Diesel 35 starting question

I was able to get the transmission out of gear and into neutral. I took the cover off of the pony motor clutch housing and things are just a little rusty. Probably rusty enough to not allow me to engage the clutch.

I believe your pony motor setup is pretty similar to the one on my D8. If so, the starter pinion assembly is pretty accessible. Before you attempt to start the diesel, you might want to pull the can/cover off the pinion release mechanism and make sure it is latching and unlatching properly. It should have a pretty strong spring in it and needs to kick out when the latch is released. If the pinion fails to release when the diesel starts, internal components of the pony motor will likely become external in a hurry. The first couple of times I started up my machine I held the clutch engaged by hand so I could disengage it if the pinion failed to unlatch. Just spin the diesel to get it warm for a couple minutes, stop it for a second to open up the injectors, and then hold the clutch by hand until it fires up. I hope that was helpful for you.

If you have the covers off and things don't look oily, oil them (everything that moves) and all of the linkage connections you see (including over the pinion).

Daron

pasochris you are correct in that the D-8 and diesel thirty five pinions are very similar but there is no cover (can) on the D35, D40, RD-6, D50, RD-7 as they are conceled in the clutch compartment there is a access cover on top under the right floor plate or you can go through the bottom cover undernieth to observe pinion function. The bottom cover will let you see the most. as for the clutch lube it up really good so ever thing moves freely there should also be two oil cups one for the pinion and one for the pony clutch release collar. with the pony clutch adjustment cover removed you should be able to see the oil cup hope this helps best of luck.

Thanks for the replies! They are all very helpful. I oiled things up in the pony clutch compartment and then backed the clutch off a few holes. I had to get a small pry-bar in there and work things around a bit while I was pulling on the clutch handle and I finally got it unstuck.

I started the pony, pulled the pinion lever and then the clutch and sure enough, the diesel started spinning. It didn't spin very long until smoke was coming out of the clutch compartment. Shut everything down and readjusted the pony clutch and tried it again. I wanted to try to get the diesel firing so I made sure the system was primed and everything was ready to go. I got the diesel turning over under compression and after checking things out, I opened up the fuel. It took a little bit, but the diesel started firing. I remebered what pesochris had just wrote about the pony killing itself if the pinion gets stuck, but it popped out early and I had to engage it a few times. The diesel finally fired-up and I was thrilled! After sitting out for 35 years it lives again!

I was able to put it in gear and try out the steering clutches. Everything works except the brake pedals are stuck--off--fortunatley. It sure is nice getting an old Cat going again.

congrates on getting the tractor running it is always exciting when they first fire up. I always liked the way those three cylinder diesels sound they are very unique. as for your brake pedals that is a common problem on that model, if you remove the floor plates there are covers on the right and the left side four bolts each with the covers off you can put penatrating oil on the main shaft the pedal attaches to as well as the other linkage usally its the big shaft that the pedals attache to that are the problem hope that helps again congrates on getting it going

Thanks for the pedal info, I'll work on that next. The engine only revs to 850 rpm, right? Seems slow when it's at full throttle, I guess that's why. It can idle way down too.

Being a cable dozer, it has the small winch on the back. With no cable on it, when I engaged the main flywheel clutch that winch will continuously spin and the lever at operator doesn't do anything to control it. Is the brake suppose to hold it till you raise the blade or how does that work?

Not having any cable on it, it probably hasn't slipped in so long that it's stuck. If you can attach a cable to it so it can't spin, then you can possibly adjust the clutch and brake so it doesn't spin all the time. It may take a while for it to slip enough and clean up the friction surfaces and the adjustment to stabilize.

If you can post a picture of the CCU or model number information, probably someone can tell you how to adjust it properly.