Cat D4 7u roll cage drawings

Has anyone got any drawings for an original forestry spec roll cage for a d4 7u ? I’ve got a ex Swedish military one with a hyster winch and blade and would like to make a roll bar to protect me from the winch cable.

I don't think Cat built anything until the 1970's that meets specs to be considered true roll over protection. i don't know when Cat built a canopy that would be strong enough to give any real protection from falling limbs. What is in my D6 of the same time frame as 7u D4, is only posts bolted to the fenders with wooden tops. Anything to be true ROP is attached to the main case or the frame rails.

There was a company in Oregon that was affiliated or even a branch of a company building winches for the logging industry. Sorry the name is not coming to me, but could well be Hyster. I am sure someone here knows. I cannot remember seeing one of their canopies on a D4, but very sure they had them. But on D6 and bigger machines, they used formed sheet of 3/8 or thicker steel. It started by the front of arm rest on fender around the back of the fuel tank, to the front of the other arm rest. All formed steel no weld to form the U shape of the base. All tied to the canopy and limb lifters, with screen across the back of canopy.

i did think that might be the case and anthing like what pacific north west hillbilly has on his d4 is more of a home bru ?

Hi, George Patch.

IF I read your first post correctly, you are more interested in having some protection behind you in the event of a winch cable snapping than a full rollover protection structure. As Ray54 explained, Cat didn't make anything with dedicated ROPS mounts until, I think, the late 1960s.

How-wevver, the mounts for a pretty good winch cable protection frame would not need to be anywhere near as strong as for a ROPS or FOPS - falling objects protection structure. A cable protection structure could be attached to the fenders, maybe with some reinforcing, and just be a simple frame that extended to at least head height and perhaps with a stretched mesh infill so that you could see through it to behind the machine.

Hope this helps.

Just my 0.02.

Yeah exactly that. It’s more for a braking winch cable than anything else but I do really like the look of a sloping front forestry spec roll cage 😂 I am a fabricator by trade so making something is no drama but it would have been nice to make something that was a replica of a period age. Il come up with something !

Hi, George Patch.

Here are links to a couple of photos of canopies from around that era on larger dozers:

https://www.vannattabros.com/1973pics/hd21a3.jpg

http://twentywheels.com/imgs/a/a/p/a/n/caterpillar_d6___c_dozer_1_lgw.jpg

Or there's this one, a little more 'primitive':

https://render.fineartamerica.com/images/rendered/default/greeting-card/images/artworkimages/medium/3/grant-county-oregon-logging-bulldozer-forest-1942-logger-1940s-black-and-white-visions-history.jpg?&targetx=0&targety=-13&imagewidth=700&imageheight=527&modelwidth=700&modelheight=500&backgroundcolor=959595&orientation=0

And here is a photo of a model of an IH TD25C dozer with a canopy style that was popular over your way in the 1960s:

https://i.ytimg.com/vi/UnIoWLpcJjc/maxresdefault.jpg

Hope this helps

Just my 0.02.

This might be closer to what you're looking

With only one picture I am only 97% sure this is one of the canopies out of Oregon, many times added along with winches. But you can see the base is one piece of steel, from arm rest area bent then around the fuel tank to the other fender. Not sure how important that sheet steel is. But a very distinct part of the whole that identifies them as coming from the same source.

Not a Cat product, but built by a after market company that lasted more than just a year or 2. A much more robust canopy than Cat offered at the time.

Ray54, a pretty nice machine as well to hold up the frame work

Hi, Ray54 and wlf89.

The company's name was Medford, dunno why, maybe it had sumpin' ter do with the town where they were based, Medford, Oregon.

Just my 0.02.

Hi, George Patch.

Here izza photo of a Medford canopy onna D8, possibly about the period style you are thinking of:

Just my 0.02.