oh my what was I thinking

[Creekrat]

OK so I joined the Cletrac Org and now I am posting a newbie message. I guess I should be saying let the fun begin....

Back in the 70s as a young kid we always had a few dozers and backhoes around the house. One being this old Oliver Cletrac gas machine. It was not much of a work horse for my father but it was a lot of fun to climb on as a kid. About 20 years ago my dad sold the dozer to one of his buddys (Jim) for $800. Jim rebuilt the engine and replaced the rear axles seals and cleaned and painted the tractor. I think that he used the dozer to clear and level some land around his house and then plowed snow with it for a few years. Then he parked it in the barn. Jim passed in December and I got the call that the dozer was for sale. I bought it site unseen no questions asked. I really just felt like it was a family heirloom. I spent a day working on it to get it to start and it ran good enough to load on a trailer. I loaded it up and brought it back to SE Indiana.

I still have a lot of work to do to it but it is running and I moved some dirt over around my pond just to say I did it. 
I then called my brother to come over to run the dozer. He was a lot younger and as a kid he spent a few days setting in the seat dreaming about the day he was big enough to run it. I guess his dream came true on Sunday, he sure had a big smile on his face.

I look forward to digging into to all of the information that everyone here will have to offer.

Thanks

[Blake Malkamaki]

What a great story! Welcome to the Cletrac Forum and Cletrac.org!