New addition to the herd

Picked up this 9u D6 from a farm a couple hours west of me. Its a 1953 model year that appears to have started life as an ag tractor with the dozer being added later. The machine was dropped off late last night so and I'm excited to play around with it. I snapped a quick pic when leaving for work this morning.

Boy, your'e taunting some of us! Nice addition to your fleet. Give us the full story please. U series D6's are some of my favorite machines to own and operate. I can see from here, the drawbar is hardly used too. Enjoy. JM

JM - Thanks for the kind words. Not a ton of history on the machine. It was purchased new in Hutchinson, MN and was once owned by a gentleman who upon his passing donated all of his farmland and machinery including this Cat to the Ag research center in Lamberton, MN. The center auctioned off the tractors and from there it went to the gentleman that I purchased it from so its pretty much lived its life in southern MN.

I believe the hardnose and dozer were added later as the decals on the front of the hardnose are the newer style block letters and there are no D6 emblems riveted to the side near the hydraulic cylinders which would normally be correct for this year. The blade also shows significant more wear then the rest of the machine indicating it was probably used on something else before it found its way on this machine. All of this is pure speculation from my observations and everything appears very original.

I removed the home made canopy yesterday and that made the machine look a lot better. I also removed the exhaust extension pipe, replaced the missing gauge light, and installed the missing fender toolbox. I still need to round up the missing battery cover and ill probably put new bushings in the steering clutch levers.

Very nice, those D6, 4R-9U series were smooth riding and running machines. Not many of them in the rice here, mostly D7's and IHC TD18A, TD 14 when I was a youngster. Enjoy your "new" machine. cts

Very nice, I love them when they are so original as this. Congratulations!

He is rubbing salt in the wound! Hah! Niiiiiicccceeeee! And to top it off, he has a dealer decal that I have never seen before.

If you can't find a lid for your battery box, send me your mailing address. I should have a "few" here; I generally do not ship parts, but if it fits in a USPS "Flat Rate" box, that's easy for me. Or, you can put a stamp on the D6 and send it my way instead. JM

Where did you get the gauge light? Looking for one!

A few years ago I went picking at a salvage yard and got it off a No 12 grader. I needed it for my D2 at the time but it was the wrong type as that used a smaller one without glass. I turned out to be the correct one on the D6.

JD used similar dash lights. Here is what I refer to as the smaller style. The base might be different but the hood is what I believe to be the same:

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Count the number of links in the track chains. Ag Cats had 39, dozers put on at the factory should of come with a bigger idler and 40 links. Not that this is 100%, but is a very good indicator.

Very nice looking tractor.

Just got one of those to adapt to the D2 - thanks!

JM - Sent you a PM.