Hello:
I recently purchased some land and found a Cletrac BD bulldozer buried in blackberry. The unit is in surprisingly good condition. I have done a preliminary assessment and it looks like the only thing it is missing is three fuel injectors. Does anybody have a source for these fuel injectors?
Over the next few weeks I am going to see if I can crank the engine. If that goes well, I am going to try to get the thing operational. Any assistance is appreciated.
Sean
I live in the UK and had some modern injectors machined down to fit which didn't work out that expensive. I would imagine the injector may still be availible. From past experiance also search very well in the surrounding area and any sheds on your land, also look under the seat and down the side of the mud guard under your feet I found lots of bits under years of dirt down there. If your realy stuck I have some used injectors, but postage will kill that one at a guess. I would be interested to see a photo if you have the means to send one. If i can be of further help I'll do me best, great to hear of more BD's being found. by the way if its a cold day she'll need a bit of help to get started. Sam
sam@cletrac.co.uk
I spoke with the son of the deceased owner of this BD. He tells me the fuel injectors are in a shed on his property and he would be happy to dig them out for me. That is one thing off of my mind. However he had other information to offer.
It appears this tractor was parked because it crawled out of its tracks. He told me that all but one of the idler gears are siezed up and have been worn flat. I guess his dad did not know these parts need lubrication! That is likely why it came out of its tracks. So it looks like I will have to replace all of these. The question now is where can I get them and how do you do it. This tractor is sitting in a field surrounded with blackberry and I don't have anything that can lift 15,000 pounds-- if lifting needs to be done to replace these items. Not to mention there is no way currently to get a large flatbed up there to transport it because the road is too steep and very slick this time of year. This spring I am going to build a new road but for now the existing one is all I got.
He told me it ran fine when it was parked. I am betting I can get it running agian easily-- but can I get it crawling??? You mentioned these BD's are tricky to start when cold. What tricks are there to get it started? I know it doesn't have glow plugs. Thank you for your kind offer regarding the fuel injectors. I do appreciate it!
Sean
Landis Zimmerman is your man for parts, but the idler rollers ain't cheap you may be able to get the old ones rebuilt the bushes are availible but you'll need someone with a press to get them out. They can be reached by slackening the tracks right off and jacking on side of the machine up. is there a chance if you get it running you can limp her out of there preying the tracks dont come off again, by not turning to sharp and get it somewhere you can work on it easier. As for starting well I don't have much experience with mine as I rebuilt the engine run it for a couple of months then disasembled it again to paint and rebuild the rest of the tractor, but talking to others and reading about them in cold weather below about 10 degree C (not familiar with farenheit) you need to heat the air going into the engine, burning rag - blow torch or similar, by removing the bung in the air intake pipe. much below that and you need to warm the engine your may have a water heater on the side where you hang a blow torch, or you could just use ether. As i understand it the reason for the difficult starting is that the engine is a lot lower compression than most modern diesels.
I have been told that the idlers have been worn flat because they were operated while siezed. This means they are very likely junk. I was afraid the idlers would be expensive. I have a friend who is a machinist. Maybe he could make some??? I think I could get the tracks back on but I need to find out how to compress the drive gears so I can bolt the tracks together. From there I may be able to limp her out from where she sits.
I will talk to some of my car club buddies to see if they have any equipment that can lift this thing. It sounds from your email that getting it started when temperatures are below freezing can be a chore. We seldom have freezing weather in Portland, Oregon. However, as I look out my office window I am marveling at over 2 inches of snow. None of the forecasts saw this coming!
I will get pictures of Bertha (my wife has now named the BD so we are definately going to keep her) and get them to Blake for posting. I never thought I would get involved with heavy equipment but it looks like this is going to be a lot of fun.
Sean
There is also a man in Oregon who has a lot of Cletrac parts. Give me a couple of days and I will see if I can find his phone number or address. I have some questions and pointers for you on your fuel system. Send me a U2U with your normal e-mail address
Landis should HAVE Some used rollers if he doesn't I do. Hook on the crawler with another crawler and pull it out of the woods. You will have to clean up the mud when you get it home but you cann't hurt very much. Whatever you pull it with will have to be larger (crawler or tractor) come and get my OC-18 that would work. Spark
to slacken the front idler off you remove the acess panel on the track frame and slacken the bolt in the collar and turn the large nut, it self explanetry when you see it. If you email me I could send you some pages from the book.
OOps Sorry.
If you can get it to run and the tracks are reasonably tight you will find that you can move it in reverse provided you dont turn too sharp. Always supposing you have got the track on the sprocket and the front wheel
Dave
Everyone:
Wow-- I am really impressed by all the replies and assistance I am getting on this endeavor. Since my first post I am learning all sorts of information that I otherwise wouldn't have known.
Thank you all and keep it coming. While I have been working on cars for over 17 years now, heavy equipment is unknown to me and I really appreciate the help.
Sean