As you smarter folks know, I'm not the sharpest knife in the drawer, which probably explains why I keep on dragging home dead Cats that you would happily send off to China as scrap, still, I like the challenge of trying to save our worn out and busted Australian history, it is something I am really passionate about.
This past week I had 10 tons of Cat crap arrive at my place, its journey had only been 400 miles, and it was a challenge to get the dead crawlers unloaded, but we got it done, and there are parts there that will help me save other Cat wrecks I have.
The wide Ten will be a good challenge, it sat out in the open for decades with the head off, and I can see cylinders #1 and #4 will definitely need resleeving due to severe rust damage, hopefully cylinders #2 and #3 can be saved with just a good hone, only time will tell, getting the pistons out will be a good challenge. Serial number is 1687, making it a 1929 build.
There is also a very interesting Cat 22 that was modified for remote driving, I'd seen photo's of these tractors over the years here in Australia, mostly 2 Tons, that allowed the operator to sit on a scarifier or combine and drive the tractor using horse type reins, but never seen one with all the original remote hardware. The engine on this one is stuck, the previous owner did not know why, so I look forward to finding out why, it looks to be in very good condition for its age, serial number is 2F7426SP, making it a 1936 build. I'm sure Neil Paku will enjoy seeing the photo's of this one, he is a 22 tragic.
There were some useful spare parts in the 10 ton load too, including a D2 3J backend, a "Big" 20 carcass, a couple of 2 Ton backends, plus track frames, some tracks, a couple of blocks, and other small parts, all things I need for saving other machines. One thing I know is it isn't getting any easier to find parts for these old Cats as the years roll on, and the older folks who owned them get moved into Nursing Homes, or sadly fall off their perch, and their families can't wait to call in the scrap man to clear all the "junk" out of the yard, or shed, so they can sell the property.










