[Vwdiesel] crawlers was winter fronts

[Harmon Seaver]

On Mon, Feb 17, 2003 at 08:42:55PM -0600, James Hansen wrote:
> >    I'd really like to get a crawler again, at least a small one,
> > just for the
> > heck of it. Something like an OC-4 diesel or maybe one of the
> > older JD diesels
> > like a 2010 or 440.
>
> Well, you would be better off with a D4 if that's the size you want, or find
> a later generation Dresser,

    I think a Cat D4 is a good bit bigger than an Oliver OC-4, isn't it? Plus
I'm really only pretty much interested in fairly antique crawlers at this
point. Don't plan to do any real work with it, maybe haul some firewood or push
a little dirt, build ponds, etc. BTW, here's a really neat looking OC-4, never
seen a setup like this, but it looks slick.

http://www.cletrac.org/media/pictures/OC4pics/OC-4_pg10.jpg


> Tough as nails final drives- all planetaries,
> but hard to find.  I rebuilt a D6B 44A, have to call it a labor of love,
> took two winters to complete, did finals, undercarriage (20 lbs of mig wire
> later), transmission, starting engine. It's in good shape now, and I got it
> cheap enough... but you have to be able to wrench on the big stuff yourself,
> and have a good jobber parts source.

   That's for sure. Not to mention the fun of losing a track in a mudhole. I
slid off a culvert once with one of my TD-9's and ended up in a beaver
pond. Took me over a week to get it out since there wasn't anything even
remotely close enough to hook the winch to. I should have just paid somebody to
haul another machine out there and pull it out.


> I've ran a 440 JD, it was weak
> compared to a good D4,

   For sure. But then, as you said, Cats aren't cheap. The old JD's and Olivers
are more of hobby thing now. Although a small crawler can do amazing things. I
worked one Summer harvesting sphagnum moss in a swamp. We had an Oliver OC-3
with oak 2X4's about 2' long bolted onto each track pad to extend the
floatation. Sure looked funny driving that thing around this big marsh right out
in open water -- looked like it was floating on a lake. Pulled a big wood float
behind it that we piled the moss on as we raked it up. A bigger tractor would
have just sunk into the moss too deep to run.


> and the steering clutches were a weak point compared
> to others. Dunno the 2010 at all.  A Dresser in reasonable shape would be a
> good score, but they don't usually come up for sale too often, just like
> good volks diesels.
>
>
> Down here in farm country, however, they want
> > ridiculous
> > prices for crawlers, often 2-3 times as much as what they sell for in the
> > northwoods. Scarcity, I guess.
>
> The small stuff is in demand certainly- good corral cleaning equipment in
> smaller sizes, especially the traxcavators with a grapple.  It's the same
> story here.  To buy my D6 in good running order, It would have cost
> 15-18000, and "rebuilt" (can mean anything really) is more like 25000. I
> found this one for 4000, and installed about 4500 of new parts.
>
> Heh.  My dog won't allow me to have the furry kind of cat on the yard, just
> the iron ones. They run or get eaten, and she refuses to mend her ways.
> Would like to have four legged mouse control staff, but it just doesn't
> work. Without the dog, two legged rodents carry too much stuff away, so I'll
> take the dog for now.

    I've always had dogs too -- got two right now, but used to have a sled team
up in MN. Would like to again just for ice fishing. I've only had one dog that
hurt cats, a doberman that someone gave us. She killed my daughters kitten and
was rewarded with a .41 slug thru the head. I had a big Airedale that was pretty
cranky with strangers, even bit me when I played rough with him, but he loved
cats, and they him, they'd sleep snuggled up to him. And the Airedale bitch I've
got now is really aggressive with other dogs, starts fights constantly, but
seems to like most cats pretty well. And the other dog likes cats so much he's
always slobbering them all up.

--
Harmon Seaver
CyberShamanix
http://www.cybershamanix.com