Edit: Probably should discuss how the rubber tracks compare to R1, R2, etc.
I'm sorry, I'm not sure I follow....
Very nice.
Have you decided what kind of lettering you're going to use.
Perhaps a name.
CAT 11
Cat 0.22
Halfcat
Microcat
Minipillar
MOUSE
ANT
Gnat 22
Actually, I haven't. But that's something I eventually need to think of. I like HalfCat. It actually is half scale of a model 28 (there is one local out front of a cat dealer that I measured before I began).
This is so awesome. It makes me reminisce about my youth and how cool it would have been to have a "toy" like this. I spent hours of (stolen from farm work) play time in the sand pile with my Matchbox and Tonka cars, trucks and equipment. I would have given them all up to have what you are building for your son. Can't tell you how many wooden plows I fabricated for my bicycle, wooden grader blades under my red wagon and play roads through the woods I cleared and leveled. My only question: is your son helping you build it?
I remember when Tonka trucks were made of metal. I beat the crap out of them and they still worked. So many toys now barely last a year. They are just throw aways. Everything is plastic. That's one of the reasons why i'm building this. Old school, all metal, built to last (and probably then some).
And no, he's not helping. He'll be 2 in June. However, last night, we were walking in through the garage, and he always points at it and says bulldozer. And this time, he stopped and picked up a wrench that I had sitting on the tracks and started playing around. I had visions of the future fun we'll have building things.
Let's hope your son grows up interested in dozers and tractors and doesn't want to be a TV chef or a tailor. Not that there is anything wrong with either of those but it'll be a shame!
Fantastic work BTW, I keep popping in just to see your progress.:thumbsup:
True. My wife has similar thoughts. She says "what if he wants to be a dancer?" Well, I'll love him either way. I went through a basketball phase and didn't feel like working in the garage with my dad and brother. Whatever he wants to do is fine. But of course, it would be more fun if we were building crazy projects. Trust me, I have a long list of things I want to build after this. The dozer is just the beginning.
So I've been working hard to get this thing running. I'm very anxious. I don't have a ton of pictures because it isn't really exciting work.
So first random thing is, the return to center assembly for the pumps was a little strange on mine. I'll show step by step of how it goes together.
This is the part that is strange. One direction is returned to center by this tiny little spring. It wasn't even enough to return the lever to center.
Then the other direction has a large spring tied to a stationary arm.
Normally, on other assemblies I've seen, these two levers oppose each other and are connected by the same spring. I want that. So several months ago, I tried to order the correct arm but after waiting on backorder for a long time, I was told it was discontinued. So, I made my own.
I had my friend cut out some blanks that I drew in cad.
Then finished the bore.
I made a very crude stamp to bend them. I didn't feel like spending a lot of time on it so it looks like crap but it works. I didn't take any pictures of it working though.
I also flipped the assembly to work with my linkage design.
Now, the way I wanted it.
I didn't take many pictures of the linkage build but I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out.
I still need to mount the return dampers but I'm waiting for the hydraulic control valve for the blade to show up so I can design a crossmember. Should be here tomorrow.
In this time since the last update, I also made sure everything fit, designed the belt tensioner for the engine to jackshaft belt and ordered some more fittings.
Need to shorten the pump to motor hoses and route the charge pump hoses once I get the crossmember figured out. Should hopefully be running in about a month. Then it might be time for a break.
