I'm new to crawlers although I've wanted one for the last 45 years. Looked at a 933 Traxcavator the other day. Both motors started right up and ran good. Machine drove fine and loader worked OK. Serial number is 11A1018. What year was this made? What serial number did they start with? Was it #1001 which would make this the 18th one made? What were the weak points on this machine? The one thing I didn't like was that the original tracks were shot so the guy adapted a set of tracks from a D4. The problem is that the new tracks have grousers and I've been told that grousers and loaders don't work well together. I'm looking for a loader to put in a 2000' driveway. Cutting all of the grousers off with a torch seems like lots of work but would that be an acceptable option?
I also looked at a 955 but that seems like a huge machine. It had a turbo. Where do I find the serial number? What would it weigh with a loader? There were no levers. Just 3 pedals on the floor and a shifter with 3 speeds forward and 3 speeds reverse on the left arm rest. The owner thinks it is a 955H but he's not sure, it does have a slanted hood. He mentioned something about it might be the first year of a new series. I can get either machine for the same price. The 955 is 1 mile from home, the 933 about 25 miles away.
Thanks for all the help. I went to the Rock and Dirt fest in S.E. Wisconsin this morning. Sooo Cool!!!!

Wow, lots of questions:D
I'm missing production data on the 933 11A but they were produced starting with #1 from 1955-1959. They are built on a D2 tractor with D311 engine. At the 42A series, Cat installed D4 size undercarriage. The street (semi-flat) grousers are a match for high maneuver rates.....If you want traction for dozing and/or logging it was common to install regular tractor grousers.

The 955H (60A series)was the first of the new series after the 955C (12A series) with a D330T engine. Weighed about 25,000 lbs. Serial number on back of the main case and LH side of the engine.

The 933 was a hopelessly overloaded machine using a D2 base. Most were beat to death at an early age and are usually flat worn out. Could be a handy size for light use but tended to get abused.

The 955 late series was a pretty stout machine and was probably one of the longest running production models, produced from 1960 up until the early 80's

Hi brandy,
my OCMOC book tells us that Cat. built 933C 11A1--11A653 in 1955, and 11A654--11A2152 in 1956. OM is on the money with details of these over stressed units, my experience is that they were vulnerable in the bevel gear and pinion area for one. I believe they were meant to be a utility machine but many here in Oz were in production type work and suffered because of it. They were fairly capable for their size which suited them to a lot of job sites.
They can consume lots of $$$ to keep running.
Hope this helps,
Cheers,
Eddie B.