Hi team,
here is a scan from a Cat Comic for Machine Operation Guide 1950.
It basically says to get penetration with a straight blade to tilt the blade sideways and use the cutting end bit to do the work until you can get something to push. This can be done artificially by starting your cut with one track either in a depression or on a high spot to tilt the blade until you have penetrated the hard ground. Also experimenting with the forward or reclining tilt of the blade you can get a more efficient penetration or not to carry a blade full from point to point.
Its' all a matter of experimenting, BUT if you have a lot of free play in the braces etc. the blade will tilt side to side on its own and therefore will tend be very ineffective in getting some penetration.
With the excess cable at the start of the cut you need to reel in some of this before starting the next cut or as you move off so you have less cable to retrieve and be ready to control the cut depth.
Hope this helps.
Cheers,
Eddie B.

Aaron is correct about not free wheeling out the cable too fast or dropping the blade all at once. It's kind of like casting a deep sea fishing reel. If you let go of your thumb, you'll get spaghetti. Try to let the brake slow it down once or twice instead of free fall. Do not drive tractor to edge of slope or fill and drop it down over the slope to far and extend the cable all the way. You could lose the wedge on the end of the cable, pulling it out of the drum.

You'll learn tricks as you go on how to tilt a pass with out manually adjusting the blade. I cut a pass 3"-6" higher than I want, then move over a half of a pass, put one track on the high and one in the low pass, thus tilting the blade. The trick to a level pass is to tog up the slack out when you put the blade down. To practice try lifting the blade up about an 1", the way you know the slack is out. What's happening is that when you start out the blade starts to sink, you pull up, and make a bump. The tracks start to go up the bump, then you drop it because your going up, and you start making waves. Pull the blade up to start and it works a lot better. -glen

Aaron, Eddie, thank you. That's very helpful information. I love the page from comic operating guide. Was there a complete guide done as a comic book?

I've included some pictures. The first is my D6U, with snow caked in all around the tension springs. The second (hopefully) will give you a sense of how much snow there is toward the back end of the property. The third is the moose I saw this afternoon. He has a nice rack, but I didn't snap the photo in time to catch his head. The fourth is the view from the top of my property, which might explain why I put up with all the snow . . .

I hope that I'm not doing lots of snow work going forward, so I think I'll pass on cutting any extra holes in the 6. What I need to do is get the road grader (1940's CAT-12, similar vintage to the D-6) running . . . but I'm going to have to tear apart the carburetor on the pony motor to do that, which means taking the top off the machine, which isn't going to happen until spring. In the future, I hope to just keep after things with the grader and be done with it.

Still looking for guidance on covers for the tension springs?

Yes,
the comic book covers most dozer operations including clearing trees and boulders with the cable blade, putting in side hill cuts etc., pushing scrapers and operating same, operating towed cable scrapers, towing cable rippers, general working to levels etc.
Form No 30061 date-1950
I have seven comics covering :-Pioneering, Maintenance Guide for D7-8&9, Ditto D2,D4&D6, Ditto No 933-955&977 Traxcavators, Ditto Engines D364,D375,D386&D397, Operator"s Guide for No 933,955&977 Traxcavators.
The comics are in colour as per a normal comic book of the day and as an Apprentice they were highly sought after both by clients and ourselves at the Dealer.
Thank you for the pix, here it is 30*C today so are sweating somewhat. You show a pretty good start for a birds nest rope tangle there on the D6 Front CCU. Lovely country you have there by the last pic.
Cheers,
Eddie B.

Hello mtgstuber
Nice view from your place. The issue with not cutting could be your cutting edges, cant tell from the pictures if the edges are reversable or not but if you lift the blade and look underneath the blade frame may be lower than the cutting edge due to the edge being worn away making it very difficult to dig the blade into the ground (or snow which you have a lot of ). The cutting edge will work at its best if its about two inches lower than the main blade frame and will pull the blade into the ground, with a cable control this is what you need.
Oz22

On the track frame covers, I don't think they are available new any longer. I believe someone found a company that would fabricate some. Pretty expensive. If you could find some used ones that were any good, that would be the cheapest way to go. These aren't absolutely necessary and the fact that they aren't there isn't why the tracks are popping. I suppose if you had ice in the recoil spring, then it wouldn't be a spring any longer and you would really damage something:eek:

The popping happens when the sprockets pack the snow into the holes in the rails (chains) until it stretches the track too tight. The snow grousers have a square hole in the center for the snow to work out.

Don't curse having the 6S blade too much, as there seems to be more people looking/desiring those than there does the angle blades. There is an angle blade listed for sale over on the tractorparts.com website. If I remember correctly there was a few guys on this site or the ACME site that were interested in a straight blade. Check the forums.

When I run my CATS in the snow I don't turn except for a very little bit at a time or your tracks scoop up snow and pack it against the track plates where it builds up until you either break a track or it pops the packed snow. Don't run it like that or it will eventually break.

You will need to run your tracks as loose as possible and try to keep the snow cleaned out from under your carrirer rollers. CAT did make a special snow sprocket and track pads with holes in them to shed the snow better.
I would think that if you loosen them up quite a bit and keep her cleaned off under the rollers ever so often you should be alright.

what is actually happening with your tracks is the buildup of snow in the rail is causing the track to ride higher on the sprocket which has the effect of changing the pitchof the sprocket to where a tooth will jump to the next link then when that link comes to where it leaves the sprocket it jumps forward .
As long as the idler has enough rearward travel there is little chance of damage . however it does send some shock through the drivetrain and your nerves
It helps to occasionaly get where you have already plowed and rattle the snow out of the tracks before getting back where they are in deep snow cutting the shoes out is the best solution.
Timbco bunchers have nearly the whole area inside the bolt pattern cut out
Butch