Apologies in advance for such a long post! This post summarizes the work done over the last six weeks. I will try to keep to smaller/more frequent updates going forward.

Several months ago I purchased D6 5R4638. The previous owner passed away last year, and his widow decided it was time to sell. She has been very kind to let me work on the machine where it is, in preparation for moving it. It's at the end of a 1.5 mile dirt road, at the top of a steep hill. So far I can't find anyone willing to drive a trailer up to the machine, so I'll probably have to walk it down to the paved road and get it on the trailer from there.

This is my first Cat, so I've been watching a lot of youtube - especially squatch253. Thank you squatch, without your channel this would simply be impossible! (I have also really enjoyed Andrew Camarata and Marty T.) I've also been reading a lot of posts on this forum, which has been invaluable. I got the full manual complement from Jensales - owners, 4600 diesel service, chassis service, and parts.

As some forum members identified in another thread, the machine has a non-cat light-weight blade possibly intended for silage, which is mounted on some version of a Cat 6 toolbar. (I know the machine was used in conjunction with a grader for road maintenance, and I suspect it was also used for snow removal.)

The previous owner last started it about two years ago, but didn't drive it at that time. I couldn't find any maintenance records, so no idea about oil changes, fuel filter changes etc. There was a bookmark in the Servicemen's Reference Book about steering clutch adjustment, so obviously that was on his mind.

The first several visits, the pony didn't run consistently enough to bother with starting the diesel. The third visit, a friend of mine disassembled and cleaned the pony carb. I had noticed the pony air cleaner was entirely missing, so for the time being I put a lawn mower air filter over the carb air intake with bailing wire. Crude, but certainly better than leaving an open butterfly! With those updates and some carb tuning, the pony ran strong enough that we got the diesel started up! But when I tried to move the machine, the engine lagged hard. We called it there.

A few days later, we went up again. In the interim, I re-watched several videos about how to drive a 9U (there's really nothing I can find on the 5R other than some starting videos, but the chassis on the two models is mostly the same). This time, I left it in first gear, and just did nudged it forward, back, forward, back, until the brakes broke free and it actually moved. At first it wouldn't turn at all. I got the left steering clutch broken free first. Eventually I was able to turn right, but the action was inconsistent. I would pull on the right steering clutch as hard as I could and step on the brake as hard as I could, but it would only turn sometimes. (Truth be told, it was my first time ever operating a dozer, so I didn't really know what to expect!)

In the intervening few weeks, I've been doing some other checks and maintenance that I probably should have done before ever starting it. I drained the fuel tank and fixed the drain petcock. The fuel looked good, and the tank is clean. Little if any water and/or dirt. I checked all the fluid levels as specified in the owner's manual: steering clutch booster (significantly low), starter engine clutch (ok), diesel injector pump (ok), diesel and pony crankcase (both ok), transmission (significantly high). The left final drive was low (to about the height of the upper drain plug), and the right final was full to the top but very thick, goopy, and milky.

I drained the oil from both final drives, and filled them with diesel. They've been soaking a few days now. The left one leaked down to the level of the upper drain plug, but it was too gross today to lie on the ground and look where the leak was coming from. (It rained a lot yesterday, and I spilled A LOT of diesel on the ground the day before haha.) If I remember to bring clean cardboard tomorrow I will take another look.

Today I drained the fuel tower, and changed the fuel filter elements. There was definitely some water in the bottom of the fuel tower, but not too too bad. I rinsed out the fuel tower with mineral spirits, and a bunch of muck came out. I didn't take off the hood, so I could only see the top few inches of the inside of the fuel tower, but that section was pretty clean. The lowermost gasket (I think at the top of the transfer pump) weeps a bit, but I don't think I will bother with replacing it right now.

My plan for tomorrow is to drain the injector pump, then prime the fuel tower and injectors, then start the machine and drive it for a few minutes. Then I will drain the finals and fill them with SAE 90, and also change the pony crankcase oil.

Additional planned next steps: change the diesel air cleaner oil and wash the filter elements, wash the steering clutch compartments with diesel, adjust steering clutches, change crankcase oil and oil filters.

I am really hoping to fix the "turning right" problem before moving the machine to its new home. It's going to a property where the access is a 20 foot wide L-shaped dirt driveway. I have to make a 90 degree right at the end of it and get through a 16' gate, but the neighbor's well is right there on the other side of the fence!

Any and all pointers/commentary welcome and appreciated!

When I first saw it, it had a really half-baked brush guard/"ROPS" that was partially installed. It was a danger to life and limb so I have since removed it. Otherwise the machine appears to be complete except the replaced precleaner, and the pony motor air cleaner is missing.



