D6 9U Brake and Blade Question

mtgstuder,

Congratulations on your new purchase! I own 9U1447 which is 1948, so your 9U1117 must be the same year.

Yes, you can adjust the brakes. The adjuster is located under the seat tank accessible from the rear on the left hand side. You need to remove a 6" x 6" square access panel held in place with 4 Nr 3/8 UNC bolts, remove the pin from the end of the yoke \ linkage and take up the adjustment. It's a pig to do as you are reaching in working blind, especially with a winch fitted.

You need to obtain the service books (engine & tractor), operators instructions and parts books for your tractor, ebay is the best bet.

First, there is a problem with the left brake. The right brake works like a champ. The left brake needs to be mashed in as far as possible to work. Is this something that's just an adjustment, or do I need to plan on doing the brakes immediately?

If it works at all, you probably can just adjust it. the adjuster on the top of the band is pretty simple, just you can't really see it unless the seat is off. With a logging winch, you may be able to see better than with a #25 CCU on the back. You don't want to get all the free travel out of the brakes, leave something like 3 inches, but you can get more pedal than you have. It's also possible your steering clutches aren't releasing properly. Check the booster oil while you're in there under the seat/tank. The last part of adjusting the brake is to go underneath the tractor and adjust the brake band support screw. Tighten it up snug against the bottom of the band and then back off 1 1/2 turns and lock the locknut.

Third, it has cable blade. Is it possible to covert to convert to a hydraulic blade (ideally one with tilt)? Where would I go looking for parts?

You would need a high (37) GPM #44 model control or a later equivalent. The 7W series has 2 valves so you could have a tilt cylinder. The standard controls for a bulldozer had just the one valve with raise-hold-lower-float positions. The second valve is only raise-hold-lower (no float).

Fourth, it has a rake that weighs a good 2000 lbs in and of itself. Right now it's set up to be pinned to the blade. Was there a defined way of attaching different implements to the blade frame? (I think about the quick-attach on the loader on my wheel tractor.)

That's pretty standard. The other way was to have a complete rake with push arms and all, but that's a lot more work to attach usually.

I'm really looking forward to getting the machine home. It's set up for logging with a Hyster Winch and a full roll cage. (I live on timber land, and I'm looking forward to being able to do things my wheel tractor can't.) It seems to be in pretty good shape, other than 50 odd years of wear and tear, and needing a good coat of paint.

Finally, are there any recommendations out there on what I should do once I get it home to ensure it runs for another 50 years?[/QUOTE]

Get yourself an operators manual. Ebay is a good source for 9U manuals, but most of what you will find are for the later oil clutch models, but the one I have also covers the dry clutch adjustment. Probably the main thing to ensure that the tractor performs reliably is to keep up with the maintenance and adjustments and use it regularly. It also doesn't hurt to keep it in a shed or covered, but as you know many of them have never seen the inside of a shed since they left the factory. It does cut down on condensation and water getting into the compartments where it causes a lot of problems.

good luck.

Hi CC,
Need to up size that pump. The D6 hard nose setup uses the #46 hydraulic control with a 65-70 gpm single valve only control.

Also a minor point on brake adjustment......the brake band needs to be tight to the drum (activate brakes) while doing the support screw adjustment.

OM,

They must have really wanted that system to MOVE the blade. I guess the professionals wanted speed and that's why the #24 front mount ccu was desirable.

I didn't like the #24, too fast compared to the #25. but it would allow you a towing winch mounted on the back, so I would have made that trade, but the towing winch I wanted was sold for scrap many years ago (over my objections)

mtgstuber,
Remember, never adjust the #24 front mounted control with the engine running! It can do the job quite well, but you wouldn't have hydraulic tilt or downpressure. A good cutting edge on the dozer makes a difference with the cable dozers.

ccjersey, you mention keeping a good cutting edge on the blade. Any tips on the best way to do this?

I'll definitely post some pictures once I have them.

Hi CC,
It's not about speed.........it's those big honk'n cylinders and low pressure hydraulics that have the demand.

So today was the big day. The D6 arrived. Yeah! It was interesting, as I live on a very windy dirt road. The truck and the lowboy trailer was doing fine, until we came around a curve and bunch of folks had parked on the road to drive their four wheelers around land owned by the paper company. We had to offload the cat, and then use it to pull the trailer around the corner so that the truck could get out. Rather than reload the cat, I decided to just drive it down the gravel road the last mile. Once I got to my place, I drove up the mountain-side. I was grinning ear-to-ear. What fun! 😄 It's amazing how much different the control operate on dirt than gravel.

So I got it up the mountain side, and on to one of the logging roads on my property. Then I managed to stall it out. I didn't worry much about it. I went and had lunch.

After lunch I fired up the pony motor, and after about six tries, got the diesel running. What a wonderful sound! 😊

And then . . . I went to drive it. I put the clutch in, I put it in first, and I went to operate the forward-reverse lever (johnson bar). When I pushed the lever, I got a grinding noise. I didn't matter which direction. I tried putting the clutch in and out a dozen times. I tried putting it in other gears. I tried putting it in forward, and then putting it in gear. No dice. I can shift between the gears, but I can't get the forward/reverse lever to operate.

As a result my beautiful new (old) cat, is now sitting there on my road -- and given that I haven't fixed the pony motor on my cat-12 road grader yet, I can't even drag it out of the way. Fortunately, it's on my road not the county road.

Any advice? I have an engine manual, but I don't have a parts book or chassis manual, so I'm not sure what to adjust, lubricate, etc.

Attached is a picture of it, as well as a picture of the one of the drive sprockets and the underside of the track. I'm curious about the wear I'm seeing. Is it normal? Is there something that needs adjustment?

Oh . . . one last thing, the serial number is 9U1417, I misread it the first time. . That makes it just 30 off of David's. I assume it's a 1948.

Hi mtgstuber,
Sorta killed the moment huh😉 😉
Could be a number of items preventing the F/R lever from working but I would first look into the transmission lockout mechanism. It's down on the LH side of the transmission with four indent bars for the various shifter forks, the F/R being the bottom one. Start with an adjustment check. If that doesn't do it come on back as some have had luck poking a pry bar down the top cover to move the forks.

That sure looks like a 8U model to me (narrow gage) and seems to be a fine working example.

The tracks (rails) show signs of hitting the roller flanges (worn) and the wear on the pin ends and sides of the sprockets indicate you either have an alignment problem, loose sprocket or excessive worn parts. The pins are probably rubbing the rock guards if you have them.

The production year is still the same 1948