New forum member with first Caterpillar. Tail seat Thirty!

I purchased this one recently as a non runner from an auction here in Florida. It has matching serial numbers on the two brass tags indicating it is a 1929 year model. I haven't found a serial number on the engine yet. I will have to pull the front fuel tank bracket to see if it is stamped under there. The tracks are free and the engine turns over. Everything else is loose. It is in dire need of a manifold and the crank handle is broken. Overall I am happy to have this one in the collection.

This is my first Caterpillar or tracked machine of any make for that matter. I have no idea what parts availability looks like for these early machines. I hope to find some folks that are willing to offer some advice along the way. I have picked up nice original copies of the Operating Instructions and Parts Catalog manuals for the correct serial number range so far.

Hi, Clackety.

You need to be VERY careful. Both 'yellow fever' and the earlier 'feline fever' are incredibly infectious.

Congratulations on your catch. Somewhere under that yellow paint, you may find traces of the original paint, battleship grey with red trim.

Happy 'Catting'.

Just my 0.02.

Congratulations - Nice looking Thirty --- You do have manifolds ( the intake manifolds are encased in within a housing that was originally supposed to heat the intake but carbon buildup and heat usually break the outer portion, I believe that is what your are thinking is bad. Looks like an original carburetor, fuel tank looks great from here. Someone took the steering friction levers off and changed them, not the Sidewinder from what I can see. You will want to replace the hand rail around the seat and add the backrest! "Tailseats" are wicked machines, they will throw you off in the blink of an eye, and yes, I have been on the fuel tank, damn scary! Learn the proper way to crank a Thirty, you pull it toward you with your left hand, the crank has a long throw and it is extremely quick to spin around if you happen to have a misfire and it kicks, you do not want to be in the way! This club and the members are full of information and help. More pictures please! (It has been a long time since I had a Thirty, memory fades, look on the flat area on the crankcase, "where the barrels meet) for a stamped engine number. It was very common practice to change a Thirty from "Cruiser" to "tailseat", thus the brass tags only depict that transmission cover. - cts

depends how bad its cracked may be able to braze that manifold with manganese bronze.

there was a member that was making reproduction manifolds for cat 30's

My congratulations on picking possibly the best username I've seen on the forum yet : )

Rules are you have to post pictures and video, especially when you get it going! Just joking but we do love to see what's going on

Thanks for the warning!

There are traces of grey paint throughout. If I decide to tear this one down and go through the whole thing it will definitely be going back to the original grey.

Intake Maniforld - functionality, if the inner portion is not broken, don't break what is the important portion for cosmetics. - cts

The serial number might be stamped on the brass tag that is on the transmission cover under the fuel tank that we can see in the picture that you posted. I also see a tag on the left fender that should have the serial number stamped in the upper right corner. Good luck ,looks like it will restore up nicely.

Thank you for the observations and advice cts. I have a lot to learn about it. Here are a couple more pics of the manifolds. It has been brazed before and is pretty rough.

I definitely need to locate or build the hand rails. It does look like a well designed catapult. There was a tail seat 22 at the same auction and was able to get a cardboard tracing of the bend radius just in case I can't locate the original parts. I plan to convert it back to the sidewinder levers too.

Thanks. If someone is making high quality reproductions I will have to find out who. This was my biggest concern with this beast when I looked it over before the auction.

Haha! Thanks and will do on the pictures and video.