I noticed that my "new" D-2 5J 5700 series dozer has a fuel cap on the radiator instead of a radiator cap, is that OK or do I need to change to a cap with a pressure regulator/relief?

I don't have a parts manual for this one yet, only the Service Manual and Operators Instructions. I "think" from searching that the part number is 4F5889 and I found a thread on Yesterday Tractor that Old Magnet posted the current number is 1L7583. If that IS the case then I'm sadden to see the price at Cat is $142.95. I'm hoping that isn't correct as I found another thread that said the 5J cap is available through Classic Cat for around $15 but didn't reference the number.

Looking through the Classic Cat part numbers I don't see a radiator cap listed for the 5J;



Here are some pictures of how the D2 sat for years and years before I bought it (the blade and hood were near-by);



And here it is after I got it running again. Had to recondition pony tank, carb, new plugs and clean up the shift tower. Has a lot of blow by but runs good;

goo.gl/photos/nT1VywQoB9Tvr4Nw9

Here is a video driving around a little after I got it home;

goo.gl/photos/gopGA6t9oReoEvw68

I suspect water is getting in the oil, I haven't changed the main engine oil yet but it was pretty clear before I got it running and brought it home. Now the oil is grayish and the water level went down in the radiator. It's possible that water got in there at settled while it sat with hood off and the water level went down due to a leak or something SO I'll change the oil and run it some more and find out but wanted to get the cap sorted out first.

Thanks,
Jordan

I looked at your pictures, and that radiator cap doesn't look like a fuel cap to me. I'm sorry to tell you, it appears to be a slice of a tree. I think I'd definitely replace the slice of the tree with a proper radiator cap. The tree slice is likely to fall off there while you're trying to operate.

Seriously though, I think you should be able to find a proper radiator cap for a pretty reasonable price, if you like. I don't think your 5J would have carried much pressure in the system and you could frankly probably run it without a cap without hurting anything much. After all, you are likely not doing production work using the machine to 100% of its capacity for multiple shifts.

I enjoyed the pictures and the videos. Thanks for posting and have fun with your tractor.

Pete.

Hello Jordan, congratulations on getting your D2, it looks like a nice straight tractor and with that blade it will be very handy, I like how you are wearing a colour coordinated shirt too while driving her! My D2 3J/5J Parts book says the radiator cap is 5B1343 and a quick search on the Machinery Trader website shows none available anywhere in the world apparently which I find hard to believe but then they are a older tractor, I'm with Garlic Pete in thinking the existing cap should work fine until you come across a proper original if that is important to you, best place to ask is here in the For Sale / Wanted to buy section, better still would be to get a advert in the ACMOC magazine, that goes to every member and only a very small % of members use this Forum, fewer than 5% I'd suggest.

I was interested to see your part number chart showing Cat Classic Part numbers, I've never seen that before and it would be great to be able to access that for other machines, how do you get it? Just a note on the Cat Classic Parts too, they are generally not the same spec as the original Cat part and I was told were not intended for hard working machines, for example I just replaced the bearings in my D2 5U water pump and bought the Classic Part bearings instead of the original part number bearings, the price was about half, but when I counted the number of balls in the bearings from memory there were 2 less balls in each than the originals, my old Cats will only do 15 - 20 hours a year so it shouldn't matter and I'm sure if you found a Classic Parts radiator cap it wouldn't really matter if the quality wasn't quite as good as the original either.

Enjoy that D2, if that was your son trying to get run over in youtube movie I reckon he would be itching to take her for a spin too, better than riding a bike for sure.
regards
Mike

Thanks for the info! The shirt was not planned, lol.

I'm not looking for factory correct, just functional. So long as not having an actual radiator cap on there won't hurt anything then I won't be concerned.

After I get everything sorted out on this one I'll likely run it up in the woods awhile, piling brush, pushing snow, etc until I get my other "new" D4 7U going then I'll probably sell the D2. We also have lots of wild rose bushes to remove at one of our places but I doubt I'll use the D2 for that, I don't think it's going to be big enough or powerful enough to do any good other than on the real small bushes. We use our D6C for those;


I haven't gotten either of our boys on the D2 yet but they do have a little experience running equipment, "Santa" made this Caterpillar Digger a few years back;


Here is our youngest on our D6C

goo.gl/photos/GwzzoyZcqwekyCmbA

Here is the link to the Cat Classic Parts Product Catalog. It's thousands of pages so I found it easiest to save to my PC and use Adobe to search or jump to pages.

Thanks,
Jordan

I've had one on my 5J for at least 10 years! I was mildly disappointed that it came with an "Assembled in Mexico" sticker on it. BUT! I haven't peeled it off and as far as I know its still on there! Does it work as good as the original? Yes and it was only around $15 like you mentioned. Go ahead and buy it, I just asked the Parts Guy to look it up after he sticker shocked me with the Factory replacement price.

Hi Jordan, thanks for the link to the Classic Parts list but it won't download on my computer for some reason, just says system error, I suspect the file might be too big? A couple of years back I bought the Cat Classic Parts Product Book from my local Cat Dealer here in Oz, it was printed in Sept 2011 and is hundreds of pages but unfortunately none of them relating to D2 or even my old D4's, the crawler list starts at D3 and it doesn't have any early parts numbers like that 5B1343.

Sounds like you and the family are well supplied with working Cats, it won't take those boys long to get handy with them, best thing for them.
Regards
Mike

I tried the link , and got the same thing Mike .You may need to be logged in to the Cat site first maybe .

Yes, its CAT PARTS dot COM, you need to be logged in.

Looked at your videos. Engine is burning clean (clear exhaust ) so that's a good sign.
That radiator cap looks factory correct to me. I would not swap it out.

That cap does look correct....