Hello all. Brand new guy here. I found this machine on the local Craigslist and knew that I needed to bring it home. 1961 D6B cable blade. Starts good, runs good, steers good, brakes good, all rollers spin and are round, tracks not so good but good enough. Oil pressure is a little low but I will verify with a new gauge. Lots of loose bolts and some missing bolts. One of the track adjusters has been welded. It has been worked hard for sure. It was owned by the Air Force for most of it's working life from what I have been told. Blade works well and I got the second rear winch to operate yesterday. The cable clamp had been pulled in up under the pully. Took some pulling with my Ford 651 tractor to get it unstuck. Unspooled it all the way and pulled the tractor back with it three times. Works smooth as a new one now. Made a rookie mistake (and I know better) and forgot to turn on the fuel valve. Yes, I had to bleed the fuel system. Sure happy it has a decompression system. Oh, and it cost me $4500. Hope that was a good price as it is mine now.haha

Welcome to the forum and to 'YELLOW FEVER' Hd! Looks like you're all in now! Let the fun begin.

Hi, Hdonly.
$4,500 for that????? It looks like yer got ripped off. Where's the drawbar? LOL.

Yes, it does look like it has been 'well' used but, from your description, it sounds like there is still a bit of life left in it yet. Good catch and thanks for sharing.

Also, I would not be surprised if, somewhere down the track, you saw another old Cat that looked in need of a good home and suddenly found that you had a SERIOUS 'itchy' feeling somewhere in your being. That 'itchy' feeling can only be scratched by 'adopting' another old Cat - - - and it seems to be a recurring thing too. Welkum 2 ther Yellow Fever NON- recovery ward.

Just my 0.02.

Welcome aboard Hdonly

This is the place for information on old iron. As well as encourage you to keep it going,or buy more.



Hard to really know what is a good price on old equipment. From my observation I have seen higher and lower priced stuff that keeps getting relisted.

Welcome aboard Hdonly, I think you will get more than the purchase price worth of work from that machine. My only worry is the brush canopy, the welds to the fenders look very sketchy. Please be careful and have a good time. I like that you got the wider version 74" gauge 44A series D6B tractor.
Craig

Yes, it is a good thing that I own a welder too. There are lots of little things that need doing right off. This machine has been neglected for a good while. It still has a lot of life left I'm sure. I have found several grease fittings under the dirt and crud that haven't been touched in a good while. Bolts missing and loose. Things that need adjusting. At least there is some kind of oil everywhere there is supposed to be. How does the throttle stay in position? This one doesn't and I don't have a manual yet.

"Hdonly" wrote:

Hello all. Brand new guy here. I found this machine on the local Craigslist and knew that I needed to bring it home. 1961 D6B cable blade. Starts good, runs good, steers good, brakes good, all rollers spin and are round, tracks not so good but good enough. Oil pressure is a little low but I will verify with a new gauge. Lots of loose bolts and some missing bolts. One of the track adjusters has been welded. It has been worked hard for sure. It was owned by the Air Force for most of it's working life from what I have been told. Blade works well and I got the second rear winch to operate yesterday. The cable clamp had been pulled in up under the pully. Took some pulling with my Ford 651 tractor to get it unstuck. Unspooled it all the way and pulled the tractor back with it three times. Works smooth as a new one now. Made a rookie mistake (and I know better) and forgot to turn on the fuel valve. Yes, I had to bleed the fuel system. Sure happy it has a decompression system. Oh, and it cost me $4500. Hope that was a good price as it is mine now.haha

Not sure how familiar you are but your rear winches are a CCU (cable control unit) for running the blade, a scraper, or other cable controlled attachment. They are not a towing or extraction winch and will not hold up for such abuse. But then you probably know that already.

Yes, I knew about the CCU. I didn't figure I would overload it, dragging my Ford 651 back (in neutral). Just wanted to work it a little to loosen it up. It probably hasn't been unspooled in many years.

The throttle on the D333 has to have a friction device in the linkage to hold it. Never actually looked at a D6b to see where it is, but I have the engine out of one and it has the same governor as the grader engine which has the friction clutch on the lever in the cab. So I would look at the lever on the dash to see if there are any spring loaded pivots which might be adjusted tighter or perhaps the friction disk replaced.

The older D69U had the D318 engine with a ratcheting spring and pawl mechanism made into the governor to hold the setting. All the linkage from lever on the air filter in front of the operator to the governor on the engine was simple pins and clevises.

Spent yesterday cleaning of dirt and crud. Worked on fixing the decompression linkage-need some parts. I might get to work on the throttle problem today, but with the holidays so close, I have other things to do. Overall though, the machine works. I can push trees over right now, but it is a pain having to shove a stick under the throttle to keep it open.

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