I have attached a photo of an old Cat scraper. I believe it was built for the US Army. It appears to be a mix of a D7 dozer blade, a 824 or 834 wheel dozer, and a 631 hydraulic scraper.

I would like to know the model number and years that it was manfactured. Any infromation is appreciated.

This is a Caterpillar model 830M or 830MB. The scraper attached to the tractor is a Letourneau-Westinghouse model CT-4. The blade on the tractor is close to a D7F semi-U blade as I remember, it uses the same end bits as the D7F but the cutting edge is two bolt holes shorter or longer (I can't remember) than the one for a D7F. Not exactly sure of the manufacturing dates but these were used in Vietnam and for somes years after up until 1985 when the US ARMY purchased Caterpillar 621B's. The Caterpillar 830 is a very good machine. It was superior to a similar Clark model 290M.

I don't remember the engine model but it is the same engine that you would find in a Caterpillar 988 loader of the same year. The scraper was 18 cu. yd. struck and 22 cu. yd. heaped.

The 830M and 830MB were built from 1962 to the early 1970's. I don't have a precise end date. Military equipment built by Cat either has a very similar civilian production equivalent, or no civilian equivalent at all. The 830M and 830MB have no civilian equivalent, they were built to supply a specific Military Contract.

The early 830M production has a tractor S/N of 41E1 to 41E499. These were cable operated machines. The next version, the 830MB was hydraulic, and S/No's ran in three groups, according to Military Contract purchases. The second Contract purchase was for 300 machines, 41E500 to 41E799. The third Contract purchase was for 200 machines, 41E800-41E999. The third group was for an unknown number of tractors, 41E1000-up .. this was possibly another 200 machines. I do not have the total number built in this third Contract purchase.

The bulldozer blades are exclusive to the 830M and 830MB tractors, they do not have any civilian equivalent, and they are in two groups .. cable blades from S/N 45E1-45E499, and hydraulic blades from S/N 45E500-up.

The tractor unit was based on the 988A model of front end loader, and it used basically the same components as the 988A, except the tractor unit was reversed, as compared to the 988A, and the rear part of the tractor was a different structure to the 988 tractor, as it did not need loader frame mountings, just a hitch for the scraper. The engine of the 830M and 830MB is identical to the 988A - the D343 OHC engine.

Hi Ozdozer ,Is this the same as dales , that he put photos up on the ACME forum ? ian.

Ian - Yes, same tractor, exactly.

I'm taking a shot in the dark here . I hope someone will read this and be able to help.......
Next year will be my fathers 50th anniversary of his tour in Vietnam. He was a combat engineer. I would like to build a model of a road scraper that he did a lot of work with over there and give it to him a as a gift. I have a few pictures of his that I can use for reference.....but I am having a very hard time finding the model kit. I want to build it in 1/35 scale but at this point I will use anything I can find. From research I have done I believe what I'm looking for is a Caterpillar 830MB or maybe a 290M WHEEL DOZER & SCRAPER . I was hoping you may have some information on possible model kits or even a diecast one. I am a skilled model builder and I would be able to convert a diecast civilian scraper to look like a military version. Any help you may have would be a huge help. Thank you very much
Danny
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Where is this machine located? The Army Corp of Engineers at Fort Leonard Wood Missouri is always looking for these old units to restore and put on display. I first saw these on the assembly line at Peoria back in the fall of 1962. They were equipped with 29 CCU's and were to be hooked to Curtis Wright scrapers we were told. Even thought the engine was a D343 the transmission was based on a 966. Fort Leonard Wood has a Cummins powereed later model waiting to be restored. Bill Walter

I think I know where one of those is sitting. If it's still there, it has sat for 10 years or more. It spun a main or something & seized up, they asked me about fixing it & I declined the job...I don't think they ever got it going again.

there was one for sale up hear in Manitoba less than 6 months ago look really nice wish i had the extra 24,000.00 they where asking