Hi guys 

I also have a US7 D42T I was curious if you guys had any luck tracking the history down on them?

mines a 1943 

thanks

Erik may have something on his website,

chriscomachinery.com/antique-caterpillar-machinery/

I don't think OzDozer is on the board anymore.

I thought at one time someone said that stood for "United States 7th Fleet"? Chrisco has a great serial number and model reference on their website. Some of the military buffs should be able to chime in with more information. JM

Hi Juiceman,
You are correct.

Regards

Thanks, Is there any way of narrowing its past down? There’s a “505” stamped just above the engine serial number possible the 505th 7fleet unit? there’s a 69-652 painted on it as well but I think this might have been later  

I’m trying my best to determine if this machine actually was over seas (I live in Canada and i dont believe the 7th fleet would have operated here) some people figure it’s been misplaced during the war and possibly helped on the Alaska Highways construction,

although this is a possibility I think it’s unlikely as the crawler would have had to been misplaced US Navy (in Australia) to US Army in Canada (would the US7 marks been removed?)

also it was created in march 1943 (within a month of the 7th fleets formation's (most of the army equipment and action on Alaska Highway started in March 1942) aka “the trail of 42”, so it would have arrived mid 1943 at the earliest ( assuming that there would be some leg time for the letourneau winch and blade installation)

I ’ve seen a couple other US7 d4s in Canada…. Did the navy just loose track of their crawlers on a regular basis

……. so to me it fits better that these machines remained 7th fleet and were sold as surplus after the war, whether they returned to mainland USA and then migrated north to Canada or directly sold in Canada 

thanks again 
paden

The “505” is a Caterpillar stamping, you’ll find a whole bunch of 3-digit numbers stamped in D2 and D4 blocks of that era, all in that same general area. I’ve never found a solid explanation for them though. Very rarely did machines that were shipped overseas ever get shipped back, the vast majority were either left where they finished their service, sold off in that same country as surplus, or dumped at sea. The US Government wreaked havoc on the stateside tractor industry just after WW1 when they nearly flooded the market with cheap surplus former military tractors, and didn’t want to do that again, nor bear the expense of bringing most of that equipment back across the ocean. Most of the former military tractors we have here now never left the States, but that’s not to say that a few exceptions aren’t out there. Whatever history you find out about your D4 would be great to share on the forum here, and we’d all love to hear it. Nice old dozer!

I have 2T-600 and it has 504 stamped in the engine block. 

Thanks for the 505 explanation! Possible these were sold in Canada for that reason, might not have conflicted the rules on returning it to USA . 

Hopefully it’s painted and running in the next month or so 

Paden