Oliver Cletrac BGS crawler/dozer

[Santini]

I'm in the market for a dozer and I've found an Oliver BGS (1958?) with a 9 foot Heil dozer blade; engine and tracks rebuilt in 1996; poor paint; and torn seat.  I'm totally new to dozers in general and Olivers in particular.  If ya'll don't mind I'd like to ask your opinion and a few questions:
What horsepower/type engine would this have?
How hard it it to adjust a manual angle/tilt blade?
How much would this crawler weigh?
General dimensions (length, width)?
Most importantly, and with the sparse information you have (tried to attach picture), what would a dozer like this be worth?
My plan is to do some road clearing, grading, and maybe some pond work.  Will this dozer be appropriate?
Thanks kindly in advance,
Santini

[Santini]

OK, after some poking around on this very educational site I've answered a few of my questions, but am still needing advice on about the type of work I'll be doing and the BGS suitability for such.
Answers: about 60-68 inches wide by 110 inches long
**about 8350 pounds ( I assume this is crawler only, no blade)
**6 cylinder, gas, Hercules engine
Please provide any input you can.  I need to make a decision on this in the next couple of days.  Thanks again.

[Robert Barbour]

The hp of the BG is about 45 belt and 40 drawbar. Weight is without attachments, I would add about 2500 lbs for dozer frame and hydraulics.  If the undercarriage is in reasonably good shape and the engine runs ok it will do a lot of work for you. I have a DG and it is heavy duty machine with lots of power for it's size. They have no steering clutches and the brakes run in oil so they are relatively trouble free. Parts are hard to find and not cheap but that goes for most old machines! The only drawback they have is they are mainly flat land machines as the only brakes they have is the steering brakes. If you need to stop and change directions on much of a hill it is difficult to hold both steering brakes and shift at the same time!!  They are easy to work on as crawlers get and do not require many special tools.  Any more question just keep asking!

[Santini]

Mr. Barbour,
Thank you for the information!  My land sits atop the Cumberland Plateau in Tennessee.  It is mostly rolling terrain, and most of the work I'd be doing would be on mild grades.  That said, I've never operated a dozer and what you said about steering and braking worries me.  Can you go into a little more detail about steering and braking on a grade?  Specifically, what would my feet and hands be doing to accomplish this?  I've got pictures of the controls, but have no idea what each does.  One good thing is that the crawler comes complete with an Operator's Manual and a Maintenance manual.
Also, I expect that with a dozer of this vintage one would expect to repair eventually.  The sparsity of parts worries me as well.
Were you able to take a look at the attached picture from my first post?  If you can, would you tell me what you think a fair value would be for this crawler/dozer?
I'm going to look at pictures of the DG right now....
Thank you again.

[Blake Malkamaki]

The Cletracs are inherently easy and safe to steer on hills - as opposed to Cats and other clutch-steered machines that can be completely unpredictible on hills.

What Robert is referring to is if you have to stop and shift on a steep hill, you have to hold back both steering levers to keep the tractor from rolling. This becomes tricky when trying to shift, but you get used to it. There is no foot brake.

Good luck,
Blake

[Santini]

Blake,
Thanks, that alleviates some concern.  Would you do me the favor of taking a look at the picture I attached on my original post and let me know a ballpark estimate of what it's worth?  I know it is difficult, but being completely inexperienced in this, I don't want to overspend on a basket case.  Been there, done that on other items.  Hopefully I'm living and learning.
Thank you.

[Robert Barbour]

As to value that is very hard to say, the machine looks to be in good shape but, but how well does it run? If you could post a close-up of the tracks at the sprocket area I would have a better idea of the condition of the undercarriage. As for the steering, while under power you can operate on a hill with out any problem any other crawler would not have.  Stopping on a mild say 3 to 4 % grade is not bad you can hold both brakes back with one arm and shift with the hand.  It is when you get to 8 % and higher when you need the strenght of both hands to  hold the machine it gets tricky, especially when going down hill and trying to get into reverse when your body weight wants to go ahead and you have to pull back.  Any other questions or if you have larger pictures my E-mail address is rbarbour at island.net  One of the main advantages of a Cletrac is for finishing work, when you are fine grading and back blading, the gentle turning with the differential steering does not tear up the ground near as much as other crawlers.

[Santini]

Mr. Barbour,
Did you receive my email with the other pictures?  Please let me know.
Thanks,
Steve

[Robert Barbour]

Yes I received your pictures, but was away for the weekend and didn't see them until sunday evening.  Did you get my reply?

[ianoz]

Blake , Previous post looks like spam . Ian