Caterpillar 2 ton 1928 standard equipment

Hello 2ton76, your 2 Ton is a 1928 build, last year of production, it would have been grey when sold, never yellow, I have been told Cat Dealers would paint the early grey Cats yellow if they came through their workshop for reconditioning like in the 1940's or 1950's.

To my knowledge the 1928 built only ever had a G4 Edition 3 mag, earlier 2 Tons had the Edition 2 with manual advance / retard, and a Stromberg precleaner with a Dailey horsehair main air filter, I have seen a 2 Ton fitted with steering levers like a later Cat, but again, I don't believe they left the Cat factory in 1928 like that, it is a later modification.

Good luck with the restoration, you will find lots of good info on them if you do a search of older threads, a real nice Aussie Guy "Ozdozer" has good quality copies of the part number book for not much money, if you don't have one PM him.
Mike

Mike,

Thanks for the information. You're probably right about equipment and color; it agrees with the research I've done myself. What throws me though is color history. There is no gray paint on the machine. I am removing all of the old paint as part of the restoration and the base layer is highway yellow primer and the next coat (strangely) is Kelly green. I understand that you could get the machines with just the highway yellow primer and then have them painted any color you wanted. For there to be no gray paint on the machine someone would have had to sandblast the entire machine (every nook and cranny) and then repaint it with the history it now has. I'm glad to hear there are other 2 tons with levers. My setup is pretty professional looking and I wonder if this was some after-factory kit installed by a dealer (although rural Lake County was a long way from a dealer in the 20's and 30's). Do you have a reference to the other machine with levers? I would like to see if it's the same as mine. It looks like I'll be looking for a Stromberg air cleaner. Also a replacement oil pressure gauge (52mm hole with 3 surrounding screws). Any idea on sources?

Thanks, Steve (2ton76)

Hi Steve, looking under track frames and gearboxes can often be a source of the original colour, Cat did not start using yellow till 1931 or 32, so there were never any 2 Tons sold new that were yellow, it's a bit like all the Cats made during WW2 were painted green ready for the armed services, but you will find a lot of WW2 era built Cats and nearly all are yellow now because they were painted that way later in their life, after the war, I have a 1942 D4 2T here I'm saving that was yellow but under all the worn flakey yellow paint I can find a few square inches of the original Army green in protected nooks and crannies, so that is the colour I'll be painting it.

The 2 Ton I saw with the levers is in the Salinas Valley, I'll try and dig up the photo I took of it years ago, back in 2011 I reckon, if I can't find it I'll try and take another one, I'll be there in a month.

Usually the Stromberg aircleaner is either missing completely, or missing the brass venturi that hangs on the base of them, the base of the tin can body just rots away over time, I have made all the parts for 10 new Stromberg aircleaners though I haven't put one together yet, it fried my brain at the time trying to get all the bits spun and cast, took me several years and I had to wreck a good aircleaner to make the patterns, there are still quite a few 2 Tons here in Australia, over 200 I'd guess, they were a really popular little tractor back in the late 1920's and I was told imported in batches of 30 at a time.

Folks here were farming with horses then and the 2 Ton changed their lives enormously as you can imagine, my best buddy Gwyn was farming back then and they had over 30 working horses on their 600 acre dryland ranch, as did all their neighbors, clearing virgin scrub and farming wheat and barley in the 1920's and 1930's, as a kid it was his job to shoot the neighbors unwanted horses on his way into town to play football on a Saturday, after they had bought a tractor like the 2 Ton, the local town was 5 miles away down a narrow sandy track and only had a railway siding, small school for 20 kids, a Church, a store and about 8 houses, the farmers couldn't shoot the horses themselves, loved them too much, so they dug the hole and got Gwyn to shoot them. The "Good Ol Days" they call them, Caterpillar actually had a company in the U.S buying all the unwanted horses and mules, trading them in on new tractors, it was the only way they could get sales moving.

There are 2 guys in England currently making new oil pressure gauges to suit the old Cats, including the 2 Ton, none are for sale yet but I believe it is only a matter of months till they are ready, if you are desperate then buy a SW "Wings" gauge, part number is 82207, they fit right in the hole, I've bought 2 for my 2 Tons here in Oz and they work fine and look OK, price was around $50 but that was 7 or 8 years ago, my 2 Tons run around 30 pounds oil pressure normally with straight 30W engine oil, but Cat tell us anything down to 5 pounds oil pressure is fine provided you have good flow, you will have seen the shims on the conrods for taking up wear in the bearings.

