Am new here. I am beginning the process of trying to figure out my Dad's D7 E Cat dozer.  Little silver plaque has SN as 2612-1-1282....... is this a "good" number or do I need to keep looking?  I had a retired friend who worked for Caterpillar in Topeka, KS who was going to help me get it going but he has been fighting a brain tumor the last 5 to 6 years. The tumor just recently came back and he is not expected to live long. So now  I have my nephew's FIL from Leavenworth, KS going to come take a look at it in April.  In the meantime---my neighbor's son took my manuals home to read up and see if he could figure something out (3 yrs ago) and refuses to return the manuals.  I have some of his tools and told his parents that if he would bring me the manuals I would give him his tools back.  (I can be a grouchy old neighbor!!!)   Anyway--- I need to make sure I am finding the correct SN  and  correct information so that I can order the manuals for the D7 - E model.  I ordered the serial number book off of this website in hopes it will help me.---- My Dad always had a Cat and cleared our farm (300 acres) and built all the terraces  and ponds himself.  He had a really old D7 that you cranked by hand and I rode a lot with him growing up..  He was the type of guy that would buy a piece of equipment and fix it up till it would be almost as good as new.  He bought this dozer bcuz it had a pony motor and a tilt blade and the undercarriage was really good on it.. He was excited to start working  with it.  Shortly after he bought this pony motored one--he was diagnosed with Progressive Supranuclear Palsy----and soon lost his reaction time and started to fall alot.  So he put his dozer in the barn and did all the things he was supposed to do to store it for a while. The dozer worked really well for him but he knew he was in a battle to fight for his life but he was so in hopes they would find a cure for him and he could once again go to the timber with his Cat..  Even took him to Mayo's in Rochester, MN.  He didn't make it. He passed away from complications due to the PSP.---  So any advice or things to look out for would be greatly appreciated.  Don't know if I can do it--but i will give it a good try to learn and perhaps follow in my  Dad's shoes. I'm retired now and can "piddle" on the farm which I  inherited part of.  I have a cattle lot to clean and some mean little locust trees that need to come out so it would be fantastic to get this Cat fired back up..   Thanks for any info you can head me towards.  Been searching your forum here for any information.---Becky
 

Hi, jellybean.
First up, welcome to the forum.

Sorry to hear of your father's passing and also of your retired friend's issues.

That 'serial #' does not appear to be a good one. Given that it is a D7E, the serial number should have a 47A prefix for a manual transmission or a 48A prefix for a powershift transmission. This should appear on an aluminum plate on the firewall below the dash and also on the upper left of the back of the steering clutch case.

I hope you get your manuals back. They can be worth their weight in gold when dealing with machines.

Check all the fluids, make sure you have the correct antifreeze mixture in the radiator - 50/50 red works out here in Central Coast California but maybe not in Kansas - maybe change all the filters, at least engine oil and fuel filters, Fresh gas in the pony motor is a must and maybe an anti-algae treatment in the diesel fuel - or fresh fuel.

That tractor should be an 'in-seat' start, meaning that you start the pony motor and then the diesel from the operator's seat. Make sure that transmission, either manual or powershift is in neutral before attempting to start it.

Please feel free to fire away with any questions that may occur to you. NOBODY here likes to hear of old Caterpillars going to waste by not being used.

Just my 0.02.

Thank you for the warm welcome. And I appreciate your .02 worth! Worth a lot more than that to me! I know my Dad was worried about it sitting. I think he was the happiest when he and his dog Sandy would go "dozing"!!! Thank you so much for the advice and suggestions!!!

welcome jellybean
if you join up with the club the library will be open to you. in it you will find many of the manuals you seek and much much more. what part of Kansas are you located? maybe some locals live near by?

Thank you for mentioning the library! I live near Hiawatha which is about an hour and 20 min North of Topeka or 45 minutes West of St. Joe, MO. I have a really good friend, Larry Woodman, who is retired from Caterpillar in Topeka, KS and he was going to get the dozer back up and going BUT he was diagnosed with a brain tumor abut 5 or 6 yrs ago. His tumor has reappeared and is aggressively growing once again. The immune therapy he was receiving is no longer working.

Take some pictures of your D7 Jellybean and post them here in this thread. very sorry to hear about your friends poor health. if your dad parked the D7 in the barn and prepared it for storage then it shouldn't be to much problem getting it going. does the pony engine have an electric start?

here is a video of starting a D7E with in seat pony engine controls. watch the man first turn on the gas to the pony then turns on the pony ignition and pulls the choke and adjusts the throttle. he then pushed the pony starter button and the pony fires up so he pushes in the choke and throttle up the pony. he then pulls the pinion lever to get the big engine to spin while he waits for oil pressure to show on the gauge. then he pulls back on the big engine throttle lever to turn on the fuel to the big engine and it fires up. turns off the pony ignition switch turns gas off and away to work. others please correct or edit if i missed something????

That was a "warm engine start", if it was cold the compression release lever should be in the start position first to get oil pressure up then after a few minutes switch lever to compression but leave diesel throttle control closed or off, if really cold or even around 30 to 40 degrees let the engine turn over on compression for around five minutes to build up in heat in the cylinders then open throttle half way and engine will fire, return starting engine to idle and turn off gas valve.

Welcome to the club site and my condolences to your dad and prayers to your friend. Gary

this is a good manual to have
www.ebay.com/itm/275074993270?hash=item4...6:g:sgUAAOSw9S5hw3U9