Well, I just bought the Cat pictured in the thread "new cat in the stable" by KTM Rider:D . It will be making a new home in SC & keeping company with a few old Cats
I also bought another Gas 50 on the same day about an hour & a half away from this one, but that one looks much worse for wear. I would like to see how many gas 50's are still out there, and what the parts situation might be. What Cats share the same undercarrage please! Those finned manifolds sure look cool, but they catch hell from the rust & heat. Both tractors could use a pretty set. Would anyone else be interested in having them recast?. I would also like to see some pics of original tractors both to judge how much work I need to do and to inspire me toward the restoration effort. Thanks!

here is the 50 as photographed by ktm rider

This one is in the trees still. I have the heads and most of the parts,, I think.
sprockets are shot, rails, p&b also bad. How about that intake manifold?

1808 built of 5A1's built ? Those are nice finds, hopefully the bore in those front 2 cylinders are not seized heavily, at least the hood was over them, never a good sign seeing an open bore like that, no telling what you'll find when you work on em, but it would seem worth while to keep both intact kind of a low production model, parts will be interesting to find and fabricate for these if needed, many would make 1 out of 2, and they sure look good to a scrapper loitering in the weeds they way the were too, is one a wide guage ?

Billy, they are both the same gage, wide I think. Both engines are free, brakes & steering seem ok. The one needs lots of under carrage work, a nice intake manifold and I think three of the bucket lifters are missing, it was said to be running until taken apart to investigate a miss on #1, a piston & head was got from Mr.Zimmerman.
They have different style air cleaners, one is sorta like the 2 ton air cleaner and under the hood below the exauhst manifold, the other is on the firewall by the operator, so I was wondering if that was correct. One has a Lplant-Choate hdy blade, the Rough one has a LeTourneau PCU & blade.

Early gas 50 had fuel tank infront of operator and air cleaner under hood, then they went to fuel tank as part of seat, but air cleaner still under hood. The very late 50s had air cleaner mounted to dash infront of operators feet. Late Diesel 50s and RD7 has this later air cleaner arrangement.
The only models that share track with gas 50 are the diesel 50 and RD7.
Finding usable or even fixable manifolds is almost impossible. At least one person made fabricated manifolds for his tractor with steel and a lot of welding.

That is great that both motors are loose, maybe the one with the LaPlante-Choate hydraulic blade has narrow pads on it, yet it does look more on the 74" ga. side, the other one in the partial photos looks like it has wider pads. Just wondering, but more interesting is that you might get em both to run after some careful examination and repairs, also nice not to have to deal with unstucking the brakes and steering, they look like they've both been outside awhile. The hard luck is dealing with the undercarriage, might have to get real creative there, if the rails are'nt hammered, especially the bores and if they can be pinned/re-bushed, wonder if you can get something to cross reference to those pins/bushings, lot of work to pull the rollers, build those up, and not overheat them in the process, also build up the links, might be ble to take some slack out of them, get some adjustment back, pins to ride in the root of the sprocket tooth again, enough to keep the tracks on for light use, lots of work but could be worth doing seeing not many were built and it might run.

I would not know the differences on the air cleaner locations on these, that is for sure.

The LeTourneau PCU on there, have to wonder what model that is, am familiar with the later R7, biggest problem with those is the "driving" and "driven" cones, and getting the friction materials replaced on them, their manual does describe the re-lining process and removing glaze etc., they're dog bowl shaped, + all the bearing adjustments, clutch adjustment/brake adjustments etc., later caterpillar CCU's performed better no doubt, but the old LeT pcu's still do fine once you get everything adjusted, best to get the book for the model you have, they are not that complicated to work on either, as they are simple in design. I think a lot of the LeT dozer kits and other similar aftermarket equipment is becoming harder to find.

You should also be able to find the LaPlante-Choate technical manual, try e-bay, years back I found one for later D7's and in one instructional chapter on how to cut a side hill road is a reference photo of an older caterpillar Diesel Fifty with the same type of dozer kit as yours mounted to the track frame, except the blade looks to be an angle type blade. Both LeT and L-C, included operational instructions on how to take cuts, use the blade to push trees, grade etc., the kits they made for these tractors certainly laid the ground work for dozer applications, funny to read on how to use them in these books, was a new thing then.

I'm not sure, but I thought due to the scarcity of those manifolds, if this place might be able to help you on them, they do some interesting work on cast iron:

www.locknstitch.com/

Whew, after a long trip dogged by stuck brakes, ruined tires:mad: , detoured scales;) and a 2am home comming I am happy to say all arrived safe & sound:D . The L'plant eqipped is a wide gage & LeT is narrow. We got them unloaded Sun after a round of good natured ribbing about scrap iron & how they really will be antique by the time I get them running. Many thanks to my friends that helped with loading and transportation, esp John Catoe of Catoe Farms, maker of the best 100% cane syrup & stone ground grits. Please visit blizzardbranch.com for a taste of the South:) . (The new mill house will sport a D13000 power unit that needs a radiator, fan & what ever to change it from a tank cooled unit)