I usually 'hate' music with video like this, BUT this music is perfectly matched and silenced when it was more important to hear this wonderful old diesel purr to life. And besides that I LOVE military music. It's good for the heart !
Thanks for in information and the memories, so many, not all good. I remember that the pony motor used to like to shake itself off the side of the engine. Never could get the carburetor to work and ended up putting a carb off a chev 235, which did work. But at least we kept the old D-7 going until it was finally sold to a collector. Thanks much.
Yep Had a Cable D8 Started it up and left it running all day!! It sure did the job hehe I was just a kid my dad bought it and I cleared 11 acres for our new garage in 1960!! Thanks for bringing back good times for me!! ...Jimmy...
Loved it. I just experienced road building off the Normandy beaches! Very much like a diesel powered time machine. I always thought the starting motor on these larger cats were called, "Donkey ' motors. Pony was applied to D2's and D4's. I had a D2's some years ago. When I was a young teen the family had 2 D4's, we operated a saw mill and they were used for skidding logs, they had wider tracks for boggy areas. I just love all the old CATs! especially the cable machines! Thanks for the trip back in time.
That WWII Caterpillar D-7 'sucka' is in great shape ~ looks awesome too. Thanks VETS for all your dedicated and selfless service when you were asked to protect and defend the USA. Right on!!!
I used to operate a 1961 d7E. The pony engine was electric start and hard to get going. Pull lever to engage the flywheel on the main engine. Big 4 cylinder engine with 6 inch bore and two heads in line. Enough metal in each head to make a 350 chevy block. A real monster. 2000 rpm max. Clutch lever on the left, forward reverse lever, gears 1 thru 5, blade up down and tilt, rippers up down all on the right. Two brakes, two differential levers and a kickdown pedal. At the end of the shift you were DONE.
My Granddad told me WW II stories years ago about clearing snow off Army runways in Greenland with Caterpillar road graders and pushing it to the side with these D7 dozers. Built/carved them into the side of mountains
Brings back memories.. Trained on this at Ft. Leonard Wood in 1967. That pony engine will break your thumbs if the crank doesn't dis-engage and you're holding it wrong. In Vietnam worked with the then current model of Cat D-7.
When in mechanics school had a Viet Era D9 with pony, it would do the exact same thing! Had to be careful. Magneto bit me once, almost fell off the tracks! HA! The pony started easy, would let it warm up good then rev up and engage the clutch to the main engine. First time I did this instructor was standing there nodding his head giving me encouragement, (I had watched the movie Kill Dozer so I was just a leeetle scared), but when that big D9 fired up..dang. And had to be so quick to disengage the pony so it didn't over-rev. Ohhh the memories of busted knuckles, being up to my ass in mud, freezing said ass in the rain and mud...diesel in busted knuckle-cuts is the worst. :)
True, but actually the intent at that time was for the gasoline pony motor to run long enough to bring the diesel engine up to near operating temperature before starting it. The pony would rotate the large engine in a kind of no compression mode so that warm water circulated and oil pressure was up before starting it. I had a d-7 in 1982, and I hated that pony motor. Mine cranked from a hole in the top cover near the large exhaust pipe. Blade wench was mounted on the front, behind the blade
dalecs47 a pony mother was not designed to crank the big heavy diesel for 20 minutes to warm it up unless you put a5 gallon gas tank on it, On a 36A D8 in the rocky mountains in Sealy Lake Montana in January when the temperature is 10 degree below I have only cranked the big engine for 5 minutes and it started just fine, Thank you for letting me voice my experiences:
Sounds like you had a 3T model, dale. The one in the video appears to be a 7m. The fun part of cranking the pony motor on a 7m was the low mount crank port. If the pony motor 'kicked' and they would occasionally do that, it would jerk your hand back against the track if you weren't careful.
