Old d2.......what was it originally used for

"Shazam!! I remember that tractor very well!, Sargent Carter got mad at me and said Pyle!!!! weld the fifth gear slot shut! your going to fast with that thing!!"

"Shazam!! I remember that tractor very well!, Sargent Carter got mad at me and said Pyle!!!! weld the fifth gear slot shut! your going to fast with that thing!!"

My 1944 5J from Michigan was Olive Drab also with a serial number around 64XX. All tractors built during the War years were Olive Drab from the factory as they didn't know where it was going. Yours does appear to have Military Stock Numbers. I repainted it back to Olive Drab last year as I figured that is what it started its life as!
It was early when I typed 1947, should have been 1944! My John Deere is 1947, my D2 is 1944!

[attachment=50218]1944 D2 progress right side.jpg[/attachment]

[quote="drujinin"]My 1947 5J from Michigan was Olive Drab also with a serial number around 64XX. All tractors built during the War years were Olive Drab from the factory as they didn't know where it was going. Yours does appear to have Military Stock Numbers. I repainted it back to Olive Drab last year as I figured that is what it started its life as!

[/quote]

this one is gonna stay in working clothes for now anyway. It has a lot of wear on the rails. He has three others (5u series) all with electric start pony motors.....that makes things so much nicer.....and they really only get played with once a year at a local tractor show.

The Cat serial number reference book indicates that tractors 5J6159 to 5J7000 were built in 1944, so yours is well with the War Effort years, and as drujinin already pointed out, all Cat tractors built during that time left the factory in OD green (interesting fact, absolutely NO D2's were built in 1943, again due to the War Effort). Why 5th gear is blocked out is a mystery to me, but I'm sure there is a story behind it if they went to the trouble to do it. The stenciling on the cylinder head is very similar to what I've found painted on NOS military replacement parts I've sourced from various places over the years, but all the ones I've had all had the Cat part numbers stenciled amongst the lettering. I can't quite make out what all is stenciled on that cylinder head though from the picture.

I'm guessing that 5th gear was blocked out to keep the jockeys from driving to fast and accelerating wear to the tracks. Many of the older D8s have high gear blocked out as well. I don't remember the percentage but I read one time what the increased amount of wear was when traveling faster. It was a huge wear difference between 4th and 5th on a D8.

Track wear increases exponentially with speed, so it is always wise to travel slower rather than faster, increase the load at a slower speed. Top gear is always murder on tracks.

Wombat

Hola, Wombat.
Quote:
"Top gear is always murder on tracks."
Unquote.

So, Sir, did you ever encounter wunna the 'red peril' TD14s with the 10 MPH top gear? Bet that did'em a LOTTTA good. NOT. LOL.

Just my 0.02.

The Cat serial number reference book indicates that tractors 5J6159 to 5J7000 were built in 1944, so yours is well with the War Effort years, and as drujinin already pointed out, all Cat tractors built during that time left the factory in OD green (interesting fact, absolutely NO D2's were built in 1943, again due to the War Effort). Why 5th gear is blocked out is a mystery to me, but I'm sure there is a story behind it if they went to the trouble to do it. The stenciling on the cylinder head is very similar to what I've found painted on NOS military replacement parts I've sourced from various places over the years, but all the ones I've had all had the Cat part numbers stenciled amongst the lettering. I can't quite make out what all is stenciled on that cylinder head though from the picture.