Some relatives contacted me a few weeks ago and said they had bulldozer for me if I wanted it.

I quickly found it is an R5, and I said what the heck is an R5? Never heard of it! Well, now I am a little more educated but I have a lot to learn still.

About 20+ years ago my dad's uncle bought this machine as a farm dozer. He rebuilt the original engine and probably did many other things that no one knows about. He was well known as a talented shade tree mechanic, so I am lucky in that regard. They never got around to putting the blade on after it was delivered, but the blade and pins are all there. His health declined and he passed away before it was finished. The family was happy for me to take it on as a project to finish and put to use in his memory.

It has a hydraulic dozer blade on it, 12v electric start, 12v inline fuel pump, and a PTO on the back with a chain sprocket (I think it was marked Leroy, Olean but I forgot to take a picture). Tag was on the back right of the machine showing the serial number 4H698 dating it to 1937. Sprockets and pads look good. I didn't look at all the links and rollers in my excitement. 

The fuel tank was empty and looked rusty inside so I ran a fuel line to a gas can. Cranked over with a new battery but wouldn't start. Narrowed it down to no spark. Found a manual online for the magneto which showed me where to find the contacts, so I cleaned some corrosion off of those and it fired right up!

Prior to this, the oldest machine I've operated is my 955L, so I took an educated guess at the controls and slowly eased it out of the tight barn. Thankfully, that went well. I drove forward, turned left, turn right, and went backwards. Not sure if the parking brake works but we will get there. The right lift cylinder for the blade was gashing fluid from the rod seal. It sounded good to me. It appeared the ammeter and oil pressure guage were functional. I will add a coolant temp gauge asap. I can't afford to make more problems for myself.

So I'm currently setting up a truck to haul it to my place where I can start working on it to get it back in working condition. I have some small jobs for it around my 23 acre property. Probably a couple hours a month of run time, if that. I live just a few miles from the National Pike Steam Gas and Horse Show near Brownsville, PA so maybe I will have it hauled over there for a show or two once I get it looking nice. 

Questions:

Does Cat maintain records of who the original purchaser was?

What year did Cat start marking bolt heads with Cat logos?

What type of equipment would this PTO of been used with?

What age range does the dozer blade equipment date to? Was it a "kit" sold by a company or cobbled together?

Suggestions for proper gasoline and additives?

I found the operator and parts manuals on ebay for not much money. No luck on a service manual yet. Any directions on finding that are appreciated.

How should I go about repairing the leaky lift cylinder for the blade? I just rebuilt a cylidner on my 955L myself, and it was pretty straight forward because I was able to get all the parts from the Cat shop and instructions were available. I don't think I need the instruction part, but where do I go to find the right seals for something like this? 

Any suggestions for a mechanical temperature guage that will look appropriate on this machine? I don't want to just slap something from autozone on it.

Thanks!

 

The R5 was the same chasses as RD 6 so a service book for it should cover most things. I believe even back then the engines service book was a separate book as engines where sold as power units to other companies. No idea what the engine designation for the R5 is, so no help on that.

I would guess the blade was put on it aa a new tractor. Possibly a LaPlat-Choat (I always forget the correct spelling). Just take the cylinder apart and viste a hydraulic repair shop and hope they can match up seals and packing.. Could well take some improvising, but pressure was low by todays standards that helps.

Never heard of anyone finding lists of where machines went after leaving factory, let alone a list of first owners.

If your uncle had the head worked on and hard valve seats and valves used you good to go with the unleaded gas. Have not heard anything about lead additives in years. May not be around anymore.

No idea how you get a good quality temperature gauge today. I have had Steward-Warner that failed quickly 20 years ago. But the club was selling decal face plate of old style faces to put on new gauges. So check out the store on this site.


Nice looking tractor, good that steering is free. From a neighbors experience they are a thirsty beast about 5 gal a hour.

Yup, I read the Nebraska test for the R5 and it was rated at 5 or 6 gal per hour. Yeehaw.

Here is an incredibly poor video of it starting and moving.

i.imgur.com/zN2elK9.mp4

Believe that's a Wooldridge blade setup.

Sounds good and everything seems to be working inside like steering clutches and such. Good luck. If anybody knows the name of the CAT dealer that was around that part of the country, depending on how many times new people owned the dealership and how many times they remodeled things. They MIGHT have old records of sales. Usually after the old man dies or maybe even the son, things like paper records go to the dump!

Good luck-looks like you’re off to a good start. I may not have read your post closely, but be sure to check fluid levels.

keep safe-bernie

I was of the mindset Cat might have some of those records (and someone figured out how to make them available), but I guess I am mistaken. I work for a company who has been building industrial equipment for over 100 years, and I can look up the original purchaser of any piece of equipment sold in that 100 years by the serial number. The information was important because a significant source of revenue was and still is service and parts sales.

Beckwith Machinery would of been the premier Cat dealer here back then, but it is now Cleveland Brothers, so I doubt any records would turn up there. Oh well, I just like to know as much history of something I have as is possible.

For an answer to your question on service records or possible first owners and following owners watch this video and at 1:55 there is some information.

Thanks
Ken

Got it moved!

shoots flames out of the exhaust. Running rich? I need to get a manual to check timing and all that.

Dug around in the barn it was stores in and I found the whole oil bath air cleaner and the top hat for the air intake that holds the glass mason jar, so thats exciting.

I am thinking about removing the “falling object protection”. I’m a little in love with the original look.

Things to do:

1 - clean the fuel tank to make it useable and find a cap for it

2 - check timing, carb adjustments

3 - hydraulic hoses, radiator hoses, fluids

4 - rebuild the cylinders

5 - fix up and mount the air cleaner, looks like im missing the

6 - mount the blade