922 reviews

Sorry
I don’t have specs but I would assume if it has a standard bucket on it, it’ll lift anything that’ll fit in the bucket.

It won’t lift very high. Think loading flatbed truck with some 2’ sides being ideal. It’ll certainly go higher but you’ll be dumping over the high side and not able to mound the material up in the center like you normally would expect to. Bucket is self leveling so you can get into some odd reactions where bucket dumps/tilts more when you raise it all the way to max height. Can’t think of exactly what happens, but I think it’s that you cannot point the bucket cutting edge at the sky and keep it there as you lift like a non self leveling loader will do......good part about that is you won’t often spill material over the back of the bucket.

The most likely defect you would encounter is a bad CV joint in the rear axle steering knuckles. The driveline U-joints aren’t usually a lot of trouble and if one goes out it’s just a get out your wrench, unbolt the old joint and bolt on a new one. The CV joints in the axles would require removing the wheel, planetary cover and sun gear, steering knuckle and then pulling the axle out and replacing the joint. Same procedure for replacing oil seals in the back.

I had to replace them on all 4 corners of mine so I could fill the front and rear differential and have brakes without oil on the shoes. The rear axle having the knuckles makes the axle shaft seals being tight much more important than the fronts where differential and planetary gear cases can share oil without a big problem as long as the “wheel” seal in the hub is tight,”. Same situation with leaking in the rear and the oil drips out the CV joint ball if either of the axle seals is bad. Wheel seal leakage front or back contaminates the brakes which typically aren’t real strong anyway.

There are two different brake setups, both are air assisted hydraulic with the earlier type using a complex brake valve that allows some minimal manual braking when the air pressure is low. I doubt any amount of manual braking effort would make a noticeable difference, the brakes just aren’t that effective even with good boost. The later type uses a simple airbrake pedal valve to actuate a single air canister that strokes a plain single chamber master cylinder to send brake fluid to all 4 wheels. This is much preferable in my opinion, simple and easily repairable with readily available components.

Steering gearbox can be an expensive failure point when a special proprietary follower/finger that runs in the worm gear fails. That is typically on a machine with no cab where the decorative CAT seal in the center of the steering wheel is missing. Rain will go down the hollow steering shaft and collect in the gearbox below taking out the bearings or even freezing and cracking the case. In any case, good maintenance of that steering gearbox should be a high priority. The follower is very expensive and only available from CAT. The rest of the bearings etc aren’t bad, but best to keep good oil in it and adjust carefully if it gets slack in it.

Drivetrain is a two speed power shift with a reverser behind a torque converter, but there’s also an unsynchronized high/low range shift in addition to the power shift transmission. Typically they aren’t real powerful pushing at the best. You’ll need to be in 4WD/LO range to get much done. If you need to really push you’ll be in 1st gear with 2nd available with the power shift in either forward or reverse direction. High range/2WD is for travel and it can get really squirrely really quick if you’re at max speed and hit a bump! Thats the reason high range is only 2WD. Just less likely to get crazy at max speed. I also drive a 944 that I cant keep in my lane in 2High! It needs a lot of work on the tie-rod ends etc!

You’re in the best possible situation. Go drive it and talk to your friend about it. I would also make an effort to drive something more modern so you have a basis for comparison. They are pretty old and very basic machines just because of the time they were built.

I have a 1961 922A with the fiberglass (aircraft) cab. Direct start 24 volt. They were available with either direct or pony start on the early ones. The easiest way to tell if it is a A or B model is by looking at the fenders over the rear steering tires. On the A models the fenders are only a couple inches over the tires. The A model only has about 3" of side articulation on the axle. On the B models they increased the side to side articulation to keep the all 4 wheels on the ground in rough ground and raised the fenders a few more inches for tire clearance. Overall they were a very well made machine. Mine has treated me well and is a handy machine to have around. If no cab to keep it dry it is of utmost importance to keep water from going down the center of the steering wheel where the Bakelite center is often missing. It allows water into the steering system which is made of unatainium.

If it's been looked after it will be pretty bulletproof despite it's age.

U.S. built:

59A series 922A/B D320T engine @80h.p 1961- 1965

94A series 922B D330na @80h.p. 1965-1967

88J series 922B D330c @80h.p 1967-1969

Jap built:

97A (94A)

74J (88J)

If it's a 94A or later it will have dual master cylinder brakes which provides redundancy (as long as you have air pressure of course). The early short wheelbase "flat fender" machines with the early brake booster system, never had very good brakes on either the 922 or 944 as I remember them.

The 74J I own also has 4wd as well as 2wd in high range, whether this had become standard by then or was an option I can't say, I never saw it on any of the earlier series I ran.

As mentioned above, lift height is going to be a problem with higher sided trucks.

Good Luck

go ahead and try and get it as long as it's in your budget. I got a 922B and she been a real workhorse for me I would say she good for 4500-5000 lb lift. she's lifted most things I needed. 16-9 rock crusher would be about the heaviest thing I lifted. it's a little like a lumbering giant you won't be ripping around like a forklift. let's just say this I keep my eye out for another one or a 944 966. the only thing I been struggling with is a quick attach for the bucket's /forks options. you have lost of pins and bushings in the loader arms so there can be lost of stack-up of linkage slop may make it a little hard to grade with. the other thing is they where not really made to dig gravel from a pit or bank I have done it just not like a modern loader. mine is useless on wet or muddy ground but some of that could just be my bad wore tires. when you go to look are her we like pic's