what i meant was a work light. not a gas axe. as ray has mentioned todays ultra low sulpher fuel gives problem with these older systems a dose of flash-lube diesel conditioner helps with this and dosing is easy its 1ml to the litre of fuel so to talk yank measurements 1 gallon does 1000gallons of fuel. it improves lubricity of the fuel and also has a slight cleaning action too and it helps with upper cylinder wearlubing the injection pump and the injectors. we use it in all our diesels and have no issues.

A question for the brain trust here. Did they make bolt on sprocket segments for the 17A track, or does that mean it has already been updated to say a D6 C track? Because the segments are very visible. So hopefully bulletproof takes note of the number on the links.

I had bolt on segments on several of my 17A's here. Not sure if the pitch was different. Most of mine were highly modified as well. JM

Ok, so today was a GREAT day!

Got on the road at 6:15. Picked up sidekick at 6:30. Got to dozer at 8:45. Owner was there waiting for us; he's a really good dude, 5th generation on their 550 acre cattle ranch. His dad bought the D7 10 or so years ago from a neighbor who lived a few miles away. They were going to use it to clear some of the land, and when you have a 550 acre ranch, I think you can justify a D7 to clear land.

Dozer was easy to get to. Didn't need to break out the chainsaw or weed-whacker. Just like you see in the pics.

The owner had 4 big freaking batteries in the back of his truck. I think the smaller ones were 4D's, but they were dead. The larger ones had 11.5 volts each, and look like they've been sitting in a shed for a decade or two.

We got unloaded and got the generator fired up (sidekick has a Honda generator) and got two chargers going on the big batteries.

Then we checked fluids and such - good on antifreeze, good on fuel, good on engine oil, milkshake in the transmission...gonna have to pretend we didn't see that...

Checked for air filter and it had been deleted at some point. Ruh-roh. Mice had made it into the turbo on the cold side, but not a worst case scenario. Just had to clean it out a bit.

Then started on fuel system, and that's where we ran into a problem. Injector rack seems to be immobile. But wasn't able to get it moving and the parts between the rack and the fuel filter are throwing me for a loop. Will have to wait for me to download pics and video, but we didn't want to force the issue, so we buttoned it back up for the time being.

Fuel filters (3) all had fuel in them; they were all full. And tank is gravity feeding the first fuel filter (small wire screen), so we don't have an obstruction between the tank and the first fuel filter. Fuel filters look almost new; we saw old filters laying in box that must have been changed out the last time someone tried to start it.

At that point, we figured we wouldn't be able to start it, but we could at least try to turn it over.

Starter was already wired with a pushbutton and we ohm'ed all the wires and everything checked out, including working pushbutton. We then built some quick 2/0 cables to connect the 12v batteries in series for a 24v system. Used the positive wire that was already in place because it ohm'ed fine and it was in good shape.

I was worried about a stuck rack and WOT/runaway engine if it started, but I really didn't think there was much chance of it lighting off immediately. I also had a thick denim shirt sitting right next to the intake; I could have smothered it if it caught.

Verified all controls were in neutral and then hit the starter. Almost forgot - no real way that I could see to turn it over manually, at least not at the front of the engine. Anyway, the sumbitch spun over quickly! No funny noises, just nice and smooth! I was turning it over with the compression release in the "start" position, so it wasn't building much compression. No smoke, so it wasn't getting any fuel that I could tell. Second time I turned it over, it spun for a second and then I switched the compression release to "run" position and it definitely has compression; really slowed it down.

Seller was there watching and he was certainly happy to see the engine turn over. He did mention that the winch was turning as I was cranking the engine, so that's a problem that we need to address; can't be using battery/starter power to turn the winch. The problem is the two controls for the winch -- one is "bluetooth" (i.e., cable is busted) and the other is frozen in position. Anyone have any ideas on how to disengage a Hyster D7 winch that has MIA and frozen control levers?

Anyway, at this point, we called it a day. Seller was leaving to go out of town for work for a few weeks and sidekick had to be back to for parental duties, so we packed up and headed home. Batteries also weren't happy from having to turn the engine and the winch.

I have pics and video. I'll post pics here when I get a chance, and I'll work on editing the video to put up on the YouTube channel.

Next step - figure out the fuel system, source an air filter, figure out how to disengage the winch, and plan the next trip!

Thanks for all the input!!!

Scott

I put segmented sprockets on this last go around along with rebuilt finals, I don’t know if a3T could be ordered with them I kinda think a 17A could, I know there was a field change over for 17As ,I put the new style seals as well the next problem is getting new segments. Worse come to worse I guess we will have to built them up! The pitch was the same 8 inch I wish I could have done it years ago. 17afarmer. Mike

Hi, bulletpruf..
No doubt somebody will 'kee-wrecked' me if I am wrong but I don't think the 17As were a live PTO so disengaging the master clutch should have stopped the winch from turning.

Just my 0.02.

Deas wrote:

Hi, bulletpruf..
No doubt somebody will 'kee-wrecked' me if I am wrong but I don't think the 17As were a live PTO so disengaging the master clutch should have stopped the winch from turning.

Just my 0.02.

Thanks for the info!  

Scott

did you give the rack a good drowning in penetrating oil? sometimes that along with time is enough to get things to free up.

trainzkid88 wrote:

did you give the rack a good drowning in penetrating oil? sometimes that along with time is enough to get things to free up.

 

I did; doused good with Kroil.  Do I need to have the batteries connected to get the rack to move or is it 100% mechanical?

Hi, bulletpruf.
The rack is 100% mechanical - NO electric tricks in that engine.

Did you disconnect the throttle linkage before trying to move the rack? If my understanding is correct, the rack is moved by the governor which is controlled by the throttle and so the throttle linkage may have no DIRECT control over the rack but just remove all possible impediments to isolate the problem.

Just my 0.02.