Recoil start pony

That's what we called them when they first came out in 1960 on D330 and D333 Diesel Engines. At first they did not have a muffler. They drew their oil out of the Diesel Engine crankcase. Guys were used to running 30 wt. oil year around with the older engines that had the horizontal starting engines. These little fellers wouldn't take and threw up!! Then we added seperate crankcases on the little engines and had to modify the crankcase guard so that the new crankcase pan had clearence. They also lowered the RPM's and added a muffler. It was one update after another. We all felt that this was CAT's way of telling the customer to buy a Direct Electric start. Too many people start these little engines, as they do all starting engines without throttling the engine down to a low idle. I've seen people never touch the throttles. Start them up and let them wind up from a cold start. Then they wonder why they don't last. After a ton of inprovements, they were a pretty good little engine. Some what similar to the "V" starting engines that John Deere used only JD engines had sleeves. Oh what fun to R&I one from a 977 loader. You'd better get the lift arms up or you're in deep do-do.

Hi Bill,
I have heard say that they were called "Buzz Bombs". Must have made one heck of a sound when they blew up.:jaw: Wonder how many years it took Cat to finally get them to be somewhat reliable? These were found on D4C's and D's correct? On Machinery Trader I keep looking for D4C's and D's with ponies for sale but haven't seen one yet. That tells the story right there. I did see a D6C about a year ago on MT that had a pony on it. You don't see too many of those either. As you can guess, I love Pony start Cats. They have their many faults, but that sound when they fire up, is music to my ears. Probably why I'm wearing hearing aids now. 👋

We called them grenades, the first one I ever heard was in a 955H and even with a sliencer fitted it sounded as if was about to fly to pieces, I converted new 933G's to electric start as late as 1968 when Cat sent out the last few of them with pony motors, seemingly, just to get rid of them. As far as i can tell, these were fitted from the first D6B and D4C in 1958 and available on all 4.5" and 4" bore engines until 1968.

I replaced one on my 12E grader with an MT 50 starter last summer. .one of the best moves I've made in a long time! The only good thing I'll say about that particular "buzz bomb" was that it was real good at mosquito control. .oil burning little screamin' critter. It reminded me a lot of a Screamin' Jimmy with a runaway govenor😆

Thanks for the info and insight Catsilver and Ol Grump. The engineers who designed the earlier horizontal pistoned ponies must have all retired and some newbies came on the scene with "New Engineering" ideas. Yea right! LOL. You guys have a nice day.👋
Joe Giraud

The only thing good about those "buzz bomb" ponies and their 5050 rpm high idle speed is when they blow....it's terminal.