Hotroding a d6d

Well if its blowing black smoke out like a steam locomotive then start saving your dimes for an overhaul soon! Over fueling results in cracked pistons, broken rings, over heating, cracked heads, worn sleeves and shorter turbo life. Good luck!

No big smoke. Fuel costs to much for that.

Just curious why you would push your tractor so hard and risk wearing the engine out quickly when you are paid by the day on fire work. Cat set the engine RPM's for a reason and keeping it stock will keep you in the money for a lot longer without premature overhaul costs.

I understand getting paid by the day and more fuel burn doesn’t make me more money. My tractor still had the wires on the governor housing. Could barely spin the tracks in first gear. Backing up a steep hill made you wonder if your gona get out of there. I’m wanting to have extra power when I want it. Doesn’t mean you have to use it all the time. Fighting fire in a underpowered tractor sucks. Fighting fire in a underpowered tractor that is out dated buy modern technology makes you look inept. Old iron is faithful though and I like that. I’m not pushing hp beyond what the engine can do. I’m more interested in the ass end of the tractor. I know the c series was weak. I believe the d series is way stronger.

I learnt the hard way as a young tractor owner and operator, fiddled with fuel settings and revs etc, all it did was cost me money. The engineers work to build a tractor to match from the front to the back, you change one of their settings you are inviting trouble. I am not sure if they called them D6D or D6E tractors, looked the same with 7 roller track frames and 160hp, they had heavier final drives, so maybe that tells you something, leave it standard. If that model tractor won't perform and do what you want, go get a model designed to perform how you want it to perform.

As Deas would say, 'just my 2 cents worth', Wombat

Hi, Magard.
While I understand your desire for more 'grunt' and better performance, there IS a reason why Cat has the reputation for reliability that it does. From what I have seen, Cat has always specc-ed their tractors with the horsepower a little under those of their competition a little under those of their competition. This was not, I suspect, by Cat's design but more because the competition wanted to out perform the Cat machines and so gave them a little more power without understanding that more power creates more stress in the machine and requires better engineering to cope with it.

Yes, Cat has had machines that had problems in the past and may well do so again but, by and large, they have put VERY few failures into the market place. This is largely due to over-engineering of most components and a rigorous testing program for every new model.

I would suggest that if you can pull second gear up ANY hill now, you just might could be possibly may be 'straining the bonds of friendship' with both your engine and your drive train.

Back in 1971, when I first saw the specs for the newly introduced Allis Chalmers HD41, I thought to myself, there are some major repair bills just waiting to happen here. The HD41 was 540 hp, 155 hp more than the then current D9G and the HD41 weighed a WHOLE TEN tons more with similar attachments, not much more than the weight of a D4D with dozer and rear ripper at 65 hp. My thinking was that there was not enough metal and weight in the rest of the machine to cope with that extra power.

Then I heard that a major DowNunda contractor had bought 2 of them and put them to work ripping hard sandstone - - - and had had to repair track frames and final drives - - - and de-rate both machines just to keep them working a little longer between breakdowns.

Does this give you a clue?

BUTTTTT, it'z not MY tractor.

Just my 0.02.

Hi, Magard.
While I understand your desire for more 'grunt' and better performance, there IS a reason why Cat has the reputation for reliability that it does. From what I have seen, Cat has always specc-ed their tractors with the horsepower a little under those of their competition a little under those of their competition. This was not, I suspect, by Cat's design but more because the competition wanted to out perform the Cat machines and so gave them a little more power without understanding that more power creates more stress in the machine and requires better engineering to cope with it.

Yes, Cat has had machines that had problems in the past and may well do so again but, by and large, they have put VERY few failures into the market place. This is largely due to over-engineering of most components and a rigorous testing program for every new model.

I would suggest that if you can pull second gear up ANY hill now, you just might could be possibly may be 'straining the bonds of friendship' with both your engine and your drive train.

Back in 1971, when I first saw the specs for the newly introduced Allis Chalmers HD41, I thought to myself, there are some major repair bills just waiting to happen here. The HD41 was 540 hp, 155 hp more than the then current D9G and the HD41 weighed a WHOLE TEN tons more with similar attachments, not much more than the weight of a D4D with dozer and rear ripper at 65 hp. My thinking was that there was not enough metal and weight in the rest of the machine to cope with that extra power.

Then I heard that a major DowNunda contractor had bought 2 of them and put them to work ripping hard sandstone - - - and had had to repair track frames and final drives - - - and de-rate both machines just to keep them working a little longer between breakdowns.

Does this give you a clue?

BUTTTTT, it'z not MY tractor.

Just my 0.02.

The quickest way to seize a piston and you can't run from a fire with a rod poking through the side of the engine, if you must give it more, no more than a quarter turn on the screw, you don't get any work done with the tracks spinning.

My cousins used to work fires with Cats, & from some of the stories they told, I can see where you would want the ability to get the Hell out of a tight spot if the need arises-and the need CAN arise. My cousin said he smelled grease & paint getting hot once before he got through a spot where the fire jumped the road he was on, no choice but to keep going...that was a TD25C IH, but same difference. Don't let these old women on here scare you, if you need a little more power to do what you need to do...I'm sure you realize it is a trade-off. These guys are so oriented toward making old stuff last forever they can't see any other viewpoint...