I think George would be Very proud of you getting that old Dozer going. I hope the family will do good bye it. I didn't know him . Only a good hearted Cat Skinner/ Dozer operator would care so much.😁
It is the first time I have seen a startup video of a Caterpillar (1951) D8 that is in that exceptionally good condition. Even through my own experience with old Cats, there was always something that was on it's way out. My family was part of the Alaska Highway post construction and there were a lot of Caterpillar surplus equipment scattered throughout the North Peace River Country. That one is brand new as the under carriage, track rails and rollers show no signs of wear. The main diesel engine doesn't even smoke. What a prize, sir.
What a beast! This is exactly what I remember as a "Very Big" bulldozer from my childhood; a regular dozer was a D4 and the "Big" dozer was a D6. If you were lucky, you'd see a very big dozer pulling a pay-scraper. Happy memories, as when the driver took a smoko, he'd not tell little boys full of questions, to go away. Try that these days. Col, NZ
Great job bringing it back to Life…if one has the patience and admiration for these remarkable machines, you can go a very long way with such sturdy engineering, regardless of modern day progress. Imagine 1951?!? Helluva accolade for Cat…👊🔥⁉️(thanks for sharing, it is a real journey over time past. GREAT to see, thanks again!)
Sometimes with the ponymotor it's easier to just shut the fuel off to the carb bowl and let it run dry to shut off if the kill switch doesn't do the trick. Otherwise that is a very fine piece of kit for sure.
That’s fantastic that you took that on! We had an old cable rigged D6 when I was a kid. I can see that it’s got the other points on the blade bar, so you can set pitch on the blade! I don’t remember if ours had that or not. I ran a smaller komatsu that had that, it’s great when you’re cutting roads in a hill side! Ours had a pony motor too! What a beast that was to start! Thanks for taking me back to my childhood! 💪💪🙌🤟🤙👍👍👍
I love this video my buddy has a truck and equipment shop and a old guy had his equipment parked at the shop for years then he passed away and the equipment sat forever then it came time to sell it his son asked us to get it all running and we had a piece of equipment was just like what u got and we did a drag start because the pony motor did run and we were waiting on parts but it worked out great ...it took days but we got it all up and running before the bids started...I can feel your pain but great job
I've seen mechanics including family run from wasps and Bees for the oiler truck or any truck . Glad you got a Bee keeper buddy . I love Honey and the Bee's that make it. Nobody likes getting stung . Like I said sometimes it a worth waiting for including the winter . Sometimes it's go get it or loose it.
I drove a RD 8 cable machine in the fifties, it was about twenty plus years of age, or about ten plus more than me. I built roads to our mine with it and pulled huge logs with it. Seen some old cars and trucks on the place??? any chance that your going to save one?
Great stuff. Not a situations allow for it because some people just want things gone out of the way. My buddies Grandpa said if it's been sitting. Lube it before you try to move it. You came out pretty good. 👍
That is what I figure as well. Could be a sticky valve. Good thing the big engine starts easy, otherwise that little pony is going to wear out soon on 1.5 cylinders. Starting in cold weather might be a different story. Be nice to see a video of a tuneup on the pony engine. This guys knows the correct starting procedure well. I watched a couple other videos just before this one, plus a lot of others. A lot try to start with the diesel throttle half open right away. Then they end up having to hold the pinion engaged to stop it from kicking out. Sad to see these old girls being abused like that. They will wear out and break. Used parts are getting hard to find, let alone new ones which is almost impossible. Very nice to see when someone knows how to start them correctly.
Enjoyed the video, really like the old style dozers not the high tracks now days. What you have is a real dozer, bet you can't find a dozen pieces of plastic on it. Let one of those new high tracks sit for 20 or 30 years and you would have to buy a whole new computer to run it. You have a real jewel.
Run a high track D6 on a mountainside full of big stumps, slick it right down to rock to prep for the rock drill, and tell me again how you don't like a high track Cat!!
FYI: As a rule the pony motors exhaust pipe run through the middle of the intake manifold of the main engine. So when you allow the pony to warm up its also preheat the intake manifold. So when you engage the main engine warm air Is drawn into the engine helping it to start. Plus since the pony is 2stroke you don't get blow by stripping oil off the cylinder walls.
I was told as a youngster that you had to let the oil pressure build up on the big engine before you thew the compression lever...so I asked how did that work on an electric start engine?...never heard about it again
man this video would of been so much better if you had of had the camera showing the big engine exhaust when it was starting for the first time ffs? and then you started it the second time and didn't show it again, wtf?
