my uncle has a 1940's era d4 dozer with petrol donkey motor to start the main engine as it has not been started for at least 20 years as it's stored inside the shed is there any special things i need to know before i try to start it.

tact plate on the back has U S 7 i would take that as beening with the seabee's in ww2 was it common for them to have hydraulic's fitted and also has a rop's fitted to the cabin during the war or was this fitted after the war also he has the corp of army engineers hand book for the machine.

as this dozer has a couple owners over it life time since ww2 after the war the victorian railways bought it and then sold it on to a local earthmoving contractor and then my uncles.

i would like to getting going

new member



ian

Where are you located Plantie, I'm assuming in Victoria, Australia when you mention the Victorian Railways, there are a lot of those old D4's floating around Oz. First thing you will want to do is check for water in the various oil compartments, like motors, gearbox and final drives, I usually drain the engine oil and replace it with fresh oil before trying to fire up a old Cat that has sat for a long time, all the old sludge has usually settled to the bottom of the sump.

Getting the pilot motor fired up will be your biggest challenge I reckon, but you might be lucky. Best advice I can give you is go at it slowly, don't rush, because getting a motor fired up is often easy, getting it stopped can sometimes be hard, and you need to be 110% certain you have good oil flow and pressure on the main motor before firing her up.
regards
Mike

what you have said about trying to get motor shut down i think they had a very hard time trying to do that once. they where lucky to get a couple spare parts for the machine back in the 80's when eildon weir was down low as someone had stripped somew parts off the old d9 that was left in the weir they brought a junk box in a clearing sales years ago and it had a cat number on it when they check with willian adams i think they said it was off those dumped dozers but the part fitted there little d4.

thanks for the info

ian

Welcome Plantie. Post some pics if you can.

I agree with mike. Clean the old oil out. In fact if you are gonna get serious i would drop the whole oil pan and scrape the 2 inches of sludge you are likely to find there.

If you have the means, just put some fresh diesel/oil in and pull start her it. New diesel filters are available from william adams. should be reasonable.

You'll find plenty of threads here on acmoc dedicated to the fine art of running pony motors.

As for shuting it down. loosen off the pre-cleaner on top of the main air filter. if it over runs you can then take the pre cleaner off and whack a piece of ply over the intake to shut it down.

good luck

again, Welcome.

steve

A word about the pony engine, or what you refer to as the petrol donkey motor. Starting with the gas (petrol) tank, you need to inspect it to see if it is rusty on the inside. If you see a lot of rust you will need to clean the interior of the tank by removing it, removing the rust and scale, and if possible re-sealing the tank with one of the POR products or equivalent. Once you can ensure you have clean gas that will flow out you need to make sure the metal gas lines that run from the tank to the pony carburetor are clean of rust and debris, including the gas strainer. After this, you will most likely have to dis-assemble the carburetor and verify the inner passages and jets are not clogged and that the float operates properly. There are discussions out here on ACMOC that explain the process. Once you verify you have clean gas available for the pony enigine you can drain the old oil in the pony and re-fill it. Then make sure that the radiator is topped up and the pony engine clutch to the main engine is disengaged. Now you can pull a spark plug or two and verify you have spark by grounding the plug against the pony block while cranking the engine with the pulley rope. If all looks well I'd give a squirt of ether into the plug holes, re-install the plugs, and after pulling out the choke and throttle cables, give the pulley rope a a good hard crank. If all goes well (and you have decent compression) you should hear the pony engine roar into life. Don't race the engine while it is warming up! You will probably have to play with the choke and throttle positions as the pony warms up.

Once you get the pony running good, it will heat the main engine via the shared radiator. This will probably take a few minutes. You will need to ensure the main engine has its oil topped up (new oil is good!) and clean deisel in the main engine's tank before you tackle starting the main engine. You may be able to tow start the main engine to get it going, but in my experience that only works by spraying ether into the air intake, and I just don't like doing that if I can avoid it. I'm not sure if you are familiar with how to warm up the main engine with the pony and then start it, but there are discussions on how to do that out here on ACMOC if you do a search.

Good luck and let us know how it turns out!

Hi plantie,
welcome to the BB.
The boys have given you a good run down of what to check etc.
Do not be fooled by the apparent clean oil on the dipstick. Gravity and years of sitting drop the suspended carbon/dirt and general crud out of suspension and onto the sump floor.
This crud needs to be removed and fresh oil added to save the filters clogging up as soon as oil flow starts.
This crud wears out the engine bearings etc real quick and what was an essentially good engine is ruined in fast order.
There should be plate on the bottom of the sump to gain access to the oil pump screen and allow for some cleaning out of the sump pan.
The transmission and final drives are more forgiving but the applies.
Slightly loosen the drain plugs and check for any water sitting below the oils. Do not forget to check the fuel injection pump and pilot engine and the starter pinion drives as well.
You may need to clean the magneto points if you have little or no spark from the pilot engine maggie.
See how you go and keep us informed and we can advise further as needed. Do not forget to add some pictures--we love pictures of old Cats.

By your avatar I see a TD15B in olive drab.
Operated one of those, along with many other pieces of plant, in Nam with 17 Const. Sqn. 68-69.
Cheers,
Eddie Bedwell.

model td 15c lovely bit off kit real sapper friendly to use and repair so you with the bear that cares in nam we only just got rid of them a couple years ago and have been replaced with jd 850 and the d3 are getting replace with jd 450 next year i think

Hello Plantie ,Nice tn see a new Aussie face show up on the BB ,so Welcome on Board . Yours is the First D4 ex Army I have come across . heaps of R4's came this way and NSW , D2's D6's and D7's [My Wife's Uncles got a 3Tand 4t D7's from Army Stores and family still have them ] I think You may be able to Trace it's original Service Number and maybe army History . Someone on here may possibly chime in with "How To " . Does it have a Hyd. Blade or Cable ,I have seen both on R4's. If You are going to do it nice, keep it in it's Army drab and how about taking it to Lake Goldsmith next November. Caterpillar is the featured machines for that Show .Lake Goldsmith is basically West of Ballarat and a great Set up. You will get all the help need [For advise !!] on here ,Just ask .
Good luck and PLEASE We do like Pictures . LJ

yes it does have hydrulics but my uncles told me it was fitted later before they brought it.

when i go to the farm in a couple weekends time i will take a couple pic's of the plate at the rear and of the d4

to buy something like it want would be worth

ian

"Lance wrote:

Hello Plantie ,Nice tn see a new Aussie face show up on the BB ,so Welcome on Board . Yours is the First D4 ex Army I have come across . heaps of R4's came this way and NSW , D2's D6's and D7's [My Wife's Uncles got a 3Tand 4t D7's from Army Stores and family still have them ] I think You may be able to Trace it's original Service Number and maybe army History . Someone on here may possibly chime in with "How To " . Does it have a Hyd. Blade or Cable ,I have seen both on R4's. If You are going to do it nice, keep it in it's Army drab and how about taking it to Lake Goldsmith next November. Caterpillar is the featured machines for that Show .Lake Goldsmith is basically West of Ballarat and a great Set up. You will get all the help need [For advise !!] on here ,Just ask .
Good luck and PLEASE We do like Pictures . LJ

Lance . We have a D4-7J with a US7 on the serial number plate .
It is fitted with a Le Tournaeu DDPCU Unfortunately in very poor condition after sitting without a head for over 25 years . Currently sitting in the garden as "yard art ". Also have an R4 with US7 plate .