Caterpillar D6A

[Jakko Westerbeke]

Willem is the one who posted about it here, but the dozers are owned by the De Braal family, yes. They’ve got three D6s now

The intention is to put the armoured cab back onto this one, probably by fabricating a complete replacement and fitting it instead of the cut-down one that’s still on the vehicle now (the real one, of course, will be saved as well).

[Alex van de Wetering]

I agree....what a find......and not 1, but 3 CATs, sounds like the project has got very serious!
Thanks for sharing the pictures Jakko. I hope Willem will drop by to tell us more about the project and his exiting finds!

The intention is to put the armoured cab back onto this one, probably by fabricating a complete replacement and fitting it instead of the cut-down one that’s still on the vehicle now (the real one, of course, will be saved as well).

Personally I would try to complete this one by welding in the missing pieces, rather than making a complete repro set of armour......it would be a shame not to use as much of the original as possible and it's certainly no disgrace if one can see where new sections were welded in.....it would tell an interesting part of it's history!

[John P]

What kind of shape is the undercarriage and track frames in?.The folks with the ACMOC might also be of some help with your machine.Very nice find

www.acmoc.org

[Jakko Westerbeke]

Originally Posted by Alex van de Wetering

sounds like the project has got very serious!

You don’t know the next part yet … “We’re trying to get a permit to dig a big hole in your beach”

Originally Posted by Alex van de Wetering

Personally I would try to complete this one by welding in the missing pieces, rather than making a complete repro set of armour......it would be a shame not to use as much of the original as possible and it's certainly no disgrace if one can see where new sections were welded in.....it would tell an interesting part of it's history!

I had assumed they would weld plates into the openings, but when I mentioned this, I was told that apparently their plan is to fabricate a new cab completely. “You’ll never get welded-in plates to look quite right” I think was the reason. My POV was also that if you close the holes, you’ll have the original armour on it as much as possible.

Originally Posted by John P

What kind of shape is the undercarriage and track frames in?.

I’m not a real vehicle restoration expert (the 1:35 scale versions are more my thing) but they looked OK, though some of the sheet metal was rusted. The track, though, still works fine — the links moved under my weight as I stood on top of it to get into the cab.

IMG_8196.jpg IMG_8194.jpg IMG_8195.jpg IMG_8224.jpg

As said, though, they have two other D6s, and plan to use parts from at least one of them.

[maple_leaf_eh]

There's a Youtube channel for everyone and everything. If I can find it again, there is one about a fellow who found a 1950s Caterpillar dozer and got it running (salvage workshop). Everything on it is just really big and really heavy. He needed to replace an awful lot of hoses, gaskets, and seals in addition to unbuilding previous owner repairs. In the end it was as satisfying to see his success as it was for him to get there. One thing to keep in mind is the 24-Hour Overnight Delivery 1940s Caterpillar dozer parts store has been shut since the start of the pandemic, and getting the pieces you need will be quite hard.

[Jakko Westerbeke]

I’m fairly confident they’ll be able to get it running — the chap pointing at the engine in the photo there is the one who bought the dozer

[Matthew P]

Awesome project.

Caterpillar is very proud of their history. The dealer in my area painted up the engine that's on display at the Smithsonian. If the local CAT dealer isn't all over helping out, than go to Corporate. I'm in a class at Caterpillar this week for work and am quite impressed with them as an outfit, overall not just as an engine and equipment maker.

Matt