War isn't all horror. Well, WAR is, but being in the service is definitely not. There's a camaraderie that living in danger develops that most of us will never understand fully. This can definitely extend to the machinery as well. Men in particular develop sentimental attachments to machines that have served us well, especially when they're awesome in their own right. All that to say, I do understand. :D
I like the guy who shows up in the middle of a field full of knee deep weeds wearing shorts and flip flops...then strikes a pose. You can tell he's going to be a lot of help!
My Father = Still with us was in the Army Corps of Engineers During Korean War. They were sent to England From Cal. soon as it started. Their first orders were to go to Korea but we're changed at last moment. He Ran D-8 Cat Dozier's with 1hp Brigs & Stratton Pony I feel certain this would be that same Pony as these D-7 preceded them. D-8 was Biggest of Cat Dozier's during Korea. Also ran Pans & Graders Ect They Built Runways in England. He will enjoy this Video. He has told many stories about freezing Temps & starting these ponies & hard to start Diesel Engines. Tracks Frozen to the ground. & He lost end of his toe 1 Frozen Morning in a Accident. A tree stump that he was asked to dig up & so many others.
I was thinking the same thing. Out of all the place they could point the pony motor exhaust it's right at the operator trying to start the thing. Haha.
My 1st job for a concrete block co. we had one exactly like this. (still in Army green) That was in 73', We used it for pushing sand, & aggregate piles as well as plowing snow when it got deep. My boss had plans of mounting a small jet motor he purchased from Sikorsky Helicopter. Wanted to mount it where the blade was so he could melt snow between the rows of block.. It never happened but I knew he was a crazy fkr when I heard that. LOL
Esse tipo de partida desses tratores, é um perigo quando não está bem regulado. Interessante também é o direcionamento dos gazes do escapamento do motor a gasolina que joga toda fumaça na cara do operador. Natal, RN-Brasil
+Guy Van Brussel that pony motor runs at 5700 rpm.the water jacket from the pony runs into the one on the 4 cyl.on a cold morning ,you could pull the starter in and run off and let the big motor crank,with the fuel off and compression lever down.
+Lee Watkins Yep, and then you get back and the diesel's warmed up and ready. Close the decompressor and turn on the fuel and it starts almost instantly.
My grandpa hit the Normandy beach on D Day on a cat d8 with the Corps of Engineers.Soldiers still pinned down got behind the dozer!!also had to bury concentration camp victims!
Daddy had a RD-8 from the '30s, serial # was like 2006 I think ( I was around 12). The pony was cranked from the front,you had to climb over the blade to get to it. Also the pony had a common water jacket with the diesel. In the winter, start the pony and let it run a couple minutes. Next put pony tranny in low and turn the diesel over for about 5 minutes to get oil loosened up. Next was put pony in high gear and the compression release half way,( it had 3 settings 0-1/2- full). Let it run another couple minutes until water temp started moving up,throw comp to full, throw the fuel lever on and it was running on the first revolution. We had a Letourneau cable pan from a D-7 on it. That would give you a workout!
Caterpillar by name & nature, called the Slug, what a piece of crap! Pony motor!? Allis Chalmers HD-7 WW2 equivalent from mid 30's had 12v electric start on the sweetest sounding 3cyl GM 2 stroke diesel , with......... Full Hydraulics... yep! Blade & rippers. meanwhile the Slug didn't get any of those until mid 1960's
HarryAirborne Longevity is the word, Caterpillar didn't overpower their machines to prevent self-destruction, nearly all other machines were overpowered and spun the growzers off the tracks, took out final drives and clutches and transmissions while the Caterpillar (the guys who wrote the book ) kept running and running. The standard sales pitch for Allis and International was "as good as a D-8 , D-4 whatever".
y agree if a couple starter and the pony may be available, the pony may run a lot of minutes without battery compromise. and if one of those fails,the other is available
![Starting a WWII Caterpillar D-7 [1080p HD]](/img/logo.svg){kind=logo}
