The Cat Dealer in my part of the world has gone to modern as well. Very little knowledge of mechanical machines. Tooling for older machines, I have been told is gone.I dont understand why these items get tossed

Sometimes the Perkins engines in CAT machines aren't identified where Perkins can help with parts and sometimes CAT people will not help. So sad again!

This club should send a letter to the head honcho at Cat that is in charge of the dealerships and have the dealers donate old tooling to the club for preservation. If we have no tooling in the future then old Cat equipment might as well be parked and just guawked at.

At least Cat should provide the drawings and specifications for the tooling. Not all the tooling, but a good portion of it we could probably have made as needed. Yes, it is sad, very sad! I would hope that Cat would help with tool drawings for us guys who make it our hobby to keep the senior Cat machines alive.

As for Perkins parts, why is there a separate dealer for Perkins? I can buy Perkins parts cheaper than Perkins parts in Cat packages. For my backhoe, Cat 428, I can buy a complete overhaul engine kit from the Perkins dealer, cheaper than just buying Perkins pistons from Cat. The pistons from Cat are Perkins with the Perkins number stamped into them. Last year I rebuilt a Perkins out of a Massey Ferguson, I noticed the same part number on the pistons as ones in an engine from a Cat machine.

TractorDanD2 wrote:

The days of a pure cat machine are long gone. My 428 backhoe was nicknamed a Catekinks by one of the parts guys. The only thing Cat is the 5P8500 key and the paint. Perkins engine, Spicer Transmission, Ford rear axle, ZF front axle, Case-New Holland hydraulics. The D5C has a Mitsubishi engine, the transmission has made in Japan molded into the case. Thankfully my D2's remind me of a Caterpillar

thats what id call a hienz.
hj hienz and co famous for there 57 varieties of canned suaces and soups.

gauntjoh wrote:

Perkins (based in Peterborough UK) was founded in 1932 and just made / make engines. They supplied engines to many manufacturers of lorries (Trucks in the US), busses, vans, tractors and some cars. They supplied engines all around the world and established a worldwide dealership and parts network. That will be why there are separate dealers for Perkins. Caterpillar acquired Perkins in 1998 or thereabouts.

they made engines for many brands such as ford/mazda and massey-fergueson owned perkins for many years. they were a long time supplier to cat before cat bought the company and cat equipment to this day still has perkins engines. it allowed cat to simplify production and specialise in making the machine itself the power plant doesnt really matter aslong as it can produce the hp and torque required and is reliable who cares what brand is on it.
its the same reason most prime movers have a choice of engines

it was perkins that developed the high speed diesel engine that made diesel fueled cars and trucks a reality.

when it came out years ago that Rolls Royce was using Chevrolet made engines and borg-warner transmission and diffs the company said we are coach builders and don't have the expertise or inclination to make those parts. Rolls Royce engines is a different company.

Ok, lets get back to the tooling being scrapped! Any members in that area need to check with area scrap yards!!!!!!!!! even some farther away from that dealer!!!

That's criminal if there binning Cat tooling that people on this site could use, a lot of people were complaining about the Cat dealers in the U.K. The other year, poor service etc etc, the worst thing for me is to order Cat parts from my dealer and the box says made in China!!! They've caused us all enough grief without having to buy there shit.