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Antique Caterpillar Machinery Owners Club
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DISCUSSION
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Should I buy this D5?
Should I buy this D5?
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Posts: 1
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Thank you received: 0
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1 month 4 weeks ago #257977
by RanchDozer
Hello, new to the forum , not currently a dozer owner. Want a dozer for some farm projects and there is one on FB for $2700 it's not running currently, owner says it just needs carb cleaned and a new battery. He said it's a 1939 D5 serial number is 4H1153W . I'm not mechanically inclined but hope I could get it running, I couldn't find any info on the serial number. Don't know if I could find parts don't know if it would actually be able to push over trees, pull heavy loads, move dirt etc. or what it's actually worth. Any help or information would be appreciated. Thanks
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1 month 4 weeks ago #257978
by neil
Based on that this machine isn't currently running and your acknowledgement that you're not so familiar with the mechanicals of this machine, I would likely steer you away from this unit towards something that is already running. Not running can mean anything from the simple carb clean like the guy says to needing a full rebuild. It's hard to say unless you can perform some basic checks. You could ask him to get it running so you can assess it - if he says no, I'd probably walk away.
Cheers,
Neil
Pittsford, NY
The following user(s) said Thank You:
Buddy
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1 month 4 weeks ago #257979
by CRS93082
A 1939 D5 should have a 9M serial number and is a pretty rare machine. I'm assuming this is a R5 which is more common and gas instead of diesel. That being said I would look really hard at the manifolds and undercarriage. Those can be very high dollar repairs. For a first dozer I would look at a D2 or a 6U or 7U D4. Those are pretty common tractors that are much easier to get parts for. They are great projects to learn on and fun to operate. Then work your way into the harder stuff.
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1 month 4 weeks ago #257981
by Deas Plant.
Hi, RanchDozer.
As CRS93082 said, that machine is DEFINITELY NOT a 1939 D5. The D5 model in 'kwestyun' would have had a rear seat fuel tank and a 6-cylinder DIESEL engine with a pony starting engine and I think there were a WHOPPING 46 of them made.
I think I would even query the '1939' year for an R5 but I'm not an 'ex-spurt' in such matters.
Definitely check the tracks and the manifolds as previously suggested and I would want to hear it running a drive it a bit before I laid down any 'hard-earned'.
It will likely do some work if it is a 'runner' but it will slupr big gobs of gas out of the fuel tank while douing it.
I think the blade and hydraulics are LaPlant-Choate who are no longer in business but did make good solid products back in the day.
Just my 0.02.
You have a wonderful day. Best wishes. Deas Plant.
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1 month 4 weeks ago - 1 month 4 weeks ago #257995
by Ray54
Another word of caution, it is a gas engine. It will burn 5 gals of gas per hour loafing along. More if you really try to get the dirt moving.
A neighbor had one in the day of 30 cent a gal or less for gas. But still worried about how much it cost to run. He hired a larger dozer to take oak trees down and doing clean up with the R5 Cat. He got my dad to run it one day as he had other business to attend to. It bogged down on a very small load of limbs on the blade. So my dad gave the carb adjustment a bit more gas and it would push a good amount of loose brush. The owner showed up late in the day, saw right away it was pushing better. Ran up and backed the adjustment back off. With the comment I cannot afford that it already was burning 5 gal an hour.
Last edit: 1 month 4 weeks ago by
Ray54.
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1 month 4 weeks ago #257999
by seiscat
That R5 is not a good choice for ranch work. In fact it is a terrible choice! This looks like an opportunity for a collector of antique Caterpillars though.
Craig
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1 month 4 weeks ago - 1 month 4 weeks ago #258009
by SoCalCatMan
Ranchdozer, this is an early 1939 wide gauge r5. We have 4h1064w and we would’ve loved the asking price you got. Wide r5s are pretty rare. The only one I’ve seen in person is ours. And a few online, but it’s a really good find. This machine weighs 14300 pounds with no blade or wide gauge finals. I’d imagine around 14500 no blade, and maybe 16500 as it is. I know sheet metal parts are shared with gas thirty fives and gas foutry’s, but I’m not sure about engine parts. I will admit that the r5 is a hard bird to find parts for. Any repair, or replacement of the finals would be expensive if you don’t have a donor machine if you can find them. They DRINK gas and for a dozer setup wouldn’t be the most efficient. Ours lived on a rock quarry with a blade and it shows. Someone before us took the blade off and made it a drawbar tractor. Diesel is more efficient, but for style points, a wide R5 is a gorgeous tractor in my biased opinion. If the engine is stuck, finding parts will be very hard, but if everything is free then it’s not as bad as it could be. I hate to steer someone away from a rare cat, but just take into account that if you buy it and it needs work, the supporting parts are expensive and hard to come by. Much more so than a d2 or d4. But 2700 isn’t a bad price for what it is.
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1 month 4 weeks ago #258022
by neil
I change my opinion : ) Buy it, and store it. At worst, someone will want it as a donor for parts. At best, you might get it going and use it for fun. You should still buy a D4 for the actual work. I would LOVE a huge gas tractor like that but nowhere to store it and too many other projects. I've drooled over a running Seventy - that's a man's machine
Cheers,
Neil
Pittsford, NY
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1 month 4 weeks ago #258032
by SoCalCatMan
This might be a controversial opinion, but I prefer the gas cats to diesel ones. We have some diesels, d2s, rd4, diesel thirty five. Diesel is much more efficient and powerful, but the sound of a gas cat, especially one with a decent size bore, just has a special place in my heart.
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Antique Caterpillar Machinery Owners Club
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Should I buy this D5?
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