Thanks a ton Pete. Will be trying things out and reporting back.

Sounds like right now I have it too tight though for sure, so I'm sure that's at least one of my issues.

I've had the shaft that holds the bendix gear break and the gear come off the shaft inside the clutch compartment ( direct drive). It would act as you describe. On a clutch you can remove the top cover and reach in there to check, not so on a TC. Good luck

Remove the transmission cover and check to see if the pinion latch is engaged or not. It's a spring loaded pin that works on centrifugal force to release. Nothing like the D2,4,or 6. If the latch is engaged and you can roll over the gear train and nothing happens you've got a drive pinion disconnect problem.

Ok, heres where I am at so far...

I got my wife to come help me out the other day, JUST shy of 8 months pregnant, she is a trooper!

We ran through the list that pete wrote down for us.


We believe that the pony clutch is working fine. The clutch brake works as it should, and as far as i could see, when my wife pulled the lever out to engage, everything was working as it should. Now I also tried to get the lever to make the distinct "snap" by adjusting the pin. I loosened that sucker right off, and tried for an hour or so working my way up to where it would make that "snap", but could not get that sound. BUT By the description that pete wrote out (thanks again a ton that was super helpful) it did seem like i had it adjusted to where it should have worked. I cant see the actual clutch at all in there, but I can see what i believe would be the flywheel.

The transmission seemed to work fine and it for sure wasnt in neutral as I did try both low and high. The clutch spiders do seem to be working properly and spin when my wife pulled the lever.

So that leaves me to take the transmission covers off and check to see if the pinion is spinning or not engaging. Ok so this is where we left off, as I dont have a slight clue at all where these transmission covers would be. I would assume that I would have to yank the floorboards out and start checking under there? Again forgive my ignorance as Im learning a lot from this forum and this thread, and have basically zero experience with dozers!

I dont know if this is a possible sign of something wrong or not, but I was trying to fiddle with the powershift lever while trying different things, and the lever wont really move and stay in any gear place, right now with the engine not running. Is that normal, or a sign that something is wrong or out of place there? (i never really fiddled with the powershift lever before so I dont know if this is normal or not)

I was referring to the pony motor transmission cover.

I would disconnect the linkage at the lever,or bell cranck on top of starting engine clutch ,and pull out the lever at the dash to make sure its has a full travel ,and not stuck or seizing .
The lever on top of clutch housing has 2 functions , there;s a yoke under the lever that is actuated by a small block bolted under the lever .When the upper lever is rotated the block bares on the yoke under the lever ,and engages the clutch ,at the same time the lever is attached to a shaft that goes down to the pinion latch in the bottom of the starting engine transmission .this shaft pulls in the latch and engages the pinion in the flywheel .
After the linkage is disconnected from the lever ,I would start the pony and at idle work the lever by hand or vise grip pliers to see if the yoke is pivoting ,and see if you feel the spring tension from the pinion latch below or the pinion grinding on the flywheel .
Check the lever close to see if its tight on the shaft or possibility of the key being sheered .Check the small block under the lever to see if its not sheered off .
Last and worst problem is a malfunction in the latch assembly in bottom of starting engine transmission .You could drain the transmission and remove the bottom plate and with a mirror ,and light see if the bottom latch is moving .I any case if there's a problem with the pinion latch ,the starting engine has to be removed from the tractor

Thanks rjh, will check those things out when I get to it next.

Does anyone know if its safe to tow a d7e with powershift?

The dozer is 3 miles away from the shop, and its been nothing but a pain going back and forth and I wouldnt mind hooking it up to our 8650 and towing it home.

Would this be safe on the machine, or does it need to be running for oil to get into.. everywhere, so things wouldnt seize up in the steering or brakes or anything?

Sounds like you have a power shift D7E I would not recommend pulling that tractor 3 miles .There is no way to disengage the steering clutches without the tractor running ,so your going to be turning the ring gear and pinion at a high speed with no lubrication to the pinion bearings and some power shift transmission bearings .
I would push it on a drop neck trailer and haul it to the shop if it was mine

Thanks RJH, I figured that as well with the lack of replies haha. I have an artisan well out at our new place we are building, where the dozer is, and I rigged up my pressure washer so I could clean the dozer and decided to pull it about 15 feet forward to a dry clean spot, and decided to yank the pony motor right there.

I started the process of taking the pony motor out. Its actually quite the process so far! I will probably be asking more questions and I will post more of what I find.

I really appreciate all the help from everyone so far as well.

Finally got it out! Ive pulled a fair share of engines in various things before, and this one was definately one of the tightest! Very doable though!

And this is what happened, looks like there is a roll pin in the end of the bolt that holds the pinion gear on that came out. Can someone verify that its just a roll pin in there and not something special?

Only one mishap while yanking the engine. There is a cooling manifold that attaches to the rear of the pup motor that goes to the main engine that would not pull out, and ended up cracking when I was pulling the engine. Luckily I have been able to find used ones.