I saved this 12E 99E this week. This farmer was using it for building pads and water way work until about 6 years ago. We are doing some wind farm work nearby and using his yard for a lay down yard. We made a deal on it, and afterward he was telling me he was about to call the scrapper to come get it. I put some new 4D group Caterpillar batteries in it, made a couple of battery cables, cleaned the solenoid on the starter, and it fired up after a couple of tries. Now I just need to get one of the lowboys down there to get it and bring it home!

       

Nice find/save, appears to be in good shape too. It's a shame how many units go to farmers and die there.

Old wrote:

Nice find/save, appears to be in good shape too. It's a shame how many units go to farmers and die there.
 

Thanks OM! So far the only thing that doesn’t work is the brakes. Other than that it operates pretty nice! 

Thats awesome, good save. Who in their right mind would scrap a machine that nice. Put an ad on Craigslist for scrap price and it'll be gone.
Brakes who needs brakes, there's a big one in front of the cab, just drop it when you want to stop!!

the best brake in the world, a implement.

thats in too good a nick for the scrappy if they had any clue the scrapper would have onsold it for triple what he would have paid as scrap.

sadly many things go for scrap and the scrap dealer couldnt care what it was. one of our local scrap yards does care somewhat as he was taught to value some of this old stuff by his father who was shop foreman in the cryton cane harvester factory which was then bought out by massey ferguesson and he was there for many years till they closed.

The bald works as a brake but it needs get in the dirt.

I got sent out with a old AC grader had a model M crawler tractor engine. About 30 hp but at least 1/2 the weight of a Cat 12. My dad wanted ranch roads graded not run with a dozer. Roads never made with the idea anybody would be running a grader on them. I was game to try any new toy, as the grader was on a leased ranch. Sitting for a few years, but started right up. Coming up hill and extra little hump. All mechanical controls, lifting blade, but just not coming up fast enough. The engine dies, I push the levers for down. Without much compression in the old engine, back I go. AND THE BLADE IS COMING UP. The light bulb comes on the engine is turning backward. Push the other way. Thankfully I stayed in the track, got stopped. But I could see a problem with the blade as the only brake. But my dad showed up and could not see the problems. So with cable and more power from a AC HD 9 all was well until I got to the top of the hill. Had some limestone ledges to cross. Lifting and lifting to get over them. Then free wheel until front tires hit the tracks on the dozer. The second time he decided we had done all the grading with brakeless grade we should do on wild cow pasture roads.

Brakes are very useful even on a grader.

yes proper brakes are needed but the best park brake is a implement. many old tractors have dented tin work cuase the park brake didnt hold.

Fix your brakes, you will be much happier. How about your hand/parking brake? They usually help stop machines with only single brakes I call them; I only road my 12 two miles from the house to the main yard, and never comfortable even with functioning brakes. As many are aware, the brakes are not the best on a motor grader.
During my quest to purchase a grader, the gentleman that assisted in the sale/purchasing spelled out anything and everything he knew about my 8T15911; his last comment was "oh by the way, the brakes DO work". At that point I said SOLD!
That is a very nice looking grader you saved; looks like you were in the right place/right time! JM

I rebuilt the brakes on my 8T 4xxx grader, turned the drums and relined the shoes, worked very well after that, even had a second set of drums that I was going to add, as they only have brakes on two wheels, but after the rebuild, the second set was not needed, parking brake just needed adjustment to work well, I really was surprised how well they worked for such a heavy machine.