Cat D-4 operation

I'm interested in buying a 1949 D-4 with hydraulics that's for sale, but haven't operated it yet, and am unfamiliar with some of the controls.

Any advice on checking out this machine would be appreciated very much!

tinytec

This D-4 looks almost to good to be true for a 1949 machine - hardly any visible outside wear, tracks are tight, blade in great shape, seat looks hardly used, not much oil and grease residue around, tranny oil level is near "Low", fan belt and starter belt both very loose though. The paint and decals look almost new so it"s either a repaint or has been kept inside for 50+ years.

Hours are very low but I forgot to take a reading. Haven"t been able to get together with the owner to run it so I"m trying to be prepared in what to look out for.

tinytec

I forgot to mention the $5700 price, which I thought was high, but OK if the machine is as good inside as it is on the outside.

tinytec

It has 5678 hours on the meter but I find it very unlikely to be actual for a machine made 58 years ago. It's been repainted, decals are almost new, and all the zerk openings are plugged from the re-paint job.

There is about 1/16" end play on the pony flywheel and no noticeable bearing slop. Brake pedals feel good and have only about 1" free down movement. Diesel engine oil seems to feel heavy for engine oil.

Gas tank for pony is not mounted any place - just hangs in space by the 1/4" fuel line. I don't even see where it should be bolted down.

Most of the bushings in the various control levers have very little wear which would indicate the machine has had very little use. In comparison my old 1951 D-8 levers and most bushings were wore so bad your could move the levers sideways as much as back and forth - well, not quite as much . The D-8 brake pedals moved almost to the bottom of ~6" travel before having any braking effect.

I wanted to check the oil levels in the D-4 hydraulic reservoir and rear main drives but couldn't see how to check them. There were fill caps but no oil in sight.

I finally meet the owner tomorrow (Friday) morning to start up and run this D-4 for its first time since before winter. Weather forecasts temperatures in the 15° to 25° range so that will be a good time to see how it works.

tinytec

"You should see oil at the final drive fill plugs."
>>>>>No oil is visible and the dip stick had oil only touching the bottom 1/4".

"There is no level check for the #44 hydraulic unit other than peering down the fill pipe."
>>>>>No oil visible even with a flashlight.

"The pony fuel tank mounts to the carburetor/oil fill vent cross over pipe and the pony air cleaner. Something seems amiss here."
>>>>>>The tank was dismounted so it could be kept below the carbureter level. If held above the carb. would overflow and gas run out through the bowl gasket. Apparently the float needs work. We held the tank high just long enough to get the pony started.

"Good luck with your run check"
>>>>>Thank you!!! Overall the machine is superb. Everything worked fine. Both engines sounded great. The pony fired right up after sitting through several winter months.

>>>>>Can you tell me what oil to add to the hydraulic system? I assume regular gear oil is OK for the Tranny and main rear drives? As for both engine crankcases, do you think 20W-40 is OK?

>>>>In my previous D-8 I added High Detergent 10W-30 oil and it started leaking oil through the rear main like crazy! I had to add almost a qt. after every other start cycle.

The D-4 should get moved to my property next week, then I'll give her a complete lube job and put'er to work.

tinytec (in upstate New York)

Had a terrible time starting the pony engine because of the carb problem and the unmounted gas tank (needed at least 4 hands).

Both rear main drives were low on oil but one side took a lot more than the other. Oil ran out from under the track but I did not try to find from where at this time.

The hydraulic reservoir was also low and took quite a bit of oil. I had some general purpose hydraulic oil so used that. Noticed a white foam on top of the oil in the filler pipe (water?), also looks like some fluid is coming out from behind the lower right front side of the radiator guard.

The diesel engine sounds good and seems to be OK.

Removed the carbureter top portion and found that it probably needs only cleaning and proper assembly.

Moved a lot of dirt and did some creek work.

So, thank you again for all your most-valued help. I really appreciate all of it.

tinytec

"The items you found are pretty minor..... .unless either the finals or the #44 unit is out of oil.
I run straight 30wt heavy duty detergent oil in the engine, same is called for in the hydraulic unit. (I'm in Ca. for NY cold weather a lower viscosity in the winter would be advised)
Regular 90 wt gear oil in trans/bevel gear.
90 wt is ok for the finals but I run a much heavier oil for mine."
>>>>>>>Thanks for the oil info. I let all my reference manuals go with the D-8, thinking I'd never need them again.

"Float and needle/seat problems are pretty common with that carb. Parts are still available"
>>>>>>It's certainly easy to get at when the hood is off.

"Meant to ask you....where in upstate NY. I'm a long ago displaced native from Montreal....actually Dorval. Our family used to escape to upstate New York a lot in the summertime."
>>>>>>I live in Vestal which is between Owego and Binghamton. Other nearby cities are Endicott and Johnson City. We're about 70 miles south of Syracuse. If you have the free Google Earth Satellite program set up on your computer you can home in on the satellite view of the farm land where I grew up. It's about 7 miles west of where I live.

At the following coordinates you can look down on the D-8 and a vintage Thew/Lorain Shovel that I sold 2 years ago.

42°04'49.86"N
76°07'35.92"W

The image is dated 2007 so it's somewhat out-of-date. The D-4 will be used to do grading in that same area. Too bad the Google images aren't live!!

tinytec