After last night, someone in fifty years is going to post a response to this message and say they found a craftsman 3/4 inch socket inside the final drive of a cat ten. Was trying to adjust the clutches and the socket feel off and of course went right to the bottom. I am going to try to get it out with a magnet, however I think it may have found a new home until someone else pulls the final drive. It is located where the steering clutches are, so there are no teeth for it to destory. Just sitting peacefully at the bottom of the casting next to the outer drum of the steering clutch!

Back a few years ago I bought an older Corvette for a restoration project. The guy I bought it from didn't want alot of money for it and was willing to deliver it, which at the time I thought was odd. I test drove it and agreed to buy it. The first time I went to drive it after delivery I had to retime it to get it to run right. In fact almost every time it was started it had to be retimed. After a few of these retimings I decided the restoration should begin ahead of schedule. Upon removing the oil pan from the motor I found this pile of chewed-up plastic in the pick-up screen of the oil pump and on the bottom of the oil pan. Some rocket scientist at GM at the time had decided to have a plastic coating put on one of the timing gears. 30 years of heat and oil had made it brittle enough to chip off and thus loosened the timing chain allowing it to jump a tooth on either start-up or shut-down. Yes I do still speak to the guy who sold me the car, it is a running joke at this point in time.

We bought a new 320L in 1993 when they first came out and I was running it at quitting time one day when it only had 40 hrs. on it. I was just finnishing and traveling back to the spot where we parked everything for the nite when I noticed it misssing and it had a viberation. Before I got to the hard road I noticed oil on the left track as it was comming around. I shut it off and looked under the hood, I noticed that one of the cam follower covers was pushed out a little and the oil was comming out there. To make a long storie short, a new cam shaft and many other new parts later, a crunched 12mm. snap on socket was found in the oil pan. I asked the Cat machanic what the big boss said when he was putting it back together one day, He said they told me "don't lose the socket".

Second, The same machine a couple of years ago, the dipper stick packing was leaking, so I took the hole cylinder off and had Cat pick it up to be rebuilt. Got it back, put it on, started the machine up and the shaft would not retract all the way. Called the shop forman and asked if I did somthing wrong. He said no, run it some more and see what happens. Shortly after that the machine was running hi hyd. oil temp and would not idle down on auto decelerate mode, called him back, he was kinda short with me and said "what do you want me to do" I said send a service truck, I did my part by paying you a couple thousand to rebuild it. The field machanic worked on it a while and found a rag in the valve body. After a long discussion on who's rag it was, they did a total hyd. system cleaning, had the cylinder checked and put it back on. The SAME thing happend again! So we loaded the machine up and took it to the dealer. After pulling the cylinder apart, they found the honning tool, rubber wiper? and a rag just like the one they found the first time. My dad's only coment...even Cat aint perfict. Jim