The owner added an electric started to turn the pony flywheel. You jump it from a battery or your car. It works ok! I haven't tried to rope-start yet but plan to soon.

 

Front view of blade - it is just shy of 10' wide.

   

Blade mounting.



Hydraulics use a rear-mounted BeGe pump. The pump seems to work fine, the one time I've tested it. One of the couplers was leaking, but I replaced the O-ring and that stopped it.

 

Side view of the main engine. This is after pressure washing once.

Nice save! Love the six cylinder engines, so smoooooooth! When ready and possibly up to it, I should still have a toolbar blade for a D6 at my satellite yard for sale... (Northern California) JM

Don't worry about steering to the right. When you have to do that; put it in reverse and pull the left stick put on the left brake and you will go right.

BTW; Really nice looking tractor!

Thanks Deebo, Juiceman and side-seat!

side-seat, I had considered driving backwards to make the 90 degree turn, but as a brand-new operator I am not confident in my driving skills! I definitely need some more practice before the move.

Juiceman, that is great to hear about the blade! I am really hoping that I can get some actual earthworks done with this machine, and have already been contemplating a blade swap. Before that, I would need to get the left lift cylinder rebuilt. The leak isn't horrible, but I think it leaked about 1/2 a gallon of hydraulic oil over the last few weeks - a bit too much for my preference. I will let you know when I am ready. I'm also in Northern California so that would be perfect.

side-seat, I had considered driving backwards to make the 90 degree turn, but as a brand-new operator I am not confident in my driving skills! I definitely need some more practice before the move.

 

You can still be driving forward. All it takes is slight movement in reverse to correct your line of travel.  Maybe the right steering clutch will break free once you start moving the tractor around.  Try releasing both steering clutches and put on the brakes a few times forward and reverse. Or, Maybe it needs adjusted.

Some progress yesterday but not total success. I replaced the steering clutch drain compartment plugs with 1" npt black pipe plugs. I filled the fuel tower by hand (saw this on a squatch253 video), then tightened the bolts for the filter. I started the pony (with the rope!) and bled the tower. I was starting to bleed the injection pump (by cracking the fuel pipe nuts) but the pony started seeking and I didn't like the sound so I shut it down.

I figured that was a good time to change the pony oil - yuck! Very thick, very black. If it was SAE30 at one point, that was a long time ago. Pretty sure this is the result of running the engine without an air cleaner! I then flushed the pony crankcase with almost a gallon of reclaimed (a little dirty) diesel, followed with some clean diesel, then refilled with SAE30. It was about 1.5 qts to fill the pony. I'll probably change it again soon - didn't realize how bad it was.

I started the pony again, and cracked all the hex nuts for the fuel pipes at the top of the injection pumps. Fuel came out of all of them so I tightened them, then turned up the throttle, but I couldn't get the diesel started. Some black smoke came out initially but then stopped. My fuel pressure gauge didn't read anything. It was getting late so I gave up and went home. I'm tied up with other stuff today but I'll go back on Friday and try to start the diesel again.

I'm confused about a few things. First, it says in the owners manual that with the throttle all the way forward, the injection pumps should be cut off. But that doesn't seem to be completely true on this machine. Second, I'm not sure if the fuel pressure gauge ever worked (I've never looked at it the two previous times I got the diesel running). Third, after looking at the manual more, it looks like the injection pump bleeders are the square pegs sticking up behind the fuel pipes. I'm hoping that bleeding those will have a better result.

side-seat wrote:

Or, Maybe it needs adjusted



 

I'm a little confused by the description of the adjustment. The operators manual says in the text 3" travel at the top of the lever, but in the photo caption it says "at least 3" travel". Is more better, or less? The left control is fully engaged (pluger all the way into the boost pump housing) with about 8" travel, but the right needs almost double that to be fully engaged. I haven't tried adjusting the nuts yet.

 
 

I cannot remember if there are any differences between the 4r, 5r, and the 8u 9u, since it is 30 years since I was on a 4r. You will need the hood off but on 9u, the pony governor was not right adding bit of oil to the governor fixed it. So could help you, but may not. Again, I cannot say the 5r fuel tower has the same air bleeders as the 9u. But on 9u I have had several filter changes that the air did not come out just loosening the line nuts. So yes open the dedicated bleeders on the pump. If your lucky the special wrench is in the tractor tool box. It is a L shaped wrench with oval opening on both ends. Some have smashed a 1/4 drive socket to fit that oval shaped bleeder for a quick fix.

The throttle lever has a dent before it goes all the way forward to shut the fuel off. So you may not have the throttle to the shut off position.