Try to start off with a small amount of dirt in front of the blade and feather it out at the end of the push.

Starting with nothing and just hitting the high spots is almost impossible to do.

First off, if you are just grading off, use second gear, the machine travels faster and that makes the reaction time for the blade slower. You can also lower your RPMs which slows down the hydraulic reaction too. Try it, it really does work. If you are doing hard digging or full blade pushing, you need first gear, but for most everything else use second.

George

Hi waukman,
Something odd about that #44 Sr. No. All my literature and a check of the Cat Legendary Literature list shows the 8W series beginning at 8W5001

I like to keep a full load of dirt in front of my when I'm cutting finish grade. If you are just skimming along the top you tend to work the blade more than you have to. With a full load the blade holds to the grade better and doesn't seem to suck in quite as bad. Also you're probably running a higher RPM, moving a little faster and your blade adjustments aren't as close together and more noticable. Make your last pass at a 90 degree angle to your other cuts if you can will also help.

waukman - The D4 and D2 are the most difficult of all the Cats to get a level cut on. A combination of a short track frame, the blade way out front, and relatively slow hydraulics, make them the worst tractor to learn smooth blade cutting on.

The tractors with 5 roller track frames and large diameter idlers, are much better at smooth dozing, but are more difficult to turn.

Here's some hints ..

1. Keep dirt in the blade. Some dirt in the blade helps stabilise the tendency to washboard ..

2. Keep the RPM's right up, and the ground speed right down .. e.g. .. full RPM's in 1st gear, gives you maximum hyd speed, whilst covering least amount of ground ..

3. Get all the slack out of linkages .. this means replacing rod ends, bushes, and pins as required, and building up any pivot points that don't have replaceable parts ..

4. VERY IMPORTANT - Use short, sharp lever movements, that move the spool valve to its correct position in the valve body.
Cat warned in the 1950's, about 'feathering' these early hyd valves .. as 'feathering', when moving the lever to the 'lift' position (by not moving the spool fully to the either closed or open position) .. can result in the blade dropping, before it starts to lift ..

5. Short, sharp, movements of the control lever .. resulting in small corrections to the blade position .. work better, than longer-lasting lever position changes .. that result in larger corrections to the blade position .. and the commencement of the washboard effect ..

6. Sight a fixed object in the distance, over the top of the blade, and use that as a reference point, when making blade adjustments. Practise rapid lever response, to tractor 'dipping' and 'rising', to counteract them, as soon as they start to happen ..

7. Practise, Practise, Practise, Practise, Practise .... and Practise ..... it takes 3 months of fairly solid blade operation before most people gain adequate skills to be able to work dirt smoothly and send it where it's required, in the right amounts. Believe me .. I know .. because I've trained up hundreds of operators from scratch .. and they all make the same mistakes, and they all learn, eventually ..


The 8W4842 is an incorrect S/N, and maybe you need to recheck that number. The #44 Hyd Control only commenced at 8W5001-up, as OM states .. and as all the parts catalogs, S/N book, and any other Cat literature in my possesion, also states ..

The above comments very interesting. It brings up an important question for me. I just purchased a 2A blade for my D2 5U. I intend to use it only for snow removal. (I was motivated to buy it because of our terrible winter in Denver this year.)

The D2 5U is an ag tractor, never had a blade on it before. Small idlers.

Now, I need to purchase a No. 44 hydraulic unit. I was not aware that there were differences - gallons per minute pumping power.

So what size No. 44 unit should I be looking for??

Thanks for an info. GWH

The correct #44 pump for the D2 (all applications) is the 27 gpm pump. Cat never offered the 37 gpm unit for the D2 although you could put it there. When purchasing a unit it is impossible to tell what pump cartridge is in the unit without taking it apart. Also the specs are a little loose as the application literature calls it a 27 gpm pump but the D2 #44 specs state it as a 30 gpm and on the D4 it is 25 gpm plus 21 & 29 gpm on the D6,7,8.
Variations in the application run rpm are the reason for the differences.

thanks again ,all involved ,for the info. I'll have to recheck the #44 tag
the number I gave was on a note pad

Thank you OM for the info. Also, it was helpful that you advised that one can't tell the gpm capacity without taking the pump apart. I have been advised that some people want a higher gpm capacity because they are running hydraulic equipment off the back of the tractor. I don't intend to do that, but just reporting what I was told. GWH

I've heard the same thing that OzDozer is talking about, the five-roller frame machines would make a better grade than the 4-roller framed ones would. And that the weight of a winch would help, too. As far as washboarding.