Manual 6-Way Blade Adjustment

The recent post about a manual 6-way blade on a D4 hit close to home. I have a similar set-up on a 1949 D4 7U and have been puzzling over how to change the blade position in the field. The blade frame is stamped "HOLT" in large letters on the side, while blade itself has no markings that I can find and no holes for an ID plate. Over the past year, I have had to replace the bottom of the blade because the original design allowed soil to pack under it, which rusted out the base from the inside. After this was fixed, a previous owner's blade frame repair failed and needed to be welded by someone who knew what they were doing. Then I had seals replaced, to stop a hydraulic fluid leak pointed at the driver, by a shop that could get parts for the "off brand" and no longer manufactured blade rams. The tractor is running good, and I think everything is working except a generator that doesn't keep the electric start batteries charged.

Now my question. Are there instructions for changing the position of the manually adjusting 6-way blade? I have been using the tractor with the blade set in its "straight-on" position, but it will both tilt (a little) and has angle settings toward either side. Making these adjustments requires pulling large pins and moving blade frame parts. I have not tried to wing it with the adjustment because the parts look too heavy to lift, and it probably requires raising or lowering the blade and/or moving the tractor forward or back in ways that I have yet to figure out.

JRMunn

Not sure what dozer you actually have, but all the manual adjust angle dozers I ever saw took some ingenuity and frequently a big hammer and prybar to change the angle position. It would help have something solid to push against or anchor to when changing so you can use the machine's power to move things.

Some pictures of your dozer setup might be interesting to this community as a whole since a Holt dozer doesn't come along here too often.

The Holt dozers were built in western Oregon, mostly for farm use. Use a hammer and a bar to remove the side pin on each side. Swing the side plate forward on the side you wish to angle forward until it binds on the blade and use as a lever to swing the blade. If it doesn't want to move, swing the plate back and forward to hammer the blade around.
n

I have big rocks to push on, wood for blocks, and a big hammer - so it sounds like I have what is needed to manually "adjust" the blade on my little D4. I had hoped it would be easier, or that I might at least know what to do, but should have known better. These old tractors seem to need men who can work as hard as the machines.

JRMunn

One thing that makes any job easier is if all the fasteners and moving joints etc. move freely.

After you pull the pins it is often beneficial to push on each corner of the blade against them rocks you have, first one side, then the other, using the machine pushing power to pivot the blade in both directions a few times. This will loosen up the joints, especially if it has not been swung for years. Then when you do the final pin alignment it should move a bit easier.