Caterpillar D6A

[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

[John P]

Any update?

[Jakko Westerbeke]

I haven’t been back, but earlier this year I asked about it, and by this photo he sent me, they’ve started rebuilding the armour:

1T3045 bonnet.jpeg

And are doing it by welding pieces into the existing plates, rather than building a new cab from scratch as they originally intended to do.

[tankbarrell]

I thought the 1T serials were all D7s?

[Jakko Westerbeke]

Originally Posted by tankbarrell

I thought the 1T serials were all D7s?

No, 1T is the prefix for all the armoured bulldozers Caterpillar built for the British, both D6(Armored) and D7(Armored).¹ The D6s were 1T3001–1T3045² and the D7s were 1T1001–1T1138.


¹ Which, BTW, appear to be Caterpillar’s actual designations, rather than D6A and D7A that everyone uses nowadays.
² But there is a photo of one marked 1T3060 as well, which has yet to be explained AFAIK.

[tankbarrell]

Thanks for that Jakko! I knew the 1T serials don't appear in normal Caterpillar productions lists but had just thought they were all D7s. Good to know the facts.

[Alex van de Wetering]

Originally Posted by Jakko Westerbeke

I haven’t been back, but earlier this year I asked about it, and by this photo he sent me, they’ve started rebuilding the

And are doing it by welding pieces into the existing plates, rather than building a new cab from scratch as they originally intended to do.

That's awesome! I am happy they choose to take this route and restore the original armour in stead of making something new!