Now that I might have found a pony motor for my D8 13A, my problems are getting worse.

When the pony motor gave out, I was working clearing stumps on some bottom ground. Well, last weekend, the area got between 8 and 12 inches of rain in about 36 hours and of course there was nowhere for all that water to go except into the bottom of the valleys.

So now the old D8 is under 9 feet of water.

What chance is there of ever getting it running again? Has anyone restored a machine that went through a flood?

Would I be better off just calling the scrap man and cutting my losses? I'm not sure how I could even get the machine from where it is to the shop.

All I can do right now is stare at the water and scratch my head.

Let me know if anyone has advice for me.

--baanhuus

Bad luck!

If the water will go down fast, get right on it, and let it all out of the compartments of the machine, tanks etc. Replace with fresh fluids when you can or at least let it drain and dry thoroughly, but rust will be getting the jump on you if you delay. I expect you will need the pony or electric start to get it cranked up and circulate the oils around and get the thing hot enough to drive off all the moisture. You might still have silt and mud to be removed later when you can get clean water to the machine.

If it stays a swamp, you might be stuck .

One of my D4's (known as "Smokey Joe") was submerged for about a month. It's not the water that's the problem, it's the sediment that comes with it. Multiple diesel oil flushings and fluid changes pretty much took care of the problem except the rings never recovered. It's still patiently waiting for a ring change. Shame to as otherwise it is in great condition.

A neighbor of mine bought a D9G that had been in a flooded gravel pit. There was nothing showing but the ROPS roof & the rain cap when they found it. It belonged to Lowdermilk or Kiewit, one of those big co's, when they were building I-70. I don't remember any more. He bought it for scrap iron price, drained & flushed everything, & ran it for years, wore out 2 or 3 sets of rails. He said it made him more money than any Cat he ever owned, & he probably had 15-20 over the years, building roads & locations for the oil patch. So I wouldn't be scared of it, get it out as soon as you can, & get all the compartments drained & flushed.
Ron in CO...

These are all good susgestions. It is up to you if you want to try and save it. I run thrugh this from time to time as part of my job is to inspect damaged vehicles that have been flooded. Get those fluids changed andsee if you can get it started. Once warmed up change the oil again and maybe a third time.
I take it that the machine might be in Vernon, Richland or Crawford Counties as they seem to be hit the hardest here in the state. I will be up that way looking at vehicles later this week. even if we iknow the vehicle is going to be a total, we still have the fluids changed as it helps boost the salvage value to a parts yard.

Looks like one for the KoO.
And from this end of the country, What is rain?

water is not a big problem, just drain it our and get the machine going again.
i have a few cats that have gone swimming, LOL

kingofobsolete.ca/d6_9u_the_hood_webpage.htm

thansk

tw
Yes, I'm in Vernon county. If you're up this way, you will probably see folks with worse problems than mine. It is quite a mess in some areas.

Thanks for the comments everyone--maybe the old D8 isn't done for after all. I really wasn't looking for another project right now, but I guess maybe I have one. It's kinda hard to be optimistic when all you can see is brown water flowing where the machine was parked.

Last month in the U.K. it rained only 2 times , the first time it was for 11 days ,the next time for 18 days, so you would not be the only person looking over a tractor taking a good wash, the impotant thing to do is (as already posted) get about the old bird as soon as the water drops low enough to get to the old banger,the first thing to do is drain the sump of the engine, then with the sump still draining, set about slowly turning over the engine/s ,the best way to do this is by setting the exhaust valves open about 1 1/2 turns on the adjusters, or setting the motor on de-compress/start, about 3 full turns with a bar by hand should set the engines ready for a spin by batt/hand start,this is a great time to fill the sump/s with fresh oil, lets hope things work out good for you,dont forget to re-set the valves after you have spun the motor over with power.
tctractors

Oil floats on water. Don't turn it even a little bit until all the water is drained out from under the oil. I wouldn't turn it even then without first puting an air-pressure oiler onto the main oil gallery and forcing clean oil out through the bearings. Then roll it backward so the oil pump will backfeed the fresh oil out through the pickup screen. Then a good pan flush (remember the small sumps front and back) and the engine should be reasonably clean, considering all.

Good luck. At least you have a very durable machine to start with. And I agree with the others; whatever you do get at it PDQ.

Jack