"Old wrote:

Guess I might as well jump in to:)
You should do a little more research on how the D6 canopy is constructed. I have the remnants of canopy that came on my D6 and it is not constructed with 3 in. strips of 1/2 in plywood. The final skin is 1/4 in. plywood with a couple of different height supporting ribs.

Old Magnet, I worked from original blueprints from Caterpillar. It is as I said, 5/4 red oak frame, 1/2" marine grade plywood cut into 3" strips to conform to the compound curve of the top. The canvas was specified to be painted yellow.

A lot of folks made up canopies from the blueprints, but didn't have access to the spec'd materials, so they did what they could with the materials at hand. As I stated, the Caterpillar prints specified cypress battens, but I couldn't find any so instead I ripped mine from clear heart redwood.

"whiteiron" wrote:

thanks for the info; how did you seal the canvas material? are you saying that you painted over it aswell, also, did you glue the strips together and nail them to the frame individually? thanks

Sorry I missed replying to you WI. To make the strips conform to the compound arch, I used polyurethane glue (Gorilla Glue or equiv) and stainless steel deck screws. You will need to predrill through the plywood strips into your 5/4 oak frame (don't forget to countersink the screw heads, or they will telegraph through the canvas and cause premature holes to form). Also, make sure to wet the two pieces of wood slightly to help the poly glue activate.

Yes you paint right over the canvas. The top in the picture actually is covered with yellow "Sunbrella" synthetic canvas. Good luck with the top.

B4D2,
I suppose the unit I have could be a knock-off but everything appears original. I don't see additional holes that would reflect the removal of the strips and the material is definitely not 5/4 thick. It would be just like Cat to have alternate versions. Do the prints you have reflect years of production?
Anybody have a picture of a canopy on a 9U D6 that shows the underside?

OM, I actually got to see a NOS crated canopy direct from the factory for a D8. I wish I had taken pics. I will try to find the prints and look for a date. To be honest, I have used doug fir beaded ceiling board (5/8" x 2-3/4") when I couldn't find marine grade ply. It looks alot nicer from the operators seat.

I have no doubt about the "planked" versions and have seen several on early tractors. It's the later models that I'm wondering about (late 50's, early sixties).

strips are 2 3/4" wide on the D4 canopy, (looks like fir)

2 1/4" on the cab (looks like redwood)

Thanks everyone for the input on the canopy its been a great help