here.
Best.[/quote
Thats the way it goes sometimes, when we need the machine it's being repaired, oh well, maybe next time, lol

Rome,

That sounds like a good idea. How long should one go on the glow plugs when cold? Two minutes sounds like a long time - I'm sure I don't do more than 30 seconds probably since the switch has a strong spring, and it just seems like a long time, plus I worried if I go too long it might burn them up like a coffee maker element running dry. I'll try to go longer on them before startup.

Two minutes when cold is fine. When warmer a minute is ok. Thirty seconds is not long enough when cold. If the glow plugs are newer you wont hurt them.

Here are a couple of scans from the Operations and Maintenance Instructions manual for a 7U D4 on using the glow plugs - looks like 2 minutes on time will be fine.

Thanks phildirt, thats what I was going to post.