Dad bought a used 5 U series D 2 in about 1959 or 1960 and it has been on the farm ever since. The Cat was equipped with a Holt straight blade, which was common on small farm crawler in western Oregon. In the last 10 years or so the D 2 hasn't been used much, and it hasn't even been started in the last 4 and a half years.

Dad passed away last July. My brother and I thought we would get the old Cat running and do some work around the place with it. The pony motor would start easy and run good, but the diesel engine would only hit on one cylinder. I took the cover plate off the injector pump to be sure the pumps were not sticking and that the governor linkage was working. Then I bled the tower and injector lines. I did get a little air out of one or two of the injector lines. Then, last Feb. my brother was helping me and we got the diesel engine running, and it sounded good. The steering clutches seemed to work fine, so we began servicing the old Cat to get it ready to do a little work.

We had some fir trees that blew down in a wind storm last Dec. that we wanted to salvage for logs, so the first job for the Cat was a small logging project. I haven't posted any photos on the new bulletin board, but I will try to post a few pictures of the old D 2 working.

Those are some great pictures......and the Cat a tribute to your Dad. Those scenes are timeless. Thanks for posting.

VM,

Thanks for posting the pictures of your 5U, is that a PTO shaft on the rear of the tractor?

David

That little D2 sure can move those logs. Wonderful to see it active and healthy like a little tractor should be. Back East, where the stands of timber grow close (unlike here in the more open forests of the Rockies), D2s were used for logging because they could get between the old-growth trees. I understand that in the west larger tractors were often used. GWH

David,

Yes, the crawler has a PTO shaft. It was equipped for a farm crawler, not a logging Cat. We have about 25 ac. of timber on our farm. When dad first bought the D 2, we used it both for field work and blade work, cleaning fence rows, etc. and for thinning the timber. Now it is mostly used for blade work.

GWH

You are right, most of the logging crawlers out here are big. Our D 2 is just a farm crawler and is not armoured for logging, and doesn't have a winch. We just have to be careful not to get brush and limbs around the engine, and be pull logs from the drawbar. We cut shorter logs in thinning our stand of timber and the little Cat does OK. The pictures were all taken the last of March and first week in April this year. Here is another pictue of about all the log the little Cat could pull - this log was about 3 and a half feet on the butt and 17' long.

Great pictures and must be great memories for you captured on film.

Great set of pictures

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and looks like an extremely well cared for D2.

Real interesting to see the little D2 performing those "mansize" jobs working in the woods

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my parts tractor (1956 model) was a logging tractor out of south Mississippi. Don't believe it was cared for quite like your's has been.

You boys continue the care----looks like its got alot of life left in it. Bet there's an old man upstairs that's smiling all over. Good luck!!!

Delta Dirt

VM, looks like there is plenty of fire left in the Cat. That last pix looks like a full load pull. I'm thinking there must be a way to use that PTO to run a logging arch winch. Good going!!