Cat 212 Grader, WAR ISSUED!

Ohhh check it out! A fried of mine sent this picture to me and asked me if I wanted it... I don't really know a lot about it, were they good machines? He says that it is a 1941 or 42, and that it has all of the brass plates saying that it was ordered and sold to the USA for the Army.

I think it runs and drives, and functions correctly... Looks to be in really good shape! I think I could get it for scrap price!

Would I be able to get parts for it?

What do you think it weighs?

What do you think the engine is?

I am a little excited, going to look at it some time S O O N!! Bryce

It appears to have the horizontal starting engine, or it looks like the head and spark plug, possibly the same engine as the D6 ? or D4? I'm not that well versed in the motor graders, You should get the serial number off it, will be easier to get more specifics, obviously a 212 model !

It has the scarifier, nice for breaking up compacted material for grading, nice for dirt roads, snow clearing to an extent.

If those tires are good, not a bad find or would appear to be, theres your road maintainer, think you said you snow plow locally. They can be handy, may not see a lot of use over time unless used by a contractor.

You'll learn a valuable skill grading with one of those, I ran a much later 12 series, occasionally, going way back, interesting to watch one operated by skilled or experience hands.

Obviously you have ACMOC and ACME antique caterpillar forums, excellent resources for these.

Looks to be in decent shape, really hard to tell, some photos of the brass tags, I have one on my D7 that says "corps of engineers" has the serial number of the tractor, and other nomenclature.

Nice find. If you have any length of gravel driveway or road to maintain, it will be a very handy machine.

Don't know about parts. But on the other hand Cat is pretty good about supporting older stuff.

Rick

I put quite a few hours on one of those knuckle busters. The pony motors can be real pain. Cat has a 'classic' line of parts.

If it runs and works and you can get it that cheap, GET IT! If you were in Michigan I would gladly take it if you don't!

Looks like a good find if the price is right!! Wonder why it got parked? Could cost a chunk of $$$$ if tires, bearings, engine, ect have problems. Would be a fun toy!!

I've got one sitting at the shop now that belongs to a customer. He started going through it, or we started going through it for him, about 7 years ago, before the bottom fell out of everything, and he didn't have the money to complete it. The engine is a D333, which is a pretty good engine. His was rebuilt, and converted to electric start. It's been awhile, and my dad did most of the work back then, but if I remember correctly it takes a starter with a pull in -vs- kick out bendix, and the flywheel housing has to be modified a little to make it fit. In the end though the cost to do that was less than the cost to get the pony motor working properly.

Machine wise they are supposed to be pretty good, IF you can keep all of the clutches, and linkage in adjustment for all the controls. If things get out of whack, like another post said, they can be real knuckle busters when one of the control levers decides to kick back at you.

If the price is right, it ought to be a nice little machine to play with as it can do a lot of work. Good luck.

Biggest deal with the starting engines, or from what I have experienced with them, is people don't take good care of them, all of them like plenty of fuel, good spark, good compression, so if its maintained in good tune, at least with the vertical type, you can easily start them with a hand crank. Check out the old D7 1T below, (oddly enough, with that serial number it was a rare armored model during WWII). At about 1:36 in. he hand cranks the starting engine. Mine used to start the same way couple of turns with the hand crank. This particular one is in nice operating condition, runs as it should and everything works like it should, the sound of the D8800 with a straight pipe is something you don't hear much today !

On the 212, I found one video, showing what one should sound and or run like.

****Now I realize you and many here more than likely have experienced these starting engines, so I post for Bryce's benefit mostly LOL !****

Sure as heck, a poorly operating starting engine can and will be a real pain and be frustrating without any doubt.

Where he lives, I'd prefer a starting engine over direct electric start. Keep it in top operating condition, it will allow that diesel plenty of time to spin, warm up, oil pressure/oil circulation, warm the coolant, condition the motor to start easily in low temperatures provide its in decent operating condition.

Direct electric start can and will be a pain unless maintained, and may require a snort of the evil spray LOL ! I hate the stuff, but know if used in small doses properly, its ok, still don't like it much. it will cost to convert one over and you will never have the crank time to spin the diesel like a starting engine.

Definitely can be a knuckle buster, a friend in the paving business had one of these for snow removal.

These things are good to know before hand, reliable and durable old machines.

With the age of those starting engines the metal fuel tanks rust, the sediment bowls clog quickly from rust particles, the magneto's may require work, spark advance, and similar, can make them a beast to fight with, best to go through it, and take good care of it, be wary of oil contaminated oil, and keep the oil in them changed being splash lubricated. Be cognizant that the diesel on some of these, needs to spin to cool the starting engine, and its wise to run the carb bowl dry, close the valve on the sediment bowl to avoid any leak down into the crank case, not sure why some of them do this, something in those old carburetors.
212 Starting Engine

D7 1T

There is a oil-field contractor near by that use to run them. Just the right size to haul and work (Lease roads) But there is one gear in the final drive that wears out. He says is impossible to find. He went to newer ones a few years ago.

A 212 would have a D2 engine, 112 (I had one of these) will have a D4 engine and a 12 has the D6 engine. The model number of the engine is variable by the year of the machine.

DWF

Back in my college years, 1963, I worked in a small machine shop. I ran an old #2 Milwaukee horizontal milling machine that had a metal tag on it that said "manufacture of this machine was approved by the war production board" or something like that. Old machine was older than me, but still did the job.

I have to laugh at the coincidence. I just posted above that a friend of mine has a similar Caterpillar grader he is trying to sell. I scrolled down and saw this. I think his may be a bit bigger and it runs. Yours for $2000. Why not have two?

I don't know anything about crawlers. But there are three Cats not far from here. Just by the looks I'd say WWII or even earlier. Love to have one.

Wow! that's a piece of history -- hard to beat them old Cat's - grab it before the scrap man does.

Larry in Ont.

The 212 had two different engines both from D2's, that one, which is a 1R, uses a D3400 engine later models used a D311 engine. The D3400 is tough to get parts for. The maintainers were great for municipalities and after the war most went to small towns. I myself have a 212 (1R). I do need to find parts so if you don't decide to get it I would be interested in it. If you do get it I can help on issues you may run into.

CMD