Which way to go

Hi all - very newbie here. I'm looking for a tracked loader for our farm,
clearing, road maintenance, cord wood, you know the drill. Have a D4 that hasn't moved in 3 yrs with "transmission problems" and a 955 with "condensation stuck" engine and a whole lot of replacement/spare parts nearby. Being a sucker for old machinery to begin with and having the where with all to fix most anything, I'd appreciate some opinions. Mainly ease of working on, parts availability when having to buy, special tools needed, anything. I should say I like to fix something once and done.
I fix the tractors and rest of the machinery, but will this require another class of tools?

There are some special tools for sure but I've been able to manufacture quite a few that work for occasional use.
I did buy the hollow ram cylinder for pulling and pressing hubs and sprockets. There's also a lot of field mechanic ways to get around some of the special tooling if you want to go that route. If you're familiar with a wrench I wouldn't worry about working on an old cat. And with all the experience on the forum you would have a hard time finding a problem that someone hasn't ran across before

Engines are almost always easier and more of a known quantity than anything else BUT the condition of the rest of the machine is more important.....especially undercarriage. On the surface it sounds like the 955 is your machine.....newer, track loader vs dozer, lots of spare parts sitting around.

I never worked on one (had a narrow escape involving a 933 once!) but undoubtedly a track loader is a lot harder to work on than a standard tractor. There are some press fit components on all Caterpillar equipment that you need porta-power equipment and tooling for, but other than that its just heavy iron.

Sometimes its just best to hire the pressing if you ever need it done. This would be things like sprockets, possibly steering clutch hubs etc. Not really familiar with the D4 size machines vs the smaller and larger tractors.

I'd say "Any which way you can" or "Every which way but loose"
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