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This  photo, taken in 59,  with my  little sister and brother aboard,  is a tractor made out of  part of a Road Grader.   I'm trying to figure out what it  "was."

When we got it   from  the "junker"  it was the rear wheels, rear axle/ transmission,  cast iron bellypan,  and a Ford flathead 6,  NOTHING  else.

My father  had the blade metal bend,  cuts made on the plow   arms,  and the discs  cutout for the lift winch   and MADE  the rest!!!

Front axle is out of a 34?--36??  Ford.  (Big bolt pattern,  cable brakes)   Radiator ??  Dash cluster  I think out of a Stude from the dump,  Lord knows the fuell tank,  and hood is home made.   The  plow hoist  was brutal,  an old worm drive steering box   on the near  wheel.  

My  Grandfather  named the place  "Ranch Atlasta"  on the hood of the tractor.    It lasted a couple of years,  threw a rod,  and Dad went on  to a "man's tractor,"   the Farmall Regular

So if you would,  concentrate on the rear,  the belly,  and the engine,   although  I do  NOT  know for certain  that the engine was "factory."   The idea of it  would have looked similar to the old  Ford tractor based graders,  but that is not what this was

I'm guessing it was a cruder, older version of this

Last year:



This year   I got "all busy"  and mounted the old Meyers blade, which  I've had since the mid 70s  on  the little Farmall,  and here we are,  "zip."     In fact,  I went for a ride in  the 67 Dart today   38*,  no rain,  the sun even peeked out for a few minutes

On my little  ??  Cleota,  using an old belt driven pump,  it's finally apparrent that the hydraulics are getting SLOW.   I had a internally bypassing cylinder which I fixed, and now it holds "up"  in good shape.   the pump generates enough pressure to lift the front end of the crawler on downpressure,  and the belt drive will squeal   at full cylinder travel.    

I do have a suction filter,  forgot, but specifically asked for "big"  micron spec because I figured this old system needed all the slop it could get.

I suspect the filter may be getting plugged,  although I did run it awhile when first installed,  then changed the filter.  This was before this trouble began, which has just be sometime lately  My memory thinks there may be test  taps on the filter.   If so,  what max  suction should I expect, each side of the filter?  ------

and how else can I go about this?    


Pump does not lift far, maybe 1 foot.   Suction line is about 3, maybe 4' of 3/4 hose, double braid.  All pressure hoses are 1/2"

http://cletrac.org/forum2010/index.php?topic=2321.0

Best picture of the hydraulics I have,  this was before I installed the filter  on the line coming out the lower right (front) end of the tank:



In the shot below you can see the pump, and that it doesn't lift much.   Am I thinking correct, that since it still develops pressure enough to lift the cat off the ground that the pump is not internally bypassing?

Unfortunately  we've lost the pictures,  my "unknown"  model  Toyota powered threw a track today,  the master pin had been retained by  nails.   What belongs in there?   I don't have a couple of "huge"  (1/8?  3/16?)  cotter pins.   Of course for now she's back on her feet with   TWO MORE NAILS  in the pin!!

If you go towards the bottom of the page:

viewtopic.php?f=21&t=2321&start=25

You can get some idea of my homebrew governor, which is on a Toyota 20R, using a governor off a D2/D4 Cat pony motor.   Today I ripped the original Toy 2bbl off,  made a 2 -to 1- bbl adapter plate, and installed a little 1bbl off, maybe,  a Ford Falcon/ Maverick small 6.   I've just completed "roughing in"  the linkage and it hunts BADLY,  IE dumps the throttle open and kills the engine sometimes.  When it DOES   "pick up"  it hunts for 4 or 5 cycles before it stabilizes   I AM running this without the accelerator pump

Any  "general theory"  you guys can offer,  I.E.  shortening this or that lever or lengthinging, etc?

Once it is "stable"  it seems to hold RPM  against a small spring,  but takes little to upset it.  

It  MAY  be that the carb is too lean on the power circuit.   This carb has a typical  "Holley"   "power valve"  circuit which seems to be operating.

So,  linkage?    Linkage ratios?

Accellerator pump?    (I'd love to stay away if possible,  it adds friction and force to the linkage, which the governor  "doesn't need"

Power valve circuit?   too lean?  

Not sure what to go here

Drug this thing home Saturday.  Now I have buyer's remorse.    I'm  not sure, after looking it over,  that it doesn't need a lot more work than I first thought.     For starters,  that bucket is a HUGE  PITA.   First thing I did yesterday, is build  a double "forked"  tube prop  to capture the bucket/ frame tubing and make a prop to hold the hoist up safely.  Trying to do ANYTHING  on the engine through all that framework is   very  frustrating

It's a little 100,  by the way,  an outgrowth  of the A/ Super A I guess

Went out to a junkyard full of crawlers N of Spokane, hoping to find a pan seat and spring for the project.  All they had was tattered upholstered junkers in a pile,  but.....wait......


Two  HG/ OC-3?'s   sitting way back at the fence.  None of this stuff seems to have run in years.   These two were close to complete.  The OC  had a nice little Weldco blade.  He wanted 75 bucks for the pan seat and spring.    I declined.   I asked him, just for drill,   "what kind of money you talking for the whole tractor?"

THIRTY FIVE HUNDRED DOLLARS!!!!!

I've made more progress on the horrid project

http://cletrac.org/newbb/viewtopic.php? ... c&start=25

Because of the "new" engine, mounting, etc, I decided to belt drive the pump. The EXISTING pump had been direct driven off the front of the engine, and I'd assumed I'd have to replace it  because the rotation would be reversed

The other day I got around to looking at the pump, it's a Hydreco, with these numbers on the tag: 1512C1B1

I went to the Hydreco site and downloaded their catalogue, but the numbers I have seem to be an older series, not listed. This is a two gear (external gear) pump, and is not marked as to rotation, or inlet/ outlet NOTE that if it's belt driven, mounted in the "usual" manner, it will be REVERSED from when I got the thing.

Can anyone ID this thing, and tell me if in fact it is reversible?

what is/ are the proper term  for rubber "road pads"  for tracked vehicles?    Where are some places to get them  or get material to make them?

Hi folks,  from N Idaho area.  I always "get myself"  into this kind of thing with both feet mired in the mud

Bought a junk Cletrac,  looking for suggestions on engine (swap)  and help with model ID  About it's only saving grace was the low (still too high) price  and it has a pretty substantial appearing (Holt?)  blade

Now this thing is ugly. REAL  ugly.  I think the cab will get yarded off.   It has a horrid Pintoed 1600?  cc with an auto sitting there, all froze up,  and some horrid concoction with an auto trans  (spaced away from the bell flange!!)

What might be some good combo's for engine / trans?

I"m not really enthused about an auto trans, but have some of you?

Is there room in these little guys for say,  a Maverick/ Falcon engine plus 3
speed?

Can you put larger stuff like Chevy inline 6, Ford 300, etc?

Do you need an aux trans with the larger engines?

Ya I know.  Lots of answers and no info





Ford Ranger/ Pinto 2000-2300 plus stick?

Old Datsun/ Nissan/ etc/ 4 wanger and trans?

Modify / shorten the trans?

I haven't even got it home yet, so haven't really measured up stuff.   How about stuff like "up to"  EFI  V6's, etc?  Obviously front wheel drive junk is out, I guess?

(Once again, assuming  I'd need an aux trans for the newer,  "higher RPM"  engines


I wouldn't be surprised if you guys just kick my a$$ right off of here  before things even get rolling!!