The 2 Ton engine was radical for it's time, designed by a aircraft engine maker, with those overhead valves and a single cam lobe for each cylinder, there is a lot of written history on the 2 Ton tractor, and with nearly 10,000 built originally, parts are generally not too bad to source, I wrote a story for the ACMOC magazine a few years back on a 2 Ton I restored here in Oz, I'm the first to admit I'm not very bright and I got it done with basic tools, you sound like a fairly smart fella, I look forward to seeing some photo's and hearing more about your project as it progresses.
Good luck
Mike

Hi 2ton76,
this site link has a lot of 2Ton stuff on it.
When I did my 2Tons they were yellow and the only tell tale sign of any grey was a few paint runs under the transmission case. The rest was bare under the wrong color faded yellow that had been brushed on.

http://www.2tontractor.net/

If you go to BOOKS and left click on the book you wish to view, left click the double s looking sign on the page and you can then scroll thru said book.

Cheers,
Eddie B.

Mike and Eddie,

It sounds like the machine was gray. I'll look in more nooks and cranny's for traces. I didn't know the highway yellow primer didn't come out until the 30's. Mike, It sounds like you're set up to sell Strombergs? If so I would definitely be a customer if I can't find an original in reasonable shape. I don't think the bottom half survived on any of them. I will also need the exhaust elbow with the outlet to the air cleaner. I've already had the manifold completely rebuilt (flanges built back up and resurfaced).

Mike,, I think I've seen the oil pressure gauges you're talking about. The're English and the specs say they need a 55mm hole. The hole in the 2 ton is 52 mm but I don't know how much buffer they are allowing for. Their guage has a brass bezel and flange with 3 properly placed screw holes. I will wait for the two English guys to come out with the proper gauge. Eddie, I'll check your site. It sounds like just what I'll need.

Thanks both,
Steve

The attached photos are of my cat when I brought her home. It was salvaged from a family farm in Kelseyville, California. I found it at the local wrecking yard and paid it's scrap iron value. This was clearly some young man's pride and joy and the scrap yard was a sad place to find it. I'm starting with the engine and drive train before seriously getting into cosmetic work. The magneto (a Fairbanks Morse RV4) sparks. I found a rebuild kit for the carburetor and reconditioned the fuel tank. As noted in my original post, I am looking for an original magneto, air cleaner, and oil gauge. I've rebuilt the firewall which was cut in several places for various modifications during its working life. I'm one third of the way through sandblasting and putting on high temp primer. Most of the farm work here in rural northern California was still being done with horses in 1928. Sounds familiar with Mikes story. I haven't decided to paint it the old caterpillar yellow it wore during much of its working life or go back to gray if that was the original color. I plan to put it back to work once it's restored.

Steve

Thanks for the photo's Steve, that is a interesting 2 Ton for sure, I'll try and get a photo for you in the Salinas Valley of that 2 Ton with steering levers like yours. My advice Steve for what it's worth, is get rid of that fuel tank and get a good original one on there, I've had a couple made here in Oz, they run at about $250, it is critical you have a original one to copy if you can't buy a good used because the dimension from front to back on those tanks must not be too deep or they will not fit between the engine and Dailey aircleaner, AND, those front and back panels of the tank must be domed to absorb the engine vibration or the seams will split and leak gas. When I said I had a couple of tanks made, I think it is actually 5 or 6 tanks made, to get just one, no wonder I'm almost bald now!!

Another thing, get a Dailey aircleaner for your tractor too, it had it originally, they are filled with horse hair which is soaked with oil, your tractor will have both a Stromberg AND Dailey aircleaner, only the very early Holt 2 Tons had just the Stromberg aircleaner, put a advert in the For Sale section, someone will have the Dailey aircleaner, you need the stand it mounts to also, plus the various air pipes, they should be easy to find Stateside, if you can't find a good Stromberg aircleaner in the US let me know and I'll throw one in my bag if we can agree on a price, my Shrink still hasn't got my head completely right from making those darn things 7 or 8 years ago, in fact the old guy who helped me went nuts too, true story, anyway I'll be in Cali early June for a wedding and can post one up.

Your tractor uses a Eisemann G4 Edition 3 magneto, put a wanted ad in the For Sale section, or keep your eyes on Fleabay, they come up pretty regularly, it must have the impulse on it, the earlier 2 Tons had a manual advance retard of the spark for safe starting, yours has the automatic impulse aid, get the cloth covered spark wire too, it's 7mm, I used black and got it Stateside from Brillmans, I use Autolite spark plugs, either #3077 or #3076, $2.99 each at Napa or Sparkplugs.com. Use straight 30W engine oil in all compartments, some folks use lighter hydraulic oil in the tranny for easier turning, the 2 Tons are heavy to steer till the oil warms up unless you are pulling something, then they turn nice, I use my 2 Tons for work and play, they are a really nice little tractor and pull like a train.

My opinion is paint it grey too, those early Gas Cats have a unique history.
Good luck
Mike

Mike,

You have done a beautiful job on your 2 Ton restoration! I have never seen one done any better!

JanM

Mike,

You have done a beautiful job on your 2 Ton restoration! I have never seen one done any better!

